Food Security & Indigenous Youth - A Program

Transcription

1 The Meeting of Brazilian and Canadian Indigenous Youth. June 2007 Center for Studies in Food Security Ryerson University Edited by Rita Simone Liberato

2 The project Indigenous Youth Exploring Identities through Food Security aims to: Identify how food and food security impacts the cultural identities of Indigenous youth: in different geographic locations in the Americas with distinct (and yet, similar) colonization histories living in different social, political, economic, and natural environments. Bring together the needs and struggles of two different Indigenous communities through the important issue of food -- in its material and symbolic manifestations. Assist in carrying out a preliminary investigation of how issues of food security manifest themselves in relation to youth in these two communities.

3 Background Developed as a collaboration between the Centre for Studies in Food Security at Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada, and partners in Araçuaí, Brazil (Fevale University and Fênix Research Institute). Designed to leverage an opportunity provided by the six-year ( ) training and education project Building Capacity in Food Security in Brazil, supported by the University Partnership in Cooperation and Development of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA-UPCD project). Intends to investigate two communities as parallel case studies which will illuminate and inform each other through the generation of questions, issues and approaches that can be transposed to the different sites. Canadian community: Mi kmaq community of Elsipogtog First Nation in New Brunswick Brazilian community: Pataxo and Pankararu community of Brazil.

4 Village Cinta Vermelha-Jundiba

5 Village Cinta Vermelha Jundiba 716 Km from Belo Horizonte, the Capital of the State of Minas Gerais Five families A small school Subsistence agriculture Small production of crafts

6 Toê Pankararu Yamany Pataxó Itxai Pataxó Teacher Chief Teacher

7 I think that it is important to know the Canadian Indigenous peoples, their structures and food. Their lives are full of rituals, but society has invaded and destroyed these traditions, with prejudice against Indigenous peoples. Those who are different from the dominant group do not have a place anymore. Geralda Soares (Brazilian Researcher and Educator)

8 Food and Identity Village Aldeia Cinta Vermelha Jundiba is rich in Cultural Identity. Its diet is maniocbased and its drinks and medicinal herbs help them maintain full lives. Everything is so beautiful. Perhaps with the invasion of large agricultural projects, this diversity of millenary knowledge will be destroyed. Geralda Soares (Brazilian Researcher and Educator)

9 National Aboriginal Day During National Aboriginal Day, the Indigenous guests from Brazil walked and sang together with their relatives in Canada. They easily related to the traditional food, crafts and dances of the Aboriginal Nations at the celebration. For the first time, they drank the sacred strawberry juice offered by Daniel Mi kmaq to the chief Toê Pankararu.

10 Mi'kmaq youth Katrina Clair and Duma Dean Simon at a day of support for Aboriginal peoples' rights in Toronto. Food security is only one aspect of well being and holistic health for Aboriginal peoples. Everything is connected, including land reclamations and treaty rights.

11 Meeting at Ryerson University With Cecília Rocha, Cyndy Baskin, Judy New, Wayne Roberts and RAs of the CSFS Today [at the National Aboriginal Day Celebration] is an important day for us, because we met our relatives and we felt at home. We felt that the Indigenous fight is worldwide, with the same goal. Despite the fact that we do not speak English, we made friends. Probably because of our cultural ties, or the energy of Mother Earth and the Spirit, we could communicate. (Toê Pankararu)

12 I have a dream to develop the Permaculture project in our Village. We don t want to destroy nature, but want to work to reconstruct it. Our region is very arid and has been depreciated by human action. We don t have water so we need to build dams and collect rainwater to start our project. We were very enthusiastic when Professor Cyndy Baskin went to our Village in When we got the invitation to come to Canada, we were very happy. Our excitement to meet our Indigenous relatives here was high. (Itxai Pataxó has a technical degree in Agriculture Techniques and is studying at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, in the Bachelor Program for Indigenous Educators)

13 I feel that being a woman is important because the Indigenous women in Brazil have been leaders in the development movement, especially around the fight for land. We want our Village to have our face. We are educating our children reinforcing the value of respecting each other and our traditions. We want to live in community. Language is very important in this process of reconstruction because in the past our elders were prohibited to speak in the Pataxó Language. For that reason, we are developing the Pataxó Dictionary. We have already collected words. Through teaching our children and elders we are also learning a lot. (Yamany Pataxó has a College degree in Indigenous Education and is enrolled at the Bachelor Program for Indigenous Education at the Federal University of Minas Gerais)

14 Crafts are important to our traditions and subsistence livelihood. We sell our crafts to some visitors in our Village, at events in the capital, and during some events to which we are invited. (Yamany Pataxó)

15 Two years ago, when this small group of Indigenous people arrived in Cinta Vermelha Jundiba, others here said that they came to this dry land to die. Instead, they have opened a window of opportunity to everyone. Peasants in this region usually go to São Paulo or Mato Grosso to work on sugar farms. Now, with the Permaculture project, they are showing that when we engage in adequate reforestation, the land will respond with abundance. (Geralda Soraes - Brazilian Researcher and Educator)

16 Visiting Indigenous Agencies in Toronto - Council Fire; - Anishnawbe Health;

17 Pow Wow Traditionally greetings to the Creator are made for everything that Mother Earth gives to Her sons and daughters. Visitors from around the world participated in this celebration. Music, crafts and food were featured in this event.

