Indigenous Food Sovereignty in the US

Get your copy, DCAA's Denisa Livingston is a co-contributor! 

2020 Gourmand Food and Culture Awards, University Presses
2020 Gourmand International Book Awards, Arctic
2020 Gourmand International Book Awards, Food Heritage
Daniel F. Austin Award, Society for Economic Botany

Centuries of colonization and other factors have disrupted indigenous communities’ ability to control their own food systems.

This volume explores the meaning and importance of food sovereignty for Native peoples in the United States,

and asks whether and how it might be achieved and sustained.

Unprecedented in its focus and scope, this collection addresses nearly every aspect of indigenous food sovereignty, from revitalizing ancestral gardens and traditional ways of hunting, gathering, and seed saving to the difficult realities of racism, treaty abrogation, tribal sociopolitical factionalism, and the entrenched beliefs that processed foods are superior to traditional tribal fare. The contributors include scholar-activists in the fields of ethnobotany, history, anthropology, nutrition, insect ecology, biology, marine environmentalism, and federal Indian law, as well as indigenous seed savers and keepers, cooks, farmers, spearfishers, and community activists. After identifying the challenges involved in revitalizing and maintaining traditional food systems, these writers offer advice and encouragement to those concerned about tribal health, environmental destruction, loss of species habitat, and governmental food control.