Download Session, 15 Section 1, Native American Communities

FOOD SOVEREIGNTY IN NATIVE
AMERICAN COMMUNITIES
REBUILDING FOOD SOVEREIGNTY
WHAT IS FOOD SOVEREIGNTY?
• Food sovereignty is that state of being in which “all
community residents obtain a safe, culturally acceptable,
nutritionally adequate diet through a sustainable food system
that maximizes community self-reliance and social justice.”
- Drs. Michael W. Hamm and Anne C. Bellows
• Food sovereignty is the right of peoples, communities, and
countries to define their own agricultural, labor, fishing, food
and land policies which are ecologically, socially,
economically and culturally appropriate to their unique
circumstances. It includes the true right to food and to
produce food, which means that all people have the right to
safe, nutritious and culturally appropriate food and to foodproducing resources and the ability to sustain themselves and
societies
- Food Sovereignty: A Right for All Political
Statement of the NGO/CSO Forum for Food Sovereignty
13 June 2002, Rome
WHAT IS “SOVEREIGNTY” IN NATIVE
AMERICAN COMMUNITIES?
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Specific Historical and Political Context
Treaty Making – Native Tribes as Sovereign Actors
Post 1970’s: Period of Self-Determination
What is Tribal Sovereignty?
WHAT IS A FOOD DESERT?
• “A food desert is any area in the industrialized world
where healthy, affordable food is difficult to obtain.
It is prevalent in rural as well as urban areas and is
most prevalent in low-socioeconomic minority
communities, and is associated with a variety of
diet-related health problems.”
• Access to healthy and quality food.
• Affordability.
• FOOD IS A SOCIAL JUSTICE ISSUE
CURRENT FOOD SYSTEM ON NAVAJO
NATION
FOOD DESERT DATA FOR TSAILE, AZ
ECONOMIC ISSUES
• Most communities on the Navajo Nation do not
offer formal retail venues outside of gas stations.
Although there are several communities on the
Navajo Nation that contain grocery stores, many
Navajo people chose to spend their money in
border towns off of the Navajo Nation due to lower
prices and increased services and goods, despite
long driving distances.
• Of the income that is generated on the Navajo
Nation, “over 64% of the Navajo money is spent in
off-reservation communities.” (NNDED, 2009, p.23)
• Unemployment rate at 70%
NUTRITIONALLY RELATED ILLNESS
• Native Americans have the highest rate of Diabetes of
any ethnic group in the United States
• Native Americans nation-wide: 16%
• Our best estimates are that today, close to 1 in 3
Navajos have Diabetes
• Native Americans and Navajo also have
disproportionately high rates of Obesity, Heart Disease,
Hypertension, and Cancer.
• This is a phenomenon caused by the destruction of a
self-sustaining food system and the imposition of the
modern American Food System
• 1937: 1 in 6000 Navajo found with Type 2 Diabetes
WHAT DO WE DO?
• “There is a better way and it
begins with restoring our
traditional foods. The
recovery of the people is tied
to the recovery of food, since
food itself is medicine, not
only for the body, but for the
soul, and for the spiritual
connection.” – Winona
LaDuke
HAJIINEE’
Note: Emergence
Water, Rainbow
Four Sacred Plants.
• Corn
• Beans
• Squash
• Tobacco
DINÉ FOOD TIMELINE; WHAT IS A
NATIVE DIET?
