The idea of food sovereignty — or people having the right to control where and how they get food — is growing throughout the U.S. It especially resonates with Native Americans, many of whom have been separated from their cultural food by centuries of colonization, leading to systemic food insecurity and health disparities.
“I think we have to be cognizant of the historical role that the federal government and the American people have played in displacing the indigenous plants and animals to begin with,” said Heather Dawn Thompson, director of the Office of Tribal Relations at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Thompson, who is a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, knows about the systemic factors at play. She said the U.S. government tried to eliminate bison while settling America, leaving Native American tribes without a food source and without their sovereignty.
The impact of those efforts by early settlers on Native Americans hasn’t faded into the past. According to a study in the Food Security journal, researchers found Native Americans make up less than 2% of the U.S. population, but they suffer from some of the highest rates of food insecurity, poverty, diet-related diseases and other socio-economic challenges.
Growing Against the Grain
Indigenous organizations across the Midwest are building new formal food sovereignty programs from the ground up.
At the First Nations Development Institute in Colorado, they’re combating systemic food insecurity by helping Indigenous communities find grants and other resources to connect with their own food.
“When we’re talking about Indigenous communities, especially on this continent, we’ve always been here, we’ve always been trying to feed our people, we've always been working to steward lands and water and seeds,” said A-dae Briones, director of programs at the institute. “But it’s only recently that you see more formal organizations such as non-profits led by Indigenous people explicitly stating that’s part of their work.”
Briones, who is Cochiti Puebloan and Kiowa Indian, said it wasn’t until less than a century ago that the U.S. government allowed Indigenous peoples to participate in the American economy. She said it's no surprise it's taken a few generations for Indigenous Peoples to gain the skills and access to build formal food sovereignty programs.
”I think what we see now in food sovereignty is this attempt to pierce some of the colonial structures, whether that be government regulations or economic disparities that prevent Indigenous people from really building models of a food system or participating in traditional models of food growing,” said Briones.
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July 25, 2022 at 05:05PM
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Native Americans Across Midwest Embrace Traditional Foods Rejected By Centuries of Colonization - Nebraska Public Media | News
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