The study of life and food systems for Native Hawaiians based on their environment

2021 ◽  
pp. 117718012110382
Author(s):  
Mapuana CK Antonio ◽  
Kuaiwi Laka Makua ◽  
Samantha Keaulana ◽  
LeShay Keliiholokai ◽  
J Kahaulahilahi Vegas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Values ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Food Sovereignty ◽  
Nutrition Transition ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Native Hawaiians ◽  
Social Barriers ◽  
Community Engaged Research ◽  
Adverse Health Outcomes

Health and well-being are a function of familial relationships between Native Hawaiians and their land. As a result of settler colonialism, Native Hawaiians face systemic and social barriers, which impede their relationship to land, with implications of adverse health outcomes. This qualitative study explores changes in health among Native Hawaiians, with a specific focus on food systems and the environment. Community-engaged research approaches were utilized to recruit 12 Hawaiian adults. The major themes include the following: (1) health as holistic and a harmonious balance, (2) nutrition transition and current connections to ‘āina (land extending from the mountain to the sea; that which feeds or nourishes), and (3) food sovereignty and community solutions to uplift the Lāhui (Nation of Hawai‘i). Consideration of cultural values, community strengths, and traditional lifestyle practices may address health inequities and changes in food systems related to health that stem from colonization, determinants of health, and environmental changes.

Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noreen Mokuau
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Pacific Islanders ◽  
Native Hawaiians ◽  
Cultural Changes ◽  
Culturally Based ◽  
Health And Well Being

Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders (NHOPI) comprise 0.3% of the total U.S. population, with the largest groups being Native Hawaiians (401,000), Samoans (133,000), and Chamorros or Guamanians (93,000). Core cultural values and traditions have sustained NHOPI as they confront cultural changes and challenges to their health and well-being. Directions for social work require accurate assessments of the problems challenging NHOPI based on information that both disaggregates NHOPI from other populations, and includes NHOPI in the design and delivery of culturally based solutions to resolve problems.

scholarly journals (Re)constructing Conceptualizations of Health and Resilience among Native Hawaiians

Genealogy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 8
Author(s):  
Mapuana C. K. Antonio ◽  
Samantha Keaulana ◽  
Jane J. Chung-Do ◽  
Ilima Ho-Lastimosa
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Values ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Native Hawaiian ◽  
Historical Trauma ◽  
Holistic Approach ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Native Hawaiians ◽  
Positive Health ◽  
Positive Health Outcomes

Biomedical definitions of health have conventionally taken problem-based approaches to health, which may disregard indigenous perspectives of health that take a holistic approach and emphasize the importance of maintaining balance between physical, mental, and spiritual health and relationships maintained with others, the land, and the spiritual realm. Resilience-based approaches to health have been shown to foster strengths in indigenous communities, including the Native Hawaiian community, which leads to more positive health outcomes. The research questions of this paper asked, “how do Native Hawaiians conceptualize health and the concept of resilience specific to health?”. Qualitative methods were employed to explore the concept of resilience from the perspective of 12 Native Hawaiian adults. Community leaders and key stakeholders aided in the purposive recruitment process. The themes of this study include: (1) health maintained through balance, (2) being unhealthy vs. being ill, (3) the concept of colonialism and resulting adversities, and (4) protective and resilience factors that foster health. Cultural values and cultural practices may address concerns related to health disparities that stem from cultural and historical trauma, determinants of health, and environmental changes. Health interventions that are culturally-, family-, spiritually-, and land-based may particularly aid in responsiveness to health programs.

scholarly journals Building Healthy Community Relationships Through Food Security and Food Sovereignty

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_2) ◽  
pp. 25-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Treena Delormier ◽  
Kaylia Marquis
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Food Sovereignty ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Connections ◽  
Advisory Group ◽  
Personnel Turnover ◽  
Healthy Community

