Before the arrival of white settlers in the Pacific Northwest, indigenous populations of Native Americans, such as the Karuk and the Kalapuya, were locally adapted to the land. There is ample evidence of such populations living in harmony with nature and although it is known that they influenced their environment, it is generally agreed that they did not diminish it (Burke, 2002). In fact, they were able to sustainably manage the land in ways that resulted in them being amongst the wealthiest of tribes. This co-evolution with creation is far different from the exploitative and commodity driven lifestyle that is so often associated with the rise of Western civilization.
Today, these same indigenous communities are denied access to their traditional way of life. Not only have their resources been depleted and their physical environment damaged, but they have also been subjected to the full effects of institutional racism, which is defined in one source as “the routinized outcome of practices that create or reproduce hierarchical social structure based on essential racial categories” (Norgaard, 2012, 3). This institutionalized form of racism is exhibited today as well as in past relationships with Native Americans. As if mass genocide and relocation, lack of recognition of land occupancy and title, and forced assimilation wasn’t enough, indigenous populations now grow increasingly hungry as a result of this cultural disruption. David Arwood of the now impoverished Karuk tribe explains, “Our way of life has been taken away from us. We can no longer gather the food that we [once] gathered. We pretty much lost the ability to gather those foods and to manage the land the way our ancestors managed the land”(Norgaard 2012, 6).
While native communities struggle to live out their traditional diet and land management practices as their ancestors did, there is an increase in concern by non-natives pertaining to the more industrial food system. Rising in popularity is the notion that “globalization trends were wreaking havoc on family farms, migrant farmworkers, fishermen, and consumer food choices” (Nabhan 2002: 262). Alternate food systems are thus viewed as a way to reconnect consumers to their local environment. Inspiration for this sort of restructuring of food systems is drawn from the traditional subsistence practices of Native Americans in the hopes of restoring natural ecosystems to a state that will “provide for human needs while preserving biodiversity” (Burke, 2002, 5). However, while the worried will work to kindle a relationship with the land as the indigenous once had, those who possess the sought after ecological knowledge are increasingly becoming more rare. The forced assimilation of Native Americans has resulted in the loss of cultural and local knowledge by native youth and further increased their dependency on government food assistance.
In this ever-increasing urbanized environment, is it even realistic to imagine ourselves in such a relationship with the land? While I agree that such a system would benefit society and no doubt the environment in many ways, I believe that such a shift in the system is much more complicated than implied. In addition to the question of whether or not food production would be enough to meet nutritional and caloric recommendations even on a local scale, it is important to address the fact that many of the idealized subsistence practices once used by Native Americans (such as controlled burning, hunting, and mushroom gathering) are now heavily regulated and even deemed illegal. If reinhabitation of the land is to occur in the future, how will we address the issue of institutional racism-especially if the very foundation of the movement stems from Native American cultures?
Works Cited
Burke, Eric. 2002. “Food Systems in the Mary’s River Region and Reinhabitation.” M.A. Thesis. Oregon State University. Ch. 1 and 3.
DuPuis, Melanie E., Jill Lindsey Harrison and David Goodman. “Just Food?” Cultivating Food Justice: Race, Class and Sustainability. 2012.
Norgaard, Kari. “Institutional Racism, Hunger, and Nutritional Justice on the Klamath”. In Cultivating Food Justice: Race, Class and Sustainability. Alkon, J.H. and Agyeman, J. eds. Cambridge: MIT Press. 2012. Ch. 2.
I think you are correct in asserting that it is important for those of us who are involved in an alternative food system movement to learn from and draw inspiration and knowledge from indigenous people in local regions. I think it is critical in establishing a framework of justice and cultural sovereignty and respect to the diversity of life in all its forms.
I think it is also important that as a combined force, we begin to look for ways on a political scale to confront the evils of globalization and industrialization. This kind of large-scale movement can only come from a diverse population of peoples and cultures united through bonds of compassion, respect, care for future generations, and above all our shared humanity and dependency on the health and vitality of Mother Earth.