Corn Mother Myth Summary

Reading Reflection #2- Prompt

Native Americans’ cosmology and mythology was a significant part of their culture and often revolved around corn. Most tribes in the eastern American woodlands believed that corn was a gift from the Corn Mother, described by Carolyn Merchant as a “mythical female from whose body had come the corn plant, maize.” The tale explained the origin of corn and tobacco. The Corn Mother was a young woman who committed adultery with a snake and sacrificed her body to her devastated husband, who dragged her through the forest and buried her in the woods. She then appeared to him in a dream and explained to him how to tend, harvest and cook corn and how to smoke tobacco. The Corn Mother myth rationalized an intersubjective relationship with nature by humanizing the origins of corn, affected their agricultural practices by instilling deep matrilineal and environmentally conscious values within them before contact with European settlers, but made them doubt their culture after contact with Europeans.

The Corn Mother myth rationalized an intersubjective relationship with nature by humanizing the bringing of corn.

As the class discussed in lecture, the myth created a personalized connection between the Native Americans and the Earth and allowed the Native Americans to identify with their landscape. Because they believed that corn came from recycled human flesh, they could see it as an animate, personalized being, rather than just an object. Merchant explains how the Native Americans also believed, because of the Corn Mother, that “the Earth would continue to regenerate the human body through the corn plant.” This shows that rather than just seeing corn as an object to cultivate, it was a sacred gift given to them by the land. Because the land gave the gift of corn to them, they believed the land should be treated with

respect.
The Corn Mother myth affected Native American agricultural practices before the arrival of European settlers by instilling strong matrilineal values and a respect for their environment. The myth encoded a matrilineal society—the Corn Mother held power and control by instructing the men on what to do. Because of this, women had a much more prominent role in producing corn and in society in general. In addition, the Native Americans created a much more sustainable and natural way of growing corn because of the intersubjective relationship the myth created. They had respect for the land they planted on and celebrated successful harvests. They created sustainable equilibrium by growing corn, beans and squash all together. They also rotated crop fields, and only used a fish fertilizer when it was absolutely necessary. Their respect and care for the land created a sustainable mode of production with as little permanent effect on the land as possible.
After contact with the Europeans, the Native Americans began to doubt the Corn Mother myth, causing them to convert to European agricultural production. Europeans tried to assimilate the Native Americans, and in doing so forced their gender roles on them. Merchant described this as “undercutting female power in production.” This switch in gender roles was contrary to traditional practices created by the Corn Mother myth and gave women less power in society. As the class discussed in lecture, the Corn Mother myth also began to fail as Native Americans started agricultural production on confined European plots of land and there was not a sufficient amount of land to produce corn the way the myth told them to. Because they began seeing the Corn Mother myth as untrue, they began performing corn production as the Europeans told them to. Therefore, indirectly, the Corn Mother made Native Americans convert to European production methods.
Although Native Americans were considered “primitive” by many European settlers, the effects that the Corn Mother myth had on Native American agricultural production and culture were incredible and represent many modern goals and aspirations: reaching environmental sustainability, overcoming power-imbalance between genders, and creating efficiency in agricultural production.

Question: If environmental sustainability is possible, as illustrated by many Native Americans, what is holding modern society back from reaching environmental sustainability?