Indigenous Peoples’ food systems

Indigenous peoples often claim that colonial powers, such as settler states, violate Indigenous peoples’ collective self-determination over their food systems, or food sovereignty. Violations of food sovereignty are often food injustices. Yet Indigenous peoples claim that one of the solutions to protecting food sovereignty involves the conservation of particular foods, from salmon to wild rice. This chapter advances an argument that claims of this kind advance particular theories of food sovereignty and food injustice that are not actually grounded in static conceptions of Indigenous cultures; instead, such claims offer important contributions for understanding how settler colonial domination is a form of injustice that undermines key relationships that support Indigenous collective self-determination as an adaptive capacity.

Building Healthy Community Relationships Through Food Security and Food Sovereignty

Current Developments in Nutrition ◽

10.1093/cdn/nzy088 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 3 (Supplement_2) ◽

pp. 25-31 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

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.

Dietary Change and Traditional Food Systems of Indigenous Peoples

Annual Review of Nutrition ◽

10.1146/annurev.nu.16.070196.002221 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 16 (1) ◽

pp. 417-442 ◽

Cited By ~ 247

Author(s):

H V Kuhnlein ◽

O Receveur

Keyword(s):

Indigenous Peoples ◽

Food Systems ◽

Dietary Change ◽

Traditional Food

Working for Justice in Food Systems on Stolen Land? Interrogating Food Movements Confronting Settler Colonialism

Canadian Food Studies / La Revue canadienne des études sur l alimentation ◽

10.15353/cfs-rcea.v8i2.452 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 (2) ◽

Author(s):

Michaela Bohunicky ◽

Charles Levkoe ◽

Nick Rose

Keyword(s):

Indigenous Peoples ◽

Food Systems ◽

White Supremacy ◽

Private Property ◽

Settler Colonialism ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Food Movements ◽

Northwestern Ontario ◽

Movement Organizations ◽

Political Economic

The evolving practice and scholarship surrounding food movements aim to address social, political, economic and ecological crises in food systems. However, limited interrogation of settler colonialism remains a crucial gap. Settler colonialism is the ongoing process of invasion that works to systematically erase and replace Indigenous Peoples with settler populations and identities. While many progressive and well-intentioned food movements engage directly with issues of land, water, identity, and power, critics argue they have also reified capitalism, white supremacy, agro-centrism and private property that are central to the ongoing dispossession of Indigenous Peoples. Scholars and advocates have called for greater accountability to the contradictions inherent in working towards social and ecological justice on stolen land. We write this paper as three settler activist-scholars to interrogate ways that social movements are responding to this call. A community-engaged methodology was used to conduct semi-structured interviews with individuals working in settler-led food movement organizations in Northwestern Ontario, Canada and in Southern Australia. We present our findings through three intersecting categories: 1) Expressions of settler inaction; 2) Mere inclusion of Indigenous Peoples and ideas; and, 3) Productive engagements and visions to confront settler colonialism. To explore the possibility of deeper engagements that confront settler colonialism, we suggest a continuum that moves from situating our(settler)selves within the framework of settler colonialism to (re)negotiating relationships with Indigenous Peoples to actualizing productive positions of solidarity with Indigenous struggles. We argue that this work is essential for food movements that aim to transform relationships with the land, each other, and ultimately forge more sustainable and equitable food futures.

Why and How to Document the Traditional Food System in your Community: Report from Breakout Discussions at the 2017 Native American Nutrition Conference

Current Developments in Nutrition ◽

10.1093/cdn/nzy089 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 3 (Supplement_2) ◽

pp. 19-24

Author(s):

Letitia M McCune ◽

Valerie Nuvayestewa ◽

Harriet V Kuhnlein

Keyword(s):

Native American ◽

Indigenous Peoples ◽

Food Systems ◽

Food System ◽

Annual Conference ◽

Traditional Food ◽

Local Plants

ABSTRACT Two conference breakout sessions at the 2017 Second Annual Conference on Native American Nutrition focused on the reasons and methods to document traditional food systems. The sessions included examples from 4 communities of Indigenous Peoples. A total of 60 participants discussed their thoughts and experiences within their communities on documenting traditional food systems. Some of the reasons, or “whys” for the documentation, included reinvigorating the culture to benefit the youth and those who had moved away from the community, preserving Elder knowledge, and increasing the ability to use the local plants. The methods, or “hows” of the documentation discussed included making sure the communities lead projects, protections are in place for the knowledge holders, and creating a contemporary feel for youth. Meeting transportation needs was paramount, as was creating a network of people and communities involved in documenting and reintroducing traditional food systems. This was exemplified by the diverse and experienced participants of these sessions and the associated conference.

Indigenous Peoples' food systems, nutrition, and gender: Conceptual and methodological considerations

Maternal and Child Nutrition ◽

10.1111/mcn.12499 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 13 ◽

pp. e12499 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Stefanie Lemke ◽

Treena Delormier

Keyword(s):

Indigenous Peoples ◽

Food Systems ◽

Systems Nutrition ◽

And Gender ◽

Methodological Considerations

The Indigenous Climate–Food–Health Nexus

People and Climate Change ◽

10.1093/oso/9780190886455.003.0010 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 184-207 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Sherilee L. Harper ◽

Lea Berrang-Ford ◽

Cesar Carcamo ◽

Ashlee Cunsolo ◽

Victoria L. Edge ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Indigenous Peoples ◽

Food Systems ◽

Critical Role ◽

Local Environment ◽

Indigenous Populations ◽

Health Impacts ◽

Group Discussions ◽

Close Relationship ◽

Health Related

The health impacts of climate change are not evenly distributed among the global population. Indigenous peoples are expected to bear a disproportionate burden of the climate-related health impacts given their close relationship with and dependence on the local environment for subsistence and food security, as well as existing gradients in health and colonial legacies. To understand how climate change affects indigenous peoples’ health vis-à-vis food systems, this chapter profiles research conducted in partnership with three indigenous populations: Inuit in the Canadian Arctic, Batwa from the Ugandan Impenetrable Forest, and Shawi in the Peruvian Amazon. Drawing from data captured in cohort surveys, focus group discussions, in-depth interviews, and a variety of participatory methods, this chapter characterizes climate-sensitive food-related health outcomes in each region. Finally, it examines the critical role of indigenous knowledge, equity, and research in health-related climate change adaptation.

Feeding Indigenous people in Canada

International Social Work ◽

10.1177/0020872820916218 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 002087282091621

Author(s):

Tabitha Robin (Martens) ◽

Mary Kate Dennis ◽

Michael Anthony Hart

Keyword(s):

Social Work ◽

Indigenous People ◽

Indigenous Peoples ◽

Food Systems ◽

Well Being ◽

Indigenous Populations ◽

Policy Decisions ◽

Indigenous Cultures ◽

Indigenous Children ◽

History Of

Historically, hunger was used as a tool of coercion and manipulation, and as a weapon to eradicate Indigenous populations. Through policy decisions, the support for and removal of Indigenous children, and other assimilative practices, social work has contributed to the perpetuation of ‘helping practices’ which damaged Indigenous cultures and well-being. Today, experiences of hunger are still tied to colonialism. There is a need to examine the complex history of feeding Indigenous peoples in Canada and to work to reclaim and heal Indigenous food systems. For social work, this requires an emphasis on Indigenous ways of helping led by Indigenous peoples.