Please find here the full program of the Spring 2025 online colloquia series


Abstract. This talk explores the connection between food and anti-immigrant sentiment through the lens of the epistemological dimensions of the Racial Contract. In recent years, food has become increasingly tied to racism. During the COVID-19 pandemic, news reports frequently used the term "wet markets" to describe Asian food markets, fueling racism against Asian Americans. Now, similar false claims about Haitians eating pets have gone viral and entered presidential politics. This paper examines food as an aspect of the racial contract, drawing on Charles Mills' epistemological framework to argue that these narratives are shaped by a “meta-agreement” in which state institutions construct non-white immigrants as non-persons and white immigrants as full people.