Rooted in Neutrality: Cassava, Colonial Histories, and the Evolution of Cultural Identity

This thesis examines cassava's evolving cultural, historical, and political meanings, a crop marked by its neutrality in taste yet deeply entangled in global histories of colonialism, survival, and identity-making. Chapter 1 traces cassava’s complex journey from Indigenous cultivation in Brazil to its role in sustaining colonial economies and local communities across West Africa and Southeast Asia, highlighting its dual function as both a tool of imperial exploitation and a vital resource for resilience. Chapters 2 and 3 present contemporary case studies that explore cassava’s continued evolution in diasporic spaces: among Malayali communities in the United States, where cassava-based dishes anchor communal identity, and in Singapore, where cassava transforms into a national symbol through the reinvention of tradition. Through historical analysis, ethnographic research, and self-anthropological work, this study demonstrates how cassava’s meanings have been continuously reinterpreted across time and place, serving as both a witness to histories of violence and a living medium for cultural continuity and reinvention.