ABSTRACTBackgroundFood insecurity disproportionately affects Indigenous Peoples and is linked to poor health outcomes. Indigenous Peoples’ food systems once sustained their thriving societies; however, colonial policies of displacement and imposed assimilation severed connections to Indigenous food systems and lands, disrupting identity, culture, and well-being.ObjectiveIn this article we share a grass-roots designed program that addresses food security and heeds Haudenosaunee teachings. The Story of Creation, the Great Law, and Ohénton Karihwatéhkwen (the words that come before all else) were the basis of the framework. The program acknowledges and uses community strengths and skills to enhance social connections and links with land and creation.MethodsThe program brought together interested and knowledgeable community members and stakeholders to discuss and better understand food security in the community. This group formed as an advisory group called Ieiénthos Akotióhkwa – ‘Planting Group’ who shaped the food security activities.ResultsThe program delivered workshops to build skills and share knowledge about food production and preparation. It targeted diverse participant interests and needs within an environment meant to nurture social connections. The program planted food-bearing trees and plants and created a seed library to create edible landscapes. We invited a broad scope of community knowledge- and skill-holders to share their talents with the community, to reinforce positive connections with each other, and to carry on cultural practices.ConclusionsChallenges included program sustainability linked to short-term funding and personnel turnover. Strengths involved using a culturally based framework that enhanced program coherence, and facilitated collaboration with local initiatives focused on well-being, practicing culture, and respecting the environment. Haudenosaunee teachings hold values and principles for a society that provides food for all. These teachings are a framework for a culturally rich program to support food security skills and resources, but also Indigenous cultural identity and practices.

scholarly journals Uncovering hidden urban bounty: A case study of Hidden Harvest

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 18-32
Author(s):  
Chloé Poitevin DesRivières
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food Sovereignty ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Private Lands ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
For Profit ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Social Environmental

Urban food systems primarily rely on foods grown in rural spaces, and often face challenges in creating spaces to grow fresh, healthful and affordable food in cities. Urban food harvest organizations aim to overcome these challenges by locating and harvesting food that already exists in cities on the numerous fruit- and nut-bearing trees located on public and private lands. Hidden Harvest is a leading initiative for urban fruit and nut harvesting in Canada, and unique in its for-profit social enterprise model. The organization aims to legitimize and support the practice of harvesting fruits and nuts in urban areas, and provides a means to increase access to—and availability of—fresh, healthful foods hyper-locally in Ottawa, as people harvest from their own (or nearby) neighborhoods. This field report examines the challenges and opportunities faced by Hidden Harvest in attempting to link multiple social, environmental and economic goals relating to food sovereignty, social justice and ecological sustainability. In particular, the organization seeks to establish a self-sustaining business model through innovative solutions and the development of networks with local food processes, food organizations and businesses, which enables Hidden Harvest to grow and develop distinct ties and relationships in Ottawa. This case study reveals how organizations such as Hidden Harvest use food to enhance and tie together local economies, knowledge, food security and community well-being.

scholarly journals Food Counts: Food systems report cards, food sovereignty and the politics of indicators

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 49-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Z. Levkoe ◽  
Alison Blay-Palmer
Keyword(s):  
Food Systems ◽  
Food Policy ◽  
Food Sovereignty ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Report Card ◽  
Report Cards ◽  
Sustainable Food Systems ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
International Panel ◽  
Using Data

The International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems recognized that "current systems will be held in place insofar as these systems continue to be measured in terms of what industrial agriculture is designed to deliver, at the expense of many other outcomes that really matter in food systems" (IPES 2016: 57). In response, they called for new food systems indicators rooted in social justice, support for local economies, ecological regeneration and democratic engagement. This paper reflects on the ways that indicators can serve as a tool to understand the current state of food systems, challenge existing approaches and (re)frame a future vision of equity and sustainability. Our analysis focuses on the development of Food Counts: A Pan-Canadian Sustainable Food Systems Report Card, a first attempt to bring together existing measures of social, environmental, and economic well-being to help researchers, policy makers, and practitioners examine food systems more comprehensively. The report card used a food sovereignty framework and an integrated systems perspective and make connections to a global movement for collective social change. Beyond its practical value, and particularly in the context of Canada's development of a national food policy, our analysis illuminates the limited kinds of data available, the privileging of scientific expertise over traditional knowledge, the assumed value of certain indicators, and the reductionist nature of using data to represent complex food systems. We argue that while report cards can make visible numerous food systems' elements, they can also obscure divers experiences, reinforcing unsustainable practices and policies.

