I have taken many indigenous studies classes and been interested in our food system and world food systems for many years (I am a mature student) so the readings assigned this week reminded me of other readings I have read, and I believe one of them I read years ago for another class.
It is very important to rethink our education system and what I found interesting many years ago when I took my first indigenous studies class and still find interesting to this day, is that I do not like the current educational system that Smith refers to as the Western education and I was always more of a fan of the way that indigenous studies classes were taught and the ways methods of learning were practised. This makes me wonder if other settler offspring have a similar experience, because the article seems to be written with the assumption that others enjoy it, when in fact that has not been my experience at all. I am all for change and ready to see it take its many different forms that are being brought about.
The other articles that goes more into food and food growing did not really bring up any new points that I had not been previously introduced to, but really highlighted to me how food – this driving force for society, is so inherently valuable yet so undervalued in society. A lot of food is imported to Canada and the US from Mexico where it can be produced and purchased for as cheaply as possible, using the cheapest, fastest and least environmentally friendly methods of cultivation and transportation and yet it is, like Belasco says “the single most important cause of death and disease”. This food exportation may be in the face of local starvation of people in Mexico, and degradation of the landscape and local peoples health. The reality that gatherers of wild foods here in Canada, many of which are indigenous peoples, do not make a good profit off of the sales of that food discourages local food production. (Some indigenous groups do not believe in the sale of wild food for profit so in some cases that is not an option but I am talking about people who are trying to make a living off of the sale of these foods)
Agriculturalists in Canada do not get paid well especially if they are farming holistically and organically – famers get government subsidies for doing commercial, mono-cropped, chemical ridden farming otherwise it is very difficult to make a decent living – this further discourages the production of food locally, especially amongst young people. Our food systems need to be better localized, more environmentally friendly and people need to be willing to pay higher prices for it.