• Prior to European Arrival
• Cultivated Crops: Corn, Squash, Beans
• Potatoes, Tomatoes
• Wild Animals, Hunted Game Meats
• Deer, Antelope, Prairie Dogs
• Wild Plants
• Hundreds of Plants used for food and beverage
• Food Sources were self-sufficient and Local
• Largely Plant Based Diet
DINÉ FOOD TIMELINE; EUROPEAN
INFLUENCE
• 1500’s -1800’s – Influence of the Spanish
• The Spanish wrote extensively about Diné agriculture;
they referred to the Diné as the “Apachu de Nabahu,”
which according to some sources means “Apaches of the
cultivated fields”
• Introduction of Sheep, Cattle, Horses, Melons, Fruit Trees,
Peaches and other Fruit Trees, integrated into Diné
agriculture and the Diné Food System
• Flour, Sugar, Coffee obtained through trade in limited
quantities
DINÉ FOOD TIMELINE; AMERICAN
POLICY
• 1830-1840: The Americans come to the
Southwest
• 1851-1864: Scorch Earth Campaigns to Destroy Diné Crops
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1864 – 1868: Removal to Fort Sumner
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Dependence on the US government for food; flour, sugar, coffee are the corner
stones of government distributed food programs
the origins of fry-bread; government rations in treaty
• 1930’s: Sheep reduction program
• Destroyed Family Subsistence and Wealth - Increased dependence
• Boarding Schools
• Relocation Programs
• Dietary Influence – Value placed on Western Foods; Native Foods
viewed as “dirty” “backwards”
• Insistence on Dairy even though 75% of Native Americans are lactoseintolerant
DINÉ FOOD TIMELINE; COMMODITY
FOOD
• There are conflicting sources and dates as to when
a formal Federal food distribution program,
commonly known as “commodity food,” began on
the Navajo Nation, but most sources point to the
late 1950’s.
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Flour
Corn meal
Rice
Dry milk
Sugar
Syrup
Lard
Peanut butter
Dried beans
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Rolled wheat
Macaroni
Cereals
Butter
Cheese
Canned products
• Fruits
• Juices
• Beef, Pork, Chicken
• Vegetables
DINÉ FOOD TIMELINE, 1980-1990’S FOOD
SURVEYS
• 1968 – First Grocery Store, Window Rock
• By the 1980’s,
• soda and sweetened drinks, store bought bread, and milk
were commonplace in the Navajo Diet
• gardens were generally small and “no longer appeared to
be a major source of food for many families.”
• according to one study, “many of the traditional foods
were rarely if ever consumed.”
• early 1990’s
• Fruits and vegetables were reportedly consumed less than
once per day.
DINÉ FOOD TIMELINE; CURRENT
TRENDS
• Today:
• fried potatoes, fry-bread and tortillas, sugary drinks, and
processed meats most consumed
• The general trend: the decline of pre-contact foods and
the increase of non-native foods.
• These dietary changes did not occur by chance, but
were fostered by a series of American interventions and
policies; namely forced removal, the livestock reduction,
boarding schools, relocation, and food distribution
programs, along with the changes in a subsistence
lifestyles to wage based society.
NUTRITION; FOOD AS MEDICINE
Native Diet
• Juniper Ash – High in
Calcium (1 tsp. vs. 1
cup)
• Organ Meats
• Native Corn – high in
protein
American Diet
• Dairy
• Processed Meat,
Popular Cuts
• Commercial Corn –
high in starch and
sugar
Food is also being applied in the mental-health field. Gardening
and Farming in prisons and among troubled youth with great
results. There is also research that shows that Community-Based
Agriculture keeps communities and families together.
HOW DO WE REBUILD FOOD
SOVEREIGNTY?
• Decolonizing our mentality on food.
• Becoming aware of our food system issues and making
the connections to current health, economic,
environmental, and social issues.
• Public Education and raising awareness
• Establishing Points of Access
• Building Policy and Regional Support for
• Mobile Markets, Farmers’ Markets, Community Supported
Agriculture
• Ensuring Policy Supports local growers and regional
foods
• Community Land Use Planning
HOW DOES THIS NOTION OF FOOD
SOVEREIGNTY APPLY IN NON-NATIVE
COMMUNITIES?
• Indigenous knowledge benefits everyone.
• Are there Tribal Colleges in your area?
• Learn regional foods beyond conventional crops.
• What are the values that inform our food system?
What should they be?
CONTACT INFO
Dana Eldridge,
Policy Analyst
Diné Policy Institute
928.724.6942
[email protected]