tag:theconversation.com,2011:/global/topics/indigenous-food-28970/articlesindigenous food – The Conversation2023-11-09T19:09:40Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2169882023-11-09T19:09:40Z2023-11-09T19:09:40ZFarmers or foragers? Pre-colonial Aboriginal food production was hardly that simple<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558543/original/file-20231109-21-a2kns6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=15%2C7%2C5254%2C3500&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>For almost ten years, debate has raged over the book <a href="https://www.foreground.com.au/culture/decolonising-agriculture-bruce-pascoes-dark-emu/">Dark Emu</a> by Aboriginal historian Bruce Pascoe. In it, Pascoe argues many pre-colonial Aboriginal groups were farmers, pointing to examples like eel aquaculture in Victoria, and grain planting and threshing of native millet in the arid centre.</p>
<p>The debate has drawn in everyone from academics to Aboriginal communities invested in food futures to shock jocks claiming it is a warping of history. </p>
<p>For our group of archaeologists and First Nations people, the fact this debate has raged so long suggests there are shortcomings in how we think of food production and how we investigate it in Australian archaeology.</p>
<p>Farmers versus foragers is a huge oversimplification of what was a mosaic of food production. After all, Australian landscapes differ markedly, from tropical rainforest to snowy mountains to arid spinifex country. For many Aboriginal people, the terms “farming” and “hunter-gatherer” do not capture the realities of 60 millennia of food production. </p>
<p>In our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1558/aff.18161">new research</a> published in the <a href="https://journal.equinoxpub.com/AFF/article/view/18161/28231">Archaeology of Food and Foodways</a>, we argue that to better understand millennia-old systems, archaeologists must engage deeply with fields such as plant genetics, ethnobotany, archaeobotany and bioarchaeology as well as listening more carefully to the views of Aboriginal people. Here’s how. </p>
<h2>We need to use better methods</h2>
<p>For decades, archaeologists have grappled with the task of understanding ancient food production. We are by no means the first to point to the lack of appropriate methods as a reason why this has proved hard.</p>
<p>Archaeobotanists <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1040618216302816">Anna Florin</a> and Xavier Carah have observed that food production systems in northern Australia are very similar to those in Papua New Guinea. While we accept Papuan food gardens, Australian archaeologists have been less eager to embrace this idea for Australia. </p>
<p>In part, this is a failure of terminology. Aboriginal food production was enormously varied. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558468/original/file-20231108-23-ttevb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="map of australia showing Aboriginal grainlands in the centre, yam country in the south east and many other food production systems" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558468/original/file-20231108-23-ttevb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558468/original/file-20231108-23-ttevb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=756&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558468/original/file-20231108-23-ttevb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=756&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558468/original/file-20231108-23-ttevb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=756&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558468/original/file-20231108-23-ttevb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=950&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558468/original/file-20231108-23-ttevb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=950&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558468/original/file-20231108-23-ttevb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=950&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">This map shows the complex and diverse types of food production and settlement systems documented by researchers across Australia, ranging from arid grainlands to rainforest seed processing to yam harvesting.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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<p>The solution lies in better methods. For instance, many Aboriginal groups lived semi-permanently in gunyah (bark hut) villages, as Dark Emu demonstrates by quoting colonial observers. </p>
<p>These settlement sites are vital to gaining a better understanding of how people lived. By excavating gunyah sites and fireplaces where food was prepared, we can recover seeds by sieving dirt and ash to find out which plants people used. The problem? Many of the sieves used were not fine enough to capture the tiny seeds of vital plants such as native millet. Most seeds used by Aboriginal groups were less than 1mm in radius. </p>
<p>This can be fixed. In south-west Asia, archeobotanists have long used fine mesh sieves to recover ancient seeds. You also need reference collections of seeds to be able to identify them from fireplaces. </p>
<h2>Genetics – and archaeology?</h2>
<p>It might not sound like a natural fit. But around the world, combining plant genetics with archaeology has dramatically changed our understanding of how people used plants, how they moved them about the landscape and how they changed these plants into forms better suiting our use. The wild precursor of corn, for instance, <a href="https://www.news.iastate.edu/news/2022/02/02/teosinte2022">looks almost nothing</a> like what we moulded it into through selection. </p>
<p>Combining these approaches is only in its infancy in Australia. But early applications together with Aboriginal knowledge of plant use has revealed dramatic new insights into how Aboriginal people moved important species such as <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0186663">black bean</a> <em>Castanospermum australe</em> around the landscape and cultivated them. </p>
<p>The legacy of these food production techniques may still be visible today. For instance, when we look at the four species of native rice, we would not expect them to have large seeds. But all four species do. For millennia, Aboriginal groups in Australia’s wet north farmed these floodplain grasses. They may well have provided some selective pressure that resulted in larger grains, as early farmers did elsewhere. </p>