scholarly journals Land-Based programs in the Northwest Territories: Building Indigenous food security and well-being from the ground up

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 23-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonia D. Wesche ◽  
Meagan Ann F. O'Hare-Gordon ◽  
Michael A. Robidoux ◽  
Courtney W. Mason
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Northwest Territories ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Food Sovereignty ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Wild Food ◽  
Food Procurement ◽  
Food Programs

Food security in Canada’s North is complex, and there is no singular solution. We argue that land-based wild food programs are useful and effective in contributing to long-term food security, health and well-being for Indigenous communities in the context of changing environmental conditions. Such bottom-up programs support cultural continuity and the persistence of skills and knowledge that, over time, increase local food security and food sovereignty. This paper (a) highlights the link between observed environmental changes and wild food procurement in two Indigenous communities in the Northwest Territories, (b) compares and discusses the impacts of two collaboratively developed, community-based programs to improve foodways transmission and capacity for wild food procurement, and (c) identifies lessons learned and productive ways forward for those leading similar efforts in other Indigenous communities.

scholarly journals Applying a Political Economy of Health standpoint to traditional food acquisition practices and the inequitable prevalence of obesity and diabetes amongst First Nations peoples in British Columbia

2014 ◽  
Vol 57 (03) ◽  
pp. 65-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin Merz ◽  
Malcolm Steinberg
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
British Columbia ◽  
First Nations ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food Sovereignty ◽  
Nutrition Transition ◽  
Traditional Food ◽  
Obesity And Diabetes ◽  
Political Economy Of Health ◽  
Public Health Protection

The inequitable population prevalence rates of obesity and diabetes being experienced by First Nations peoples in British Columbia require public health protection practitioners to deepen their inquiry into the social determinants of these chronic conditions. These attempts need to be placed within the context of food insecurity that is garnering growing attention from public health at large and, more specifically, within the emerging Indigenous consensus understanding of the relationship between the ongoing nutrition transition and the inequitable prevalence rates of these conditions. We suggest that these reflections are productively theorized from a Political Economy of Health standpoint and supported by representative findings from the First Nations Regional Longitudinal Health Survey. This theoretical perspective supports the viewpoint that the inequitable expression of these chronic conditions can be attributed to the nutrition transition that populations experienced as they were shifted from a traditional subsistence diet to a commoditized, industrialized food production system. This analysis also supports the structural recommendations of the British Columbia Food Systems Network Working Group on Indigenous Food Sovereignty that would remove barriers and threats to traditional food acquisition. These include making environmental protection and conservation of biological diversity a priority in all land use planning; setting aside adequate tracts of land for the protection, conservation, and restoration of Indigenous food systems; giving priority to traditional food and cultural values in contemporary forestry, fisheries, rangeland, and agrarian management policies and practice; and giving priority to Indigenous food and cultural harvesting over commoditized, export-oriented commercial harvesting. Public health protection practitioners will be progressively challenged to support these recommendations by the communities they serve. Although there is no guarantee that implementation of these recommendations will reverse the trend of decreasing participation rates in traditional food harvesting in British Columbia, we suggest that unless many of the systemic irrationalities, vested interests, and historically unjust rationales for maintaining the status quo with respect to Indigenous food sovereignty are interrogated and challenged, an ancient lifeway grounded in demonstrably sustainable traditional food harvesting practices will remain threatened.

scholarly journals Exploring homelessness and Indigenous food Systems in northern British Columbia

