I had never heard the term “Indigenous agroecology” before reading my peers’ post. I think it is important to consider the use of this practice within local ecologies that might be in need of a re-introduction of native species in order to properly thrive. The team’s example of soybeans in Brazil as agroecology (though not Indigenous agroecology) was interesting, as it stressed the importance of Indigenous worldviews on natural resource conservation. I never grew up in a place where Indigenous agroecology was integrated, so I am interested to learn how it can be done throughout the course.

The first time I visited the UBC farm, a friend who was doing a practicum there showed my friends and I around, and we got to check out the Indigenous garden. Something about it really stuck with me, I think because I realized at that time that I had never seen a garden that was 100% native. Landscapes have been so heavily altered that it is hard to see what may traditionally be considered an unruly mess and understand its undeniable positive impact on local ecologies. On a smaller scale, my mom used to pull out these “weeds” from her garden, but decided one year to let them grow and see what they did. It turns out that the bees cannot get enough of them, and so she has decided to let them do their thing. Instead of draining wetlands and introducing alien species, we should all stop and understand why Indigenous peoples’ culture is so strongly linked to the natural world.

An audience or public implies the participation of many in a unified, observant group that in LAST303, may be Indigenous or non-Indigenous. However, individuals can be also be appreciated as part of a larger audience. “Sometimes audiences represent a problem to be criticized, and sometimes they are a force to be celebrated” (Hills 17). As Tuhiwai Smith et al. explain, it has proven to be challenging for settlers to read Indigenous work: many times, upon encountering Indigenous literature on decolonization, settlers wonder what decolonization will look like for themselves, effectively rejecting their role as audience and speaking over Indigenous peoples. The “produsage” (Hills 18) of settler literature on Indigenous knowledges has negatively affected the way whitestream academia perceives the work of Indigenous authors, possibly undermining the validity of Indigenous knowledge and denigrating their cultural identity, reducing their voice as being part of the audience instead of the speakers. 

Our definition of an audience can be applied broadly to not only the students of LAST303, but also to those who have found an interest in Indigenous foodways and first foods somatically or symbolically. These people may engage with any topic related to Indigenous peoples and their nutrition, be that food insecurity, the ongoing change in food traditions, etc. Here, we include those that interact with Indigenous bands, organizations, and individuals. Indigenous peoples working with one another may themselves be considered part of an audience. As Tuhiwai Smith asserts: “I warn audiences away from asking self-serving questions or questions that make Indigenous scholars create honey-do lists for settlers” (Tuhiwai Smith et al. 14). From this we can conclude that the type of audience has its own significant role, especially in the spheres where Indigenous peoples enter. Moving forward in the course, we non-Indigenous scholars must adopt the position of an attentive public, speaking not over those who seek to teach their lessons, but instead listening to Indigenous knowledge systems and foodways from Indigenous points of view before offering an opinion.

Works cited

Matt Hills. “Audience”. Keywords for Media Studies, edited by Ouellette, Laurie, and Jonathan Gray.  New York University Press, New York, 2017, pp. 17-21.

Smith, Linda T., et al. Indigenous and Decolonizing Studies in Education: Mapping the Long View. Routledge, an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, New York, NY, 2019;2018;.

Authors

Geneviève Lalonde

Alara Sever

Katerina Vyskotova

Gabriel Nogués