Indigenous Food Systems
Concepts, Cases, and Conversations
By Priscilla Settee, Shailesh Shukla
Description
Unlike any other resource on the market, this textbook explores a diverse array of Indigenous food systems from across Canada, including Anishinaabeg, Asatiwisipe, Cree, Métis, Migmag, and Tsartlip. Seeking solutions to food insecurity and well-being for current and future generations, Indigenous and non-Indigenous food practitioners and scholars document the voices and experiences of community members encountered in their research, thus promoting an understanding of the barriers and challenges to Indigenous food systems and presenting ways used to reclaim cultural identity and food sovereignty. Offering in-depth case studies and critical conversations, Indigenous Food Systems reinforces the importance of the revitalization of Indigenous food knowledges for the health and well-being of Indigenous and Canadian populations.
This unique collection is a critical resource for students studying food security and food sovereignty in Indigenous studies, public health, anthropology, and social sciences as well as a useful reader for policy-makers, researchers, and community practitioners.
FEATURES
- highlights community-based case studies, which demonstrate how Indigenous communities are leading the way to design and implement community-based initiatives in collaborative spirit
- pedagogical features including key terms, learning objectives, glossaries, critical thinking questions, and suggested reading lists in each chapter
Details
Number of Pages
292
Dimensions
17.15 " x 24.77”
print ISBN
9781773381091
PDF ISBN
9781773381107
EPUB ISBN
9781773381114
Subjects
“This collection is long overdue and much needed in the emerging field of critical food studies. To date, issues of Indigenous food systems have been severely under addressed in Canada. With contributions from researchers, practitioners, and community members, Indigenous Food Systems brings essential insight to the theory and practice of food systems and is part of the ongoing cross-cultural dialogue and development of new policy and practice.”
—Charles Z. Levkoe, Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Sustainable Food Systems, Lakehead University
“Indigenous food sovereignty is a pathway toward health and wellbeing for communities living within colonial structures creating economic dependency and insecurity. Indigenous Food Systems is not just another piece of academic literature describing the state of food insecurity in Canada; it is a collection of place-based solutions from diverse life projects emergent from Indigenous communities. This book is a celebration of the power of local food and community in dismantling capitalist food systems in order to achieve health and wellbeing.
The concepts, cases, and conversations presented provide critical guidance for restoring relationships, respect, and reciprocity in Canada’s food systems by dismantling the colonial and capitalist structures and processes that have eroded health and well-being in Indigenous communities.”
—Joseph LeBlanc, Director of the Indigenous Affairs Unit at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine
“You cannot say that you are sovereign if you cannot feed yourself. That’s the reality for us all, and particularly for Indigenous peoples, for whom food is something not just for the belly but also for the spirit and to nourish our dreams for the future. This book is about that story, from our Indigenous knowledge and understanding of our relationship to these sacred foods to the colonization and the decolonization of the times we enter now. Indigenous Food Systems is a powerful outline of relationships and links to understanding colonization, decolonization, and the liberation and honouring of our foods and ourselves.”
—Winona LaDuke, Executive Director, Honor the Earth
“Priscilla Settee and Shailesh Shukla have done a beautiful job in not only introducing Indigenous Food Systems in an academic format, but also in bridging formal research with reflection and conversation.”
—Excerpted from Kulak, V. (2020). “Book review: Indigenous Food Systems, Concepts, Cases and Conversations. Pricilla Settee and Shailesh Shukla, Eds. 2020. Canadian Scholars, Toronto.” Spiritual Botany Magazine, Issue 7.
—Verena Kulak, Doctoral Candidate, School of Environmental Design and Rural Development, University of Guelph
“A timely addition to teaching and scholarship on Indigenous food systems. It contains numerous pedagogical features that will make it easy to use in the classroom. At the same time, it is an important contribution to collaborating with Indigenous peoples and their food systems in support of maintaining and reviving not only food systems but the sovereignty of Indigenous nations themselves.”
—Excerpted from Lowitt, Kristen (2020). “Book Review: Indigenous food systems: Concepts, cases and conversations. Priscilla Settee and Shailesh Shukla (Eds). Canadian Scholars’ Press, 2020, 284 pages.” Canadian Food Studies: Vol. 7 No. 1, pp. 178-180.
—Kristen Lowitt is an Assistant Professor in the School of Environmental Studies at Queen’s University. Her research is directed towards working with communities to build just and sustainable food systems.