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 162-179
Author(s):  
Julia Russell ◽  
Margot W. Parkes
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
First Nations ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Food Sovereignty ◽  
Holistic Approach ◽  
Well Being ◽  
European Ancestry ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Case Study Methodology

People experiencing homelessness are known to be highly food insecure, but outside of emergency aid little is known about their overall experiences with food, particularly in Canada’s northern communities. This study examined experiences that influenced access to food for people experiencing homelessness in a small city in northern British Columbia. Early findings underscored the importance of the impacts of colonization when seeking to understand food access in this context, and the value of lived experiences (including people with experiences of homelessness) when seeking to understand Indigenous food systems and food sovereignty as part of a re-emerging food system. The research drew on ethnography and case study methodology with modified community mapping to explore the food systems of the participants, who identified as First Nations, Métis or had mixed Indigenous and European ancestry. A focus group and subsequent interviews revealed a dynamic and complex food system. The flexible research design enabled participants to creatively express the food-related issues, challenges and successes most pertinent to their lives. Key food-related themes were social connections, as well as connections to the land and to culture. Participants’ experiences, actions and desires regarding food, health and well-being highlighted Indigenous food sovereignty as an overarching concept which offers an adaptable, holistic approach that can accommodate complexity. It is a valuable direction for future research and practice seeking to improve food security and health.

scholarly journals Examining Indigenous food sovereignty as a conceptual framework for health in two urban communities in Northern Ontario, Canada

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 54-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lana Ray ◽  
Kristin Burnett ◽  
Anita Cameron ◽  
Serena Joseph ◽  
Joseph LeBlanc ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Urban Communities ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food Sovereignty ◽  
Indigenous Health ◽  
Health Centre ◽  
Aboriginal Health ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Northern Ontario ◽  
Urban Service

While land is a nexus for culture, identity, governance, and health, as a concept land is rarely addressed in conversations and policy decisions about Indigenous health and well-being. Indigenous food sovereignty, a concept which embodies Indigenous peoples’ ability to control their food systems, including markets, production modes, cultures and environments, has received little attention as a framework to approach Indigenous health especially for Indigenous people living in urban spaces. Instead, discussions about Indigenous food sovereignty have largely focused on global and remote and rural communities. Addressing this gap in the literature, this article presents exploratory work conducted with Waasegiizhig Nanaandawe’iyewigamig and Shkagamik-Kwe Health Centre, two Indigenous-led Aboriginal Health Access Centres in urban service centers located in Northern Ontario, Canada.

scholarly journals The Crossroads of Ecotourism Dependency, Food Security and a Global Pandemic in Galápagos, Ecuador

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (23) ◽  
pp. 13094
Author(s):  
Adam Burke
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food Sovereignty ◽  
Natural Capital ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Tourism Industry ◽  
Complex Nature ◽  
Infrastructure Development ◽  
Security Measures

International esteem for Galápagos’ natural wonders and the democratization of travel have contributed to a 300% increase in annual tourist entries to the archipelago from 2000 (68,989) to 2018 (275,817). The attendant spike in tourism-related anthropogenic impact coupled with deficient infrastructure development has put the archipelago’s natural capital and carrying capacity at risk. The complex nature of Galápagos’ food insecurity is linked to the archipelago’s geographic isolation, its diminishing agricultural workforce, international tourists’ demand for recognizable food, and a lack of investment in sustainable and innovative agricultural futures. Food security is key to the long-term well-being of Galapagueños, who sustain Galápagos’ tourism industry. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has further exposed the vulnerability of human systems in Galápagos, especially the fragility of Galápagos’ ecotourism dependency. Galapagueños’ struggle to endure the tourism sector’s slow rebound following the 2020 travel restrictions points to an urgent need to implement food security measures as an indispensable component of the archipelago’s long-term sustainability plan. This article presents ethnographic data to discuss the tourism sector’s impact on local food systems, Galapagueños’ right to food sovereignty, efforts to increase agricultural production, and why strengthening institutional partnerships is vital to Galápagos’ food self-sufficiency.

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