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- Convenors:
-
Jan Peter Laurens Loovers
(University of Aberdeen)
David Anderson (University of Aberdeen)
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- Format:
- Workshop
- Sessions:
- Monday 25 October, -
Time zone: Europe/London
Short Abstract:
The workshop offers Indigenous perspectives on climate change through food sovereignty as an Indigenous/human right. Questions of food sovereignty in an era of rapid climatic changes and large scale resource extraction projects are paramount to the well-being of Indigenous communities.
Long Abstract:
The workshop addresses food sovereignty as an Indigenous/human right. Foraging for plants and wild food is an important form of sustenance and cultural identity in Indigenous places and rural areas. Questions of food sovereignty in an era of rapid climatic changes and large scale resource extraction projects are paramount to the well-being of Indigenous communities. Access to healthy food sources and clean water or land is part of this. Polluted water, sea and land - due to large scale non-renewable industrial enterprises elsewhere as well as resource extraction projects on Indigenous lands - directly impact Indigenous Peoples livelihoods across the globe. Indeed, Indigenous Peoples are among the first who directly experience climate change and food insecurities.
The workshop picks up on a number of themes. Firstly, food sovereignty concerns Adaptation and Resilience. Due to climate change, Indigenous Peoples have to adapt to erratic seasonal patterns, evasive animal and plant species, and coastal and in-land erosion. Indigenous Peoples have confronted these challenges with resilience through a variety of initiatives that will be highlighted in the workshop. Secondly, following this, questions of access to healthy food through hunting, fishing, gathering (medicinal) plants and berries are paramount to food sovereignty. Effects on Nature through deforestation, loss of biodiversity, and industrial resource extraction projects are directly impacting Indigenous rights to live healthy lives on their own accord. There is growing consciousness that pollutants within food chains (and not only water and land) increase due to climate change.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Monday 25 October, 2021, -Jan Peter Laurens Loovers (University of Aberdeen)
Paper short abstract:
This introductory paper provides an overview of food sovereignty in a changing world. Linking this to the climate emergency, food sovereignty is considered an Indigenous Right/Human Right.
Paper long abstract:
The land is pivotal for Indigenous Peoples in terms of food, well-being, spiritual connection. With climate emergency, Indigenous Peoples are amongst the first to be affected by changes in the land. Hence, with COP26 in mind, environmental justice and Indigenous land rights are intimately woven with food sovereignty.
Sarah C. Moritz (Thompson Rivers University)
Paper short abstract:
We offer the relational theory of cw7it "shared abundance" within the St’át’imc fishing way of life. This theory underlies a Salish 5-point governance model built on practical engagement, ceremony, multispecies communication, sacred laws of the land and a (re)conciliatory dialogue for posterity.
Paper long abstract:
This paper focuses on the mid-Fraser River Sxetl’ fish camp where St’át’imc Salish families learn to fish and maintain sacred and vital relationships through time and space. Based on more than a decade of action anthropological collaboration and friendship, we examine the various social continuities and changes to the Fraser River and its (subsistence) fishery We illustrate the polysemic meanings that fish, camp, fishing technologies and the river have for St’át’imc fishers, fisheries scientists, the government and industry by examining the recent historic political and legal challenges known as ‘fish wars’, current camp practices and the sacred First Salmon Ceremony. We argue that the camp and the river continue to function according to an architecture of co-domestication that serves as fundamental framework for the enduring stewardship, health and shared abundance of salmon, people and the river.
Drawing on current theories of Indigenous life projects, animist and situated knowledge systems and stewardship principles, it argues that there is a resilient governance system in place to maintain fish and fishing for a ‘good life’. This paper includes key insights from the historical fishing context and reflects on the impacts of the recent Mt. Polley Mine disaster, an unprecedented ecological disaster that fundamentally threatens the fishing way of life.
David Anderson (University of Aberdeen)
Paper short abstract:
Based on fieldwork with a community of Forest Nenetses north of Khanimei, this paper focuss on how a balanced livelihood of substainable consumption evokes autonomy in the shadow of some the largest and oldest gas installations in the North.
Paper long abstract:
This paper, based on fieldwork in Northwestern Siberia, documents the autonomous livliehood of a community of Forest Nenetses in the taigas north of Khanimei. The paper focusses on the adaptation of transport technology from reindeer to vehicles, and the way in which the landscape is micro-zoned into preserves of fish and forage. Somewhat counter-intuitively this community has worked out a balanced livelihood of substainable consumotion in the shadow of some the largest and oldest gas installations in the North. The ethnography will be framed within a dialogue on food sovereignty, or the way that autochnonous production can great a realm of fredom.
Evodia Silva-Rivera (Universidad Veracruzana) Juana Victoria Pérez Vázquez (Universidad Veracruzana)
Paper short abstract:
Our ethnographic study with Totonac vanilla growers from northern Veracruz on their perceptions of climate change is discussed. Some strengths and challenges for economic and food sovereignty were identified in the vanilla agroecological system through a collaborative research approach.
Paper long abstract:
Vanilla is a highly appreciated and economically important orchid consumed for the aromatic properties that derive from its flavoring pods. Within the global market, Mexico ranks as the fifth largest producer; however, there is more to the impact of this crop in local economies. For Mexican growers, especially Totonac communities in the northern region of Veracruz’ state, vanilla plantations still hold a strong biocultural value due to a pre-Hispanic history of use. Around 4000 families grow vanilla as a sacred component within a larger agroecosystem that provides sources of food, medicine, wood for houses, and others. Theft has been a recurrent issue at least over the past three centuries, but other important obstacles arise. A largest threat is the climate emergency that has become evident over the recent years, meaning that vanilla plantations along with vanilla growers’ traditional ecological knowledge and food security elements are on the verge to disappear. It is predicted that extreme climate fluctuations will continue to affect production and damage mestizo and indigenous families’ livelihoods. Our ethnographic study with vanilla producers from northern Veracruz on their perceptions of climate change is discussed. The objective is to identify the strengths and challenges for economic and food sovereignty in the vanilla agroecological system through a collaborative research approach. Our findings highlight the need to develop interdisciplinary research with these characteristics, if the purpose is to provide information that is meaningful for local families and relevant for agricultural policies in this realm.