Members of Michigan’s Indigenous communities are coming together this week to explore how food connects them to their past, present and future.
The Indigenous Food Sovereignty Summit wrapped up Wednesday at Michigan State University. The event had sessions on manoomin harvesting, foraging and sugar bushing among other traditional food gathering practices.
Tribal Extension Educator and member of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, Emily Proctor explains what food sovereignty means to her.
"Food sovereignty is the ability for my home tribal community, nation to contribute to a food system that increases our health and well-being, the ability to self govern, to have self-determination and to address the entire food system itself, from regulatory to valuing our relatives, our seeds themselves."
She notes the phrase "food sovereignty" might mean something unique to different tribal and Native communities.
Growing up, Proctor says she associated produce like corn, berries, squash and rhubarb with her community as well as practices like controlled burning to clear brush and encourage the growth of certain berries and grasses.
"As a child, I understood the difference from where food is grown to where we pick it up on a shelf from a larger corporation."
Proctor says that pursuing food sovereignty for Indigenous communities can require a shift to a more holistic way of thinking about the world around us.
"Humility can be difficult given the society that we live in that prioritizes monetary, that prioritizes fast pace, making the most bang for your buck, whereas this is an opportunity to live in collaboration and partnership with those around you, and it's just as valid and equal and rewarding," she said.
She says government resources and funding as well as increased cultural understanding and support from allies are key as well.
"I think everybody has a role in our food system, be it Indigenous, tribal, beyond, everybody has a role. Everyone has a basic need to eat food and to have healthy food available to them."
Interview Highlights
On Indigenous food sovereignty
For me, food sovereignty is the ability for my home tribal community, nation to contribute to a food system that increases our health and well being, the ability to self govern, to have self-determination and to address the entire food system itself, from regulatory to valuing our relatives, our seeds themselves. This morning, during our conference session was impactful for me because it allowed me to open and expand my understanding of our relatives and the role that we have in our food system, from caring for seeds, sharing seeds to planting and understanding that our soil is a relative as well.
On reviving traditional practices and ways of understanding food systems
It's a holistic way of living and being. It's understanding there are stories and songs that go along with our seeds and learning how we are in relationship, no matter what era we're in. In contemporary times, we can still have that connection. And as humans, coming from place of humility and of respect. And humility can be difficult given the society that we live in that prioritizes monetary, that prioritizes fast pace, making the most bang for your buck, whereas this is an opportunity to live in collaboration and partnership with those around you, and it's just as valid and equal and rewarding.
On the role of non-Indigenous people can play
I think everybody has a role in our food system, be it Indigenous, tribal, beyond, everybody has a role. Everyone has a basic need to eat food and to have healthy food available to them. And what we have is an opportunity to work with individuals who aren't, per se, from our communities, as allies, listening, bringing resources to the table, sharing information, being humble, also knowing that these practices have been a part of our communities for time immemorial, and also understanding there are boundaries as well. But allies are essential, and there is a home and a role for everyone in all of this work.
Interview Transcript
Sophia Saliby: Members of Michigan's Indigenous communities are coming together this week to explore how food connects them to their past, present and future.
The Indigenous Food Sovereignty Summit wrapped up Wednesday at Michigan State University.
I stopped by the event to talk with Tribal Extension Educator and member of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, Emily Proctor about the summit and what it means for all of the state.
I started by asking her what Indigenous food sovereignty meant to her and why it's important.
Proctor: Indigenous tribal food sovereignty is unique to each individual, village, clan, community, tribal government, tribal college, tribal community. It's unique in definition, in practice, in value, in belief. For me, food sovereignty is the ability for my home tribal community, nation to contribute to a food system that increases our health and well being, the ability to self govern, to have self-determination and to address the entire food system itself, from regulatory to valuing our relatives, our seeds themselves.
This morning, during our conference session was impactful for me because it allowed me to open and expand my understanding of our relatives and the role that we have in our food system, from caring for seeds, sharing seeds to planting and understanding that our soil is a relative as well.
So, I look at our food system holistically and when it comes to broader society, the role that we have in our broader food system as caring for our land that we grow our beautiful relatives, our seeds in, but also the animals role when it comes to spreading those seeds far and wide, to the care that it takes to maintain and care for those plants as they come to fruition with harvest, and then at some point, getting those into our communities, homes, bodies, and at some point, working with the broader food system to have those in food markets, supermarkets, farm markets.
So, when we think of a food system, it's a value that I hold. As we heard this morning, food is not a commodity, it's a relative, and it's vital for our existence and to be in that relationship with our food and all that it takes to grow.
Saliby: When you think about growing up, what were the foods that connected you to your community or made you think about being Indigenous?
Proctor: Corn, asparagus, strawberries, blackberries, blueberries and rhubarb and okosimaan, our squash and pumpkins.
Saliby: Was there a moment, maybe later in life, when you connected the dots between those early food memories, eating those with your family or your community, and experiences with maybe intentional practice of understanding these are a part of a system?
Proctor: I'll say when it came to using fire to burn part of our land to assist in the growth of our berries and our grasses, and understanding the difference of homegrown food, and knowing that our food comes fully processed in cans as well from larger corporations. So, as a child, I understood the difference from where food is grown to where we pick it up on a shelf from a larger corporation.
Saliby: We're at the summit with talks and panels. What are you taking away from this event?
Proctor: I am taking away from this summit, the deeper connection to my relatives, as far as people, to plants, to seeds to soil, it's a holistic way of living and being. It's understanding there are stories and songs that go along with our seeds and learning how we are in relationship, no matter what era we're in.
In contemporary times, we can still have that connection. And as humans, coming from place of humility and of respect. And humility can be difficult given the society that we live in that prioritizes monetary, that prioritizes fast pace, making the most bang for your buck, whereas this is an opportunity to live in collaboration and partnership with those around you, and it's just as valid and equal and rewarding.
Saliby: For people who are non-Indigenous listening to this conversation, do they have a role in this? Or should they? Do they have the space to be involved in kind of maintaining the food systems you're talking about?
Proctor: Yes, they do. I think everybody has a role in our food system, be it Indigenous, tribal, beyond, everybody has a role. Everyone has a basic need to eat food and to have healthy food available to them.
And what we have is an opportunity to work with individuals who aren't, per se, from our communities, as allies, listening, bringing resources to the table, sharing information, being humble, also knowing that these practices have been a part of our communities for time immemorial, and also understanding there are boundaries as well. But allies are essential, and there is a home and a role for everyone in all of this work.
Saliby: To end this conversation, beyond the event this week, what is the path toward achieving food sovereignty? This is a big question, but is it legislation? Is it awareness? Something internal within your communities or something else? Maybe all the above?
Proctor: Actually, all of the above. What I will say though, looking at it from a government perspective, it's understanding how resources do make a difference, and it's understanding where resources are allocated and how they support those on the ground doing this work. There has to be that connection and understanding, but there's also the understanding that this will continue on no matter what happens.
Our communities have made it through horrific times, and yet, here we are, and that's also with allies. So, resources and funding, building capacity, respecting other belief systems, understanding that each community has their own, but we also have an opportunity to keep going and building that allyship across different ways of knowing.
Saliby: That was Emily Proctor, one of the organizers of the Indigenous Food Sovereignty Summit.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and conciseness.
