As a newly matriculated student at UC Berkeley with a rich intersectional identity that includes 1/24th Chicanx heritage, I find myself critically engaging with the spaces and identities I inhabit. One such space is the local grocery store, Andronico's. The name 'Andronico's' is more than a mere label though; For the dead white males that were the ancient Greeks, the word 'andron' meant 'of men'. In light of this 'man store' epithet, I suggest here that Andronico's embodies oppressive norms that allow the subaltern othering of indigenous bodies and places and needs to be libertaed. Further, Andronico's, perpetuates violence on intersections of queer identities through its hate speech and must be decolonised.
The very name Andronico's is emblematic of the cisheteronormative patriarchy. It signals a refusal to acknowledge a multiplicity of identities, reducing the rich native tapestry of human experience to essentialist binaries. These structural binaries perpetuate a dialectic of Othering, subjugation, violence and genocide. The stores name signifies a metanarrative that reinforces false consciousness, obscuring the historicity of gender nonconforming, Latinx, and LGBTQIA+ communities as constructed assemblages.
The products within this 'man store' signify structures of imperialism and domination. For example, Andronico's has an extensive spread of its meat. This preoccupation of Andronico's on displaying their man meat perpetuates toxic masculinity, reinforcing harmful associations between foundationalist conceptions of maleness. Further, the consumption of meat does violence against the climate, which prioritizes sustainability and care through inclusive ways of knowing. More than anything, the colonization of shelf space by the man meat displaces plant-based epistemologies that disregard intersections of diversity.
Among the other products lining the shelves are what I term 'colonial cucumbers'. These cu-cum-bers serve as a standing-reserve arsenal of ammunition for western patriarchal violence, embodying the imperialist legacies of late capitalism that commodify the erasure of différance and the practices of indigenous agricultural peoples. They send a clear message: that identities must be penetrated by the phalli of cultural appropriations.
In order to envision a more sustainable and liberated future, I propose the formation of a committee to establish the 'Fanon Othering and Oriental Department of al-Baghdadi Of the Goddess'. The FOODBOG collective will serve as temporary reeducation camp for the board of directors for Andronico's owner, Safeway, Inc., in its transformational pivot to a cooperative space, free from old ideas of private property and owned and operated by the local neurodivergent trans identifying community.
Most importantly, the new FOODBOG grocery cooperative will also foster an authentic praxis of care by addressing the needs of queer bodies by prioritizing the sale of gender-neutral tampons to create an inclusive menstruation community among the grocery aisles and check-out stands.
As I navigate my new life here at Berkeley, I grapple with the realities of systemic oppression embedded in our spaces. Andronico's name and grocery practices stands as a glaring example of how genocide is perpetuated through violent hate speech. By advocating for allyship, we can liberate not just Andronico’s but all of our spaces and embody inclusivity and social justice, challenging the hegemonic superstructures that uphold cisheteronormative patriarchy toward an immanent eschaton. The journey of equity and inclusivity begins with us—and it is time to transform Andronico's as a 'man store' into a dead-name and welcome the FOODBOG neurodivergent trans tampon collective to our Berkeley community.