<p>To date, we don’t know this for sure. But we can find out. Careful genetic analysis of remaining wild populations should tell us if these large grains came from human rather than natural selection. We can also analyse genetic diversity between wild rice populations, to see if Aboriginal groups were involved in spreading these useful plants further. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-how-our-new-archaeological-research-investigates-dark-emus-idea-of-aboriginal-agriculture-and-villages-146754">Friday essay: how our new archaeological research investigates Dark Emu's idea of Aboriginal 'agriculture' and villages</a>
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<h2>Stories from ancestral remains</h2>
<p>Every bone tells a story. In your bones lie traces of how fast you grew, what you ate and how hard your life was. </p>
<p>Studying ancestral remains is a very sensitive issue due to the colonial practice of collecting Aboriginal remains for research. But when done sensitively and respectfully, it yields fresh insights.</p>
<p>Bones and teeth can tell us many things about life in Aboriginal Australia. Tracking <a href="https://theconversation.com/where-did-you-grow-up-how-strontium-in-your-teeth-can-help-answer-that-question-112705">changes in isotope ratios in teeth</a> can tell us if people were shifting to a more sedentary way of living. Stress in bones can tell us about difficult food production techniques such as labour-intensive seed grinding. </p>
<h2>The past can shape the future</h2>
<p>Aboriginal culture is 60 millennia old, during which time the climate shifted several times. Sea levels rose, flooding the Bass Strait and the coastal plains connecting Cape York to Papua New Guinea. </p>
<p>For a culture to survive that long means it had to rely on sustainable food production. Finding out how exactly this was done could yield lost knowledge and make it possible for current-day Aboriginal groups to recapture these methods and crops. </p>
<p>To date, renewed interest in bushfoods has not spread far beyond boutique food industries such as gourmet breads and specialised plant foods like Kakadu plum and quandongs. </p>
<p>Learning more about drought-resilient crops such as native rice and native millet (<em>Panicum decompositum</em>) could help farmers adapt to climate change and diversify food production. In central Victoria, the Dja Dja Wurrung group is exploring the potential for kangaroo grass (<em>Themeda triandra</em>) for use as a food and as drought-resistant cattle fodder. </p>
<p>The better we understand ancient food production, the more likely we are to be able to bring this knowledge to bear on today’s challenges – and give a fuller answer to the questions raised by Dark Emu. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558545/original/file-20231109-19-kyr3up.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Man holding kangaroo grass" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558545/original/file-20231109-19-kyr3up.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558545/original/file-20231109-19-kyr3up.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558545/original/file-20231109-19-kyr3up.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558545/original/file-20231109-19-kyr3up.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558545/original/file-20231109-19-kyr3up.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558545/original/file-20231109-19-kyr3up.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558545/original/file-20231109-19-kyr3up.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dja Dja Wurung man Rodney Carter inspects kangaroo grass.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/book-review-farmers-or-hunter-gatherers-the-dark-emu-debate-rigorously-critiques-bruce-pascoes-argument-161877">Book review: Farmers or Hunter-gatherers? The Dark Emu Debate rigorously critiques Bruce Pascoe's argument</a>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Westaway receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alison Crowther receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robert Henry receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rodney Carter is the CEO of the Dja Dja Wurrung Corporate Group, the Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aborginal Corporation and Dja Dja Wurrung Enterprises. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nathan Wright does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>For a decade, debate has raged over Dark Emu’s account of Aboriginal agriculture. But ancient food production in Australia is more complex than labels like farming or hunter-gathering suggest.Michael Westaway, Australian Research Council Future Fellow, Archaeology, School of Social Science, The University of QueenslandAlison Crowther, Senior Lecture in Archaeology, The University of QueenslandNathan Wright, Lecturer in archaeology, University of New EnglandRobert Henry, Director, Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, The University of QueenslandRodney Carter, Traditional Owner, Indigenous KnowledgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2036182023-05-16T11:59:19Z2023-05-16T11:59:19ZNigeria’s street food adds to the plastic problem – green leaves offer a solution<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525855/original/file-20230512-19-o8cekr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=19%2C0%2C3244%2C2443&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Okpa, a local delicacy made from Bambara beans, is commonly wrapped in leaves. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Obiora Ezeudu</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Street food is <a href="https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.12657/59384/1/978-3-030-93072-1.pdf#page=118">popular</a> in Nigerian cities. Most of the local food delicacies are sold by vendors whose livelihoods depend on informal subsistence activities such as local food production and street food hawking. They are part of <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330963663_Applying_the_Extended_Theory_of_Planned_Behavior_to_Predict_Sustainable_Street_Food_Patronage_in_a_Developing_Economy">Nigeria’s vast informal sector</a>, which accounts for <a href="https://www.worldeconomics.com/National-Statistics/Informal-Economy/Nigeria.aspx#:%7E:text=The%20size%20of%20Nigeria's%20informal,easy%20comparison%20with%20other%20countries">57.7%</a> of the country’s economy.</p>
<p>But most food prepared by vendors has to be consumed within a short time to avoid spoilage. Refrigeration capacity is limited because of <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265824299_Spoilage_and_preservation_of_meat_a_general_appraisal_and_potential_of_lactic_acid_bacteria_as_biological_preservatives">unreliable power supplies</a> in the country.</p>
<p>The popularity of food sold by street vendors is part of a global shift in urban areas to “fast foods”. Most of the fast food in Nigerian cities is packaged in plastic bags. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213343721001998">These are bad for the environment</a>.</p>
<p>Leaves could be an alternative for packaging. But their use in cities has not been fully explored – so we <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11356-020-11268-z">studied</a> the possibility and sustainability of using natural leaves as packaging material for traditional foods in Nigeria. <a href="https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s11356-020-11268-z.pdf#page=3">Leaves are still used</a> in the Nigerian countryside to package food.</p>
<p>We analysed academic literature as well as policy briefs and project documents from governmental and nongovernmental organisations. We found that leaf-type packaging material had several environmental advantages:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>They are organic so they contain no artificial chemicals that can pollute the environment. </p></li>
<li><p>Their waste is easy to handle as they degrade fast.</p></li>
<li><p>Making them does not involve the use of energy, like burning of fossil fuels that could pollute the environment, unlike the production of synthetic packaging materials.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>In the second part of our work we proposed a model that would help ensure the environmental sustainability of local food packaging materials. This model is based on the principle that good food packaging should protect food, be appealing, and preserve taste and nutrition. And there has to be a commitment to public health and environmental safety. </p>
<p>Considering that local food has been packaged in leaves <a href="https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s11356-020-11268-z.pdf#page=2">since long ago in Nigeria</a>, we concluded that there’s a strong case for reviving the use of natural leaf type packaging in the country’s cities.</p>
<p>Based on our research, we recommend that strong institutions and policies be put in place to oversee the local food industry. We believe that our work is critical in informing food, health and environmental policy decisions in Nigeria and other developing regions.</p>
<h2>Alternative packaging</h2>
<p>Our research involved looking at three phases of the leaf-type material used for food packaging in Nigeria. The first stage is when the leaf is sourced as the raw material for packaging; the second when it is used for packaging; and the final stage is when it is disposed of as garbage after use. </p>
<p>In rural areas, sources of green leaves for food packaging are backyard farms, nearby forests and bushes. People cultivate the source plant species close to their homes for convenience in daily use. These packaging materials are processed entirely naturally or organically.</p>
<p>But these materials are not abundantly available in urban areas. People living in towns and cities use discarded cans, old newspapers, foil, cellophane and polythene bags as substitutes.</p>
<p>There are special traditional types of Nigerian delicacies <a href="https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s11356-020-11268-z.pdf#page=3">that are prepared, served and packaged using vegetable leaf wrappers</a>. They include ogiri (spices), ukpaka (bean seed), akara (bean cake), agidi (corn cake) and fufu (cassava). </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523412/original/file-20230428-18-38yupq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Plate of rice and stew served on a large green leaf" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523412/original/file-20230428-18-38yupq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523412/original/file-20230428-18-38yupq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523412/original/file-20230428-18-38yupq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523412/original/file-20230428-18-38yupq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523412/original/file-20230428-18-38yupq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523412/original/file-20230428-18-38yupq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523412/original/file-20230428-18-38yupq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Local rice and pepper stew are popularly served on leaves.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Obiora Ezeudu</span></span>
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<p>Green leaf packages <a href="https://www.thaiscience.info/journals/Article/SUIJ/10559514.pdf#page=19">prevent</a> nutrients from being lost through evaporation or transpiration. They are easy to handle, making food distribution and transportation simple. And they protect food products from deterioration. </p>
<p>Environmentally, using vegetable leaves instead of synthetic packaging on a bigger industrial scale might cut down on carbon emissions. Used leaves also degrade quickly. </p>
<h2>A model for use</h2>
<p>Our circular economy concept has been developed as a possible way to achieve sustainability objectives. It seeks to ensure availability of local packaging materials in urban areas.</p>
<p>The proposed model would integrate stakeholders and activities in the value chain. It covers effective urban planning, proper waste resource management and wealth creation while considering social, political and economic realities typical to the developing world. The model explains the roles that all stakeholders, policies and institutions will play to make leaves abundantly available in cities while ensuring environmental sustainability. </p>
<p>For instance, while urban planning is concerned with tree-planting for aesthetics, using our model, the choice of trees could be those species that provide multiple functions.</p>
<p>The outcome shows that the green leaf packaging material for indigenous food items in Nigeria could work in terms of market viability and social acceptability.</p>
<h2>What stands in the way</h2>
<p>There is an urgent need for new regulations and better control of local food production, packaging and consumption in Nigeria. Two major factors inform this:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Many of Nigeria’s food processing facilities are still home-based or in cottage industries using rudimentary tools and procedures. </p></li>
<li><p>There is minimal consideration for good manufacturing practices and hygienic production processes. This leads to frequent chemical and microbial contamination.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>We identified some solutions.</p>
<p>Food packaging requires investment in technology and innovation. This investment is missing in Nigeria. </p>
<p>We also believe that if the government creates adequate channels, nongovernmental and private organisations could salvage the situation. There have been <a href="https://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/ass/article/view/6672">cases</a> where developmental organisations bypassed government institutