Indigenous Peoples' food systems, nutrition, and gender: Conceptual and methodological considerations

Abstract

Indigenous Peoples, especially women and children, are affected disproportionately by malnutrition and diet-related health problems. Addressing this requires an investigation of the structural conditions that underlie unequal access to resources and loss of traditional lifestyles and necessitates inclusive approaches that shed light onto these issues and provide strategies to leverage change. Indigenous Peoples' food systems are inextricably connected to land, which in turn is interwoven with issues of self-determination, livelihoods, health, cultural and spiritual heritage, and gender. Ongoing loss of land and the dominant agri-food model further threaten Indigenous Peoples' food systems. Continuing gender-based discrimination undermines the self-determination and rights of women and negatively impacts their health, nutritional status, and overall well-being, as well as the well-being of households and communities. We suggest that feminist political ecology and modern matriarchal studies provide holistic interlinking frameworks for investigating underlying issues of power and inequality. We fur-

Reclaiming food security in the Mohawk community of Kahnawà:ke through Haudenosaunee responsibilities

“…The strengths of this study are its design and direction by Kahnawakehró:non researchers and its honouring of Kanien'kehá:ka methodologies. It reiterates the value of food security research based on Indigenous perspectives (Elliott et al, 2012;Lemke & Delormier, 2017). It is important for Indigenous communities to create knowledge oriented toward their goals for self-determination (Chilisa, 2012;Smith, 1999).…”

“…Consensus-based decision-making is a hallmark of Haudenosaunee governance (Horn-Miller, 2013). In practice, our team reached agreement through discussion on the purpose, study design, data interpretation, and findings (Delormier, McComber, & Macaulay, 2015;Hovey, Delormier, McComber, Lévesque, & Martin, 2017). Our methodology values community member's view points as the source of identifying ways to support self-determination and fortify community strengths and wellbeing (Chilisa, 2012;Smith, 1999).…”

“…Sustainable self-determination recognizes the value of local revitalization efforts within the current political and social context of colonial relationships that continue to dispossess and disconnect Indigenous Peoples from their lands and identities (Richmond & Ross, 2009). Our study contextualizes the experience of food insecurity by including the viewpoints of community key informants, and attending to the conditions that challenge and enable food security in analysis (Elliott et al, 2012).…”

Gender roles, food system biodiversity, and food security in Indigenous Peoples' communities

“…These considerations reflect the importance that Indigenous Peoples place on continued access to the land of their ancestors, and how essential it is to develop food sovereignty based in human rights and the human right to food (Kipuri, ). For Indigenous Peoples, this is the bedrock foundation of food and nutrition security (Damman, Kuhnlein, & Erasmus, ; Lemke & Delormier, ).…”

“…Four basic principles characterize this balance in matriarchal societies: (a) the economy is mutual among women and men with various ways of sharing—for example, through gift exchange; (b) kinship is matrilineal (disposition of resources through generations of the maternal line) and matrilocal (couples reside with the woman's family) with gender equality, but with mothers at the family centre; (c) political decision‐making in communities is by consensus, often by a council of male designates from families; (d) broad spirituality is expressed for divinity in the entire ecosystem. Further descriptions of gender‐based societies can be found in the article by Lemke and Delormier (). These principles have been reflected upon in several ways within the research reported in this special issue.…”