The Importance of Food Sovereignty

This interactive story map attempts to not only demonstrate the need for food sovereignty in Duluth, but it also will introduce a collaborative plan on how to guide the UMD Land Lab in working with the American Indian Community Housing Organization (AICHO) in order to ensure food sovereignty for the Anishaabe community in Duluth. This story map will signify the importance of food sovereignty through providing examples of collaborative partnerships, whilst displaying the need for this alliance by demonstrating the urgent and essential need for these intercultural partnerships.

Food sovereignty can be defined as the right to choose what food to eat, where it comes from, and how it is grown. However, the Anishinaabe community in Duluth is lacking this fundamental cultural right due to the lack of resources available.

Throughout this story map, it is important to note that this group is not of indigenous descent. This story map broadly attempts to propose a solution to the lack of allotted land to MN Chippewa tribes. It is also important to recognize that Chippewa and Ojibwe are interchangeable terms. The Ojibwe population refers to themselves as the Anishinaabe, meaning "the original people". In order to preserve their tradition, we will be referring to the MN Chippewa/Ojibwe population as "Anishinaabe" in order to recognize the cultural importance of acknowledging their initial existence in the United States that is too often forgotten in America's dishonorable imperial history.

The map displayed above outlines all of the Native land reserved to indigenous people. If you click on each color in the map, it identifies which indigenous tribe the respective land belongs to, along with the allotted amount of acres designated to each plot of land. After analyzing the map and its pop-up configurations, one is able to recognize that although the "Local" owner is the local indigenous community, the "Manager" is the Bureau of Indian Affairs, along with the Minnesota Agency of the BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs). This interactive map outlines the reserved land for various indigenous communities throughout the Midwest, so let's take a closer look at our Duluth community.

This map outlines the designated land given to indigenous tribes in the Duluth area. As we can see, compared to the other regions in the Midwest, the indigenous community in Duluth does not have nearly as much land in order to farm, live, and practice traditional practices. As we can see, the designated land given to indigenous communities is over the Fond Du Lac Reservation. The Fond Du Lac Reservation is in Cloquet, MN, about 20 minutes from Duluth. This reservation was initiated in response to the LaPointe Treaty of 1854. The Fond Du Lac Reservation is home to the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe.

If you click on the button above, all of the MN Chippewa Tribe's Reservations are outlined on this map. The main reservations are located at the previously mentioned Fond Du Lac, along with Leech Lake, White Earth, Bois Forte, and Mille Lacs. Although there are some reservations throughout Minnesota, most of the MN Anishinaabe community does not have sufficient land in order to practice their traditional farming techniques. Without this land, their traditions are at stake; with no land, there is no way to educate the younger generations to continue these agricultural traditions.

One of the proudest and most prominent traditions of the Anishinaabe tribes includes, but is not limited to, the harvesting of wild rice, or as known according to Anishinaabe tribes, "manoomin". This video includes the process to harvesting wild rice. An important aspect to this video is the mentioning of how 95% of the wild rice sold in commercial grocery stores is grown in on commercialized farms in northern California, and is not grown traditionally. The importance of wild rice is a principal tradition of not only agriculture, but of life as well. Wild rice is one of the first solid foods that an Anishinaabe baby will eat, along with one of their last meals as an elderly.

Aside from Wild Rice, Anishinaabe communities value their relationship with food as a whole. Tashia Hart, a culinary indigebotanist from Red Lake Nation, recounts the importance of food:

"When we talk about Indigenous Foods we’re ultimately talking about relationship. We’re talking about the foods that have historically nurtured and shaped our bodies, our cultures, and our traditions as Indigenous Peoples of this land base we know as Turtle Island from our (Anishinaabeg) creation stories. Other tribes have different names for this land base. In turn, the history of each of our Indigenous Foods is also tied to this land, and to us. Our histories are a shared one. This is what makes people, plants, and animals Indigenous to a place—a historical ‘upbringing’ if you will, in a shared space on our our Maamaa Aki, Mother Earth."

Overall, the need for food sovereignty within the Anishinaabe communities is imminent. The ecological relationship that Anishinaabe communities have with the cultivating, harvesting, and the consumption of their food play an integral role in their culture. This is an issue of food sovereignty, since the Anishinaabe community in Duluth lacks the resources and agricultural access to produce their own food in large quantities.

The American Indian Community Housing Organization (AICHO) was started in 1993 in order to combat the lack of resources given to the Anishinaabe community in Duluth. Their operating philosophy states that "every Native American deserves to live in a non-violent and non-threatening environment and has the right to be treated with dignity and respect". Although AICHO initially tackled the rights of Anishinaabe people to basic resources, the organization evolved into something greater, and continues to work to alter the current systems of oppression and colonization. However, during our class field trip to AICHO, we learned that although the Anishinaabe community only composes around 3% of the Duluth population, it makes up 30% of the homeless community in Duluth. This is an issue of the lack of cultural recognition within both the federal and state government that needs to be challenged.

The button above is a direct link to AICHO's website. Their website provides information regarding volunteer work, upcoming events, and much more. Please check out their website in order to learn more before advancing in our story map.

In addition to combating the institutionalized systems that result in the lack of resources for the Anishinaabe community, AICHO also has plans to establish the Niiwin Indigenous Foods Market. The mission and the components of this food market are detailed below:

"AICHO, as a nonprofit organization, will develop and operate the new Niiwin Indigenous Foods Market as a corner grocery store that offers fresh and affordable staples and creates the region’s first Indigenous-focused speciality retail space. Niiwin Market will also feature an Indigenous café and coffee shop, with planned programming to offer access and education on Indigenous foods and cuisine."

In order to make the Niiwi Indigenous Food Market feasible, they are in need of fiscal donations. If you are able, please click the button above and donate!

The University of Minnesota Duluth's Land Lab is located five miles from the UMD campus. The Land Lab consists of ten acres of organic farmland, along with a five-acre apple orchard. Overall, the Land Lab possesses 30 acres in order to house both internal UMD research, along with outreach programs. On their website, their goal is "to explore how to create a food system that meets the needs of all community residents and to serve as an incubator for community and university interaction with the Northland’s natural systems" (UMD 2020).

This photo was taken from Google Images. The Land Lab parters with UMD Dining Services, ensuring that the food that is produced is not wasted, along with the importance of eating locally. The Land Lab has done an outstanding job in organic farming and educating the UMD and Duluth community regarding sustainable farming practices.

The Land Acknowledgment was collaboratively written by the Department of American Indian Studies, the Campus Climate Leadership Team, Campus Climate Change Team, participants at the 2019 Summit on Equity, Race, & Ethnicity, and was endorsed by the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council on June 4, 2019. The following excerpt is the UMD Land Acknowledgment written in 2019:

This acknowledgment is a huge step in recognizing the history of American imperialism and its everlasting impact; however, in the context of this acknowledgment, it is important to recognize that imperialism is not past-tense, rather than an ongoing issue of liberties, specifically the rights and liberties of the Anishinaabe community. But what if we could do more?

Throughout this research, we have been in contact with Cole Grotting, the Operations Manager of the UMD Land Lab. He has affirmed that the Land Lab has approximately 10 acres of organically managed farmland for annual crops, and he has also affirmed that he has substantial flexibility in growing any crop that has the ability to grow in the Northland climate.

Although there has been plenty of intentions in the Land Lab partnering with AICHO, our group believes that there can be a firm plan on going about this intercultural, collaborative partnership with the guidance and participation of Cole Grotting and Professor Teresa Bertossi. Through this partnership, the ideal course of action would entail a representative from AICHO working with their economic development plan in relation to agricultural tradition. The class could tentatively be instructed by Professor Bertossi (who has thoroughly demonstrated the importance of food sovereignty), along with the respective representative from AICHO. The class syllabus could include topics regarding indigenous agriculture, the University of Minnesota's role in colonization, and a more specific analysis of the food sovereignty movement. Through this collaborative partnership, a symbiotic relationship can be created through AICHO and UMD by not only sharing agricultural access, but also ensuring that UMD students are aware of their ancestral history that is contingent with modern-day colonization. This enlightenment of UMD students will allow them to recognize their privilege, along with empowering the Anishinaabe community in Duluth.

Our group has the intention to move forward with a class proposal during the fall semester. Although we will no longer be enrolled in Sustainable Food Systems, our group wants to see this project all the way through. The proposed class could satisfy either a Sustainability or Global Perspectives liberal education requirement. With the assistance of the (very) well-informed Professor Bertossi, we believe that this could be a tangible class for UMD students in the future.

There are many social injustices within the Anishinaabe community, such as alarming domestic violence statistics, homelessness, ongoing colonialism, and many more. Through our research and proposing a class to UMD, we believe that we can take the first of many steps in order to empower the Anishinaabe community of Duluth. Whether you are a student, professor, administrator, or a member of the Anishinaabe community, we hope that our research thus far can guide us to a more equitable and just Duluth community. Through the integrated course proposal, we hope to both combat the ongoing issue of food sovereignty of the Anishinaabe community, along with educating the students at the University of Minnesota Duluth in regards to ongoing colonialism.