Indigenous Agroecology and Foodways | Selected Clips from the Joint 2016 Meeting of the Agrarian Trust and Biodynamics Association
NATIVE FOOD SOVEREIGNTY ACTIVISTS PRESENT AT ANNUAL BIODYNAMICS
MEETING
Moderator’s Note: From Chile to Alaska, we are
witnessing the resurgence of indigenous foodways, agroecology, and the heritage
cuisines. Among Mesoamericans and other Mexican-origin peoples on both sides of
the border many people are returning to the milpa-based diets of our ancestors.
I thought it opportune to share these two YouTube video clips from the joint
meeting of The Agrarian Trust and the Biodynamics Association held in Santa Fe,
New Mexico this past November 17, 2016.
The clips were published by the Agrarian Trust on Dec 1, 2016. These clips document part of a half-day workshop at the Biodynamic Conference focused on “Land
as Commons: Tracing the Acequia Commons.” Participants included Dr. Devon G.
Pena, William deBuys, and Tezozomoc.
The half-day session explored issues surrounding the acequias systems in the
desert Southwest including geography and ecology, exploring the social
architecture of direct resources control, and learning lessons about
evolutionary design and conflict management. All are relevant challenges and
strategies far beyond the Southwest region.
In the first clip, Dr. Peña, founder
and president of The Acequia Institute, discusses the acequia “watershed
commonwealth” and outlines the history of the conflicts between acequia water
law and the doctrine of prior appropriation in Colorado. He also outlines
responses and strategies to legal, political, economic, and ecological challenges
(e.g., climate chaos) including efforts to ban the planting of transgenic corn
and alfalfa in Costilla County. CLIP LINK
HERE.
In the second clip, Tezozomoc, a founding
member and executive director of the South Central Farmers Health and Educational
Fund and Cooperative, discusses some of the pithy theoretical concepts and
discourses he has explored as a result of his engagement with food justice and
food autonomy activism. Of particular interest here is his detailed history of
how the farmers survived after the mass police action and eviction from their
famous urban farm in South Los Angeles in 2006. CLIP LINK HERE.
Comments
Post a Comment