Independiente Diálogo
Enfoque geográfico:
Canadá, México, Estados Unidos de América
Main findings
Indigenous Peoples endure isolation in our lived realities: The numerous ways we face isolation in connection to food and wellness in Hawai’i is a predicament that leads us to realize what is perhaps the most pressing isolation we all face, and that is the isolation of our lived realities. The people that we are outside of books, conferences and papers, so often the real struggles we face, the real isolation we feel, is having no viable means to assert our realities - our systems and ways of being, as truth - as something real. As Indigenous People, we continue to face isolation in the const
... Leer másant pressure to assimilate to a colonizing view - of food, of health, of all types of governance. Of all ways of being. Roots of isolation stemming from colonization: While Kanaka ‘Ōiwi (Native Hawaiian) are not typically connected to Turtle Island geographically, when it comes to shared traditions, food, cultures, and language we have more connections to communities in the Pacific. Though when it comes to colonization we [Kanaka ‘Ōiwi] share the government of the United States as a colonizer and as such share many of the same challenges as our siblings on Turtle Island. The present realities of isolation in its different forms and impacts are a modern struggle for us. The seek and conquer, individualistic, and resource division mentalities of colonization have deeply disrupted and caused destruction of our Indigenous approaches and values of collective, shared resources, collective stewardship, shared responsibilities, ruling for the collective wellness, and relational connections with our surroundings and non-human relatives. Isolation was a foreign concept in systems of interconnectedness and international systems of existence. A form of isolation is colonization, there is colonial agriculture of monocropping of pineapple and sugar only with depleted water sources transforming our entire landscapes with land devastation. We have become dependent on unsustainable practices: As an effect and outcome of isolation from our lands, waters, traditional lifeways and diets, knowledge systems, languages, communities, etc. - we have become dependent on unsustainable practices and ways of life engrossed in the current individual-focused and dominant culture society. Oftentimes the foods we eat, the ways we live, the places we live, the jobs we work, the ways we earn money and exist in the present day are reliant on the extractive economies, industrialized food systems, and non-representative political institutes. Our dependence on unsustainable practices has been for survival and default. Indigenous Peoples face isolation in dominant-culture knowledge systems: With colonialism and processes of assimilation, our Indigenous Peoples’ knowledge systems have been dismissed as inferior, uncivilized, unscientific, folklore, and illegitimate. And yet, our generational systems of knowledge and sophisticated methods of observation, systemic approach, and adaptations have sustained our societies since time immemorial while sustaining and expanding the ecological health and biodiversity of the planet. While there is growing awareness and interest in higher education institutes and research centers to better include and integrate Indigenous Peoples’ knowledge systems, there is still a wide and deep gap in the recognition, representation, and inclusion of Indigenous Peoples’ knowledge, research, and innovation in dominant-culture knowledge systems. Urban Native communities deal with many forms of isolation: Many urban Indigenous/Native communities are facing isolation from resources to traditional practices and diets, as well as the political isolation of not being represented or having the legal autonomy that tribal governments have on a reservation (USA) or reserve (Canada). As urban Indigenous peoples, many of us lose our access to lands, waters, and natural resources for hunting, fishing, growing, generating and harvesting our traditional foods. We do not have political representation or coverage by the same institutions and government support as relatives are on reservations. Urban centers, like Detroit, are also facing a new colonial process of gentrification concentrating development in the downtown and ignoring neighborhoods where there are larger populations of People of Color, further exacerbating isolation from resources and safe, healthy neighborhoods. Indigenous communities are facing higher risks of resource isolation from extreme weather events: For rural, reservation and island communities, large storms and extreme weather events have caused resource and political isolation as a result of their geographic isolation. For Hawai’i, large storms have caused delays of barge deliveries of food and water supplies leading to extreme food and resources shortages. For reservations, large storms have caused long power outages, sometimes leading to massive loss of frozen meats and traditional foods put up. Power outages can cause huge food loss that happens swiftly and is difficult for some communities to recover from. Isolation from Indigenous cultures, stories, communities and non-human relatives: Isolation or undesired disconnection from their elders, the teachings and stories of their cultures, their non-human relatives from lands and waters, and separation from traditional seeds. These forms of social and cultural isolation are leading to the loss and erosion of our Indigenous knowledge, languages, intergenerational connections and our cultural ways of life. It leaves deep, unresolved longing and emotion. Leer menos
Línea(s) de Acción: 1, 2, 4, 5
Palabras clave: Data & Evidence, Environment and Climate, Governance, Human rights, Policy, Trade-offs, Women & Youth Empowerment
