NAFTA: Are We The Perpetrators, Victims, or Observers of The Trauma of a Changed Diet?

By Anonymous

    We rarely think about how a changed diet can be considered violent, or even trauma. But that is what happened to Mexico with the NAFTA trade agreement that went into effect in 1994 (Jenkins 2018). The Nafta trade agreement was beneficial to consumers in the United States and Canada as it allowed them to buy produce that would only be able in the warmer fields of Mexico (Jenkins 2018). However, the improved access to produce and the new trade relations made it so that the three countries involved (United States, Canada, and Mexico) became codependent on each other (Jenkins 2018). 

    The Nafta trade agreement dramatically changed the society of Mexico. One of the primary effects is that it forced rural farmers to leave their agriculture and farms due to the introduction of subsidized corn, soy, and meat products (Jenkins 2018). About 2 million Mexican farmers had to relocate since cheap products overtook the market (Jenkins 2018). This not only affected the farmers, but also the diet of Mexican citizens. Before Nafta, the diet of rural Mexican people consisted of maize, peppers, corn, and maize, and a vegetarian diet called milpa that was cheap and nourished Mexican people for generations (Jenkins 2018). But now that most of the produce that Mexico produces is exported, it is difficult for Mexican people to afford healthy and inexpensive foods at the markets where food was historically accessible (Jenkins 2018). 

    Now the needs of Mexican people are met by large companies such as Walmart, Coca-Cola, Oxxo, and Circle K (Jenkins 2018). Alejandro Calvillo, the director of a Mexican NGO that fights for the rights of consumers, states, “There are parts of Mexico where it is now really difficult to find fruits and vegetables… One kilo of fruit costs the same as a 600-milliliter Coca-Cola (Jenkins 2018). Coca-cola is everywhere in Mexico and that is a large contributor to the obesity and diabetes epidemic happening in the country (Jenkins 2018). Mexico consumes the most carbonated drinks in the world, and they are also the largest consumer of processed foods in the world (Jenkins 2018). 

    With the background information, it is time to decide a couple of things. Are the effects of Nafta a current trauma event, and who is involved in it? Using Robin Wagner-Pacifi’s theory on events can help answer or at least provide some thoughts on the questions posed. Wagner-Pacifi states that events are “restless, continually moving across time and space, carried by the very forms that shape them as variously situated historical subjects attempt to control, expand, or eliminate them” (Wagner-Pacifi 2021:12-13). Furthermore, she also speaks on eventful ruptures: that they are fluctuating, but she also points out that our ability to focus on moments might be under stress: “Questions emerge: What is a moment, a single incident? What is a sequence of connected incidents? What is a trend? What is a definitive turning point? What is a new era?” (Wagner-Pacifi 2021:12-13). About the effects of Nafta on Mexico, all of these questions can be asked. When Nafta came into effect, was that the turning point that created the trauma, or was it the historical relations between the United States and Mexico that set up the trauma to exist? 

    It is also important to ask ourselves if we are inside or outside of the event that was created by NAFTA. Wagner-Pacifi also asks the question of how do we determine if we are outside an event or inside of it: “Further, how is this event occurring and how are we inside it? In other words, in what capacity are we inside this event? Are we a victim, perpetrator, protester? Or, if we maintain that we are outside it (and with what evidence or credibility), are we spectator, bystander, or witness? (Wagner-Pacifi 2021:16-17). The answers change based on who you are asking. If you are in Mexico, then you might say that you are inside the event because you are directly experiencing the negative effects of NAFA. On the other hand, if you are in the United States or Canada you might say that you are outside of the event. However, that response would fail to recognize how NAFTA impacts everybody involved regardless of whether or not people recognize it. People in the United States can be both victims and perpetrators of NAFTA, victims because they are consuming more processed foods, and perpetrators because they are relying on imperialism to extract the produce from another country. But you could also argue that people from the United States or Canada are simply spectators or witnesses of what their nations are doing. 

    All of this goes to show that events are hard to define especially if they take place over decades. It is also difficult to define if you are inside an event or outside of it. The effects of NAFTA are trauma, but it is difficult to outline everybody that is involved in the event. 

References:

Jenkins, Lisa Martine. 2018. “How NAFTA Destroyed the Mexican Diet.” Eater, September 19. Retrieved May 9, 2022 (https://www.eater.com/2018/9/19/17878946/nafta-mexico-america-trade-agreement-farming-diet). 

Wagner-Pacifi, Robin. 2021. “What is an Event and Are We in One?” Sociologica, 15(1), 11-20. doi: https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.1971-8853/11615.


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