Red Lake Ojibwe Food Sovereignty: A Historical and Contemporary Analysis

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Social Justice in Native North American Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Because American Indians suffer from diet-related diseases at higher rates than other ethnic groups, Indigenous organizers are finding ways to improve the health of their communities. One way they are accomplishing this goal is through the promotion of traditional foods their people consumed prior to European colonization, known as Indigenous food sovereignty. The Red Lake Ojibwe tribe has several food sovereignty initiatives, and yet, a holistic food sovereignty project that documents historical and contemporary Red Lake Ojibwe foodways has never been done. Using the historical record, oral histories, and community knowledge, the tribe proposed a project that would address questions such as, what traditional foods are important to the community? How are these foods produced? And why are these foods significant to Red Lake Ojibwe lifeways? By addressing these questions, we provide a framework for Red Lake food sovereignty programs that work to improve the health of the community. More broadly, Indigenous food sovereignty research ties into larger environmental protection movements for Indigenous peoples and society at large. Research that studies connections between humans and traditional food helps tribal communities and wider society better manage land and resources for the betterment of ecological and human health.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Social Justice in Native North American Archaeology   •
• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 26041