Indigenous Food Sovereignty in the United States: Restoring Cultural Knowledge, ProtectingEnvironments, and Regaining Health

This edited volume assembles contributions from a suite of Native scholar-activists to explore how the concept of food sovereignty applies to various Indigenous communities throughout the United States, and perhaps in distinct ways to US Indigeneity as a whole. Chapters range from descriptions of historical Native foodways and their undermining through processes associated with settler colonialism to examples of contemporary initiatives and activities that are working to reform food systems among Native communities in the United States. The content speaks to the diversity of US Native groups and the environmental contexts in which they were historically (or are currently) situated. Thus, the volume also highlights the diverse traditional subsistence systems that characterize(d) US Native peoples, including both historically agricultural and nonagricultural societies, and the unique challenges faced by various communities to maintain or regenerate traditional foodways. Ultimately, the chapters work together to assert that efforts to promote food sovereignty in US Indigenous communities are critical to individual and community health, cultural revitalization and continuity, intimate and sustainable human-environmental (or nonhuman) relationships, and political and economic autonomy.Notably, all the contributors have deeply personal connections with their focal topics. The authors largely identify with an Indigenous community, and most chapters begin with personal narratives that position the author within the community or food initiative being discussed. Additionally, an introductory chapter presents a collection of short biographical sketches about various activists, some of whom also contributed chapters, highlighting their experience and direct involvement in the Indigenous food movement and providing the reader with an overview of food-system issues and initiatives occurring throughout the United States.Although some chapters lean toward an academic audience, most are less concerned with the theoretical aspects of food sovereignty than providing an account of a group's history or current food autonomy-related project in ways that are accessible to a variety of readers, including those generally interested in the cultural dimensions of sustainable agriculture. The focus on US Indigenous groups limits engagement with (and forgoes explicitly making some potentially key contributions to) broader understandings of food sovereignty, which is noted by contributors as an evolving, complicated, and even problematic concept. For example, the book fails to directly address questions about how the phenomena described differ from issues in non-Indigenous communities in the US or from the experiences of communities in other parts of the world, particularly where the concept of food sovereignty originates (i.e., peasant communities in the Global South). Although elements of this may be clear to some readers, the cultural and sociopolitical aspects of US Indigeneity are in certain ways distinct from other groups working toward more sovereign food systems, including the displacement of some communities from their Native lands, the degradation of key traditional resources, and the focus on the documentation and restoration of traditional foodways as both a means of building food sovereignty and for revitalization of identity. Thus, while the conclusion highlights that the book is in part an attempt to grapple with what is unique about US Indigenous food sovereignty, to do so in relative isolation proves challenging.Ultimately, Indigenous Food Sovereignty in the United States achieves its central goal: to recount activities and ideas that support the rebuilding of more autonomous and culturally significant Native food systems in the United States. The book provides a suite of specific examples and case studies that can help readers begin to understand the heterogeneity of traditional and contemporary food systems that characterize Indigenous communities throughout the US, as well as qualities, attributes, and challenges shared by these groups. In conversation with other texts and media, Indigenous Food Sovereignty in the United States can help to expose readers to the unique position of US Indigenous groups' efforts. Thus, this book, which includes a study question list for each chapter in an addendum, is well positioned to serve as a key text for courses covering environmental justice and sustainable food systems.