"The Garden' Movie

I went to class expecting to sit through a dreary documentary and was suprised at how much I enjoyed watching "The Garden" and I would just like to elaborate on it some.

This movie is set in South Central Los Angeles, California and covers the legal steps the campesinos must take as they try to hold onto the 13 acres of land in the middle of downtown. This land is special because it has been a community urban garden presently for over twenty years (est. 1986). This land provides food (zuchinni, celantro, bananas, apples, papaya, corn, and more) and a market to sell produce for low income, Latino families in this area. The issue all stemmed from an eviction notice from the land owner Ralph Horowitz who wanted to replace the community urban garden with storage warehouses, and the community said no.

So, how does "The Garden" relate to this blog?

I wouldn't go so far as to call South Central Californians indigenous communities with their own TEK, but I will say that this a prime example of globalization in the world that is creating trauma for communities that have some level of self sufficiency like this one.

Discussed in the movie were the different ways in which one planted, the passing down of knowledge from father to son, and the unity that the community felt from having this land as their own. Without these gardens, the community's whole lifestyle would have to change, the foods they eat, even the amount of money they bring home. This is another form of what Dr. Pena has called ethnocide which I consider a trauma to a community.

It all works out in the end, thankfully. The campesinos keep their land, expanding it later on to 80 acres, and continue to plant, grow, harvest, eat, sell, and enjoy the "fruits of their efforts."

-Rachel