18 Visit to Six Nations I realized that the Indigenous peoples in Canada have in their culture the same meaning for the moon: Our Grandmother. (Yamany Pataxó Six Nations)

19 Six Nations

20 Seminar: Indigenous Youth Exploring Identities through Food Security Cyndy Baskin Cecília Rocha, Bonnie Guarisco Toê Pankararu Itxai Pataxó Yamany Pataxó Katrina Clair Duma Dean Simon Elisa Levy Ann Pohl Geralda Soares Bernadete Nóbrega Rita Simone Liberato (Ryerson University)

21 From left to right, Bonnie Guarisco (Anishnabe), Katrina Clair (Mi'kmaq), Antonio Cesar (Itxai Pataxó), Sinoeme (Yamany Pataxó), Duma Dean (Mi'kmaq) and (in front) Ivanildo (Toe Pankararu) at the June workshop in Toronto. Despite being from different geographical locations and Indigenous Nations, there are many similarities amongst us in terms of world views, values, spiritualities and a history of colonization.

22 Paulo Freire Schools in Brazil do not teach Indigenous History. During the 1980s, I went to live with the Maxacali people. During that period, we had a military dictatorship in my country-- a harsh regime with censorship, violence, and murders. We found our inspiration in Paulo Freire. We were a clandestine group reading in Spanish, because his books were prohibited in the Brazilian Universities. He is very important to my education. (Geralda Soares) Paulo Freire was very important to my education too. I believe that Paulo Freire is very relevant in the region where I m working because we have a high level of illiteracy, including functional illiteracy." (Ann Poole)

23 Education Education is very important to us. We believe that our children don t start education at a particular time. Right after birth, they bring knowledge and begin the learning process. We do not separate them from the adults. They learn alongside us each day. (Toê Pankararu)

24 Our population is around 3,000 people, with good and bad things. The good things are the presence of our elders and our traditions. The bad are the drugs in our community. (Duma Dean Mi kmaq)

25 When we say youth, identity and food what comes to mind? There is a connection with family. Food has the power to bring people together. (Elisa Levy) Our tradition is to sit in a circle around the food. This is our family time. (Itxai) We share the food and eat together. (Yamany) Food is important to our spiritual traditions." (Katrina)

26 From left to right, : Dr. Cyndy Baskin, Katrina Clair and Duma Dean Simon. Pizza is not a Mi'kmaq traditional food, but seafood such as lobster and clams, fish such as salmon and smelts, fiddleheads, strawberries and blueberries are.

27 Food and Identity We have some events around food, such as the water celebration in October, to bless nature and the rainy season. At this time we go to a special house (cabana) where each family prepares their food. After that, we sing and dance with the maraca. We are planning to reconstruct the forest around our Village with special trees from our culture. Doing this we can teach our children about our rituals. We moved to this place two years ago and we do not have easy access to our traditional foods. (Itxai Pataxó)

28 What would you like to know about youth, identity and food that could be of benefit to your community? Permaculture - an inventive agricultural project based on our own traditions. -main idea: to make the cultured habitat sustainable. - goal: to create a safe environment for humans, plants, animals, soils, and waters. - based on the observation of natural processes and uses ecological principles to increase diversity and productivity of local human ecosystems.

29 Time to go back home Katrina Clair and Duma Dean Simon have much to tell their families, friends and community leadership about food security, their time spent with Indigenous peoples from Brazil and their visits with many Aboriginal peoples in Toronto. They hope to start a youth community garden in the future at Elsipogtog First Nation where they live.

30 Optimism Our identity is the most important thing that we have. We love who we are. We enjoy painting our faces and bathing together in the river. For us, this is happiness. In our Village everything is shared, our life is shared. We do not live for material things and do not strive to accumulate things. We miss the river we once had, and the forest and natural resources that are now gone. We fight for a comfortable life because if we do not have money to buy food it is difficult. This is the reason why we want to have a farm in our Village. (Toê Pankararu)

31 References Baskin,C. & Rocha,C.(2007). Project Indigenous Youth Exploring Identities through Food Security. Toronto, Canada. Liberato, R. (2007). Relatorio: Encontro de Indígenas Brasileiros e Canadenses [Report: Meeting of Brazilian and Canadian Indigenous]. Toronto, Canada. Photography by Alessandro Shinoda, Dr. Cyndy Baskin and the Centre for Studies in Food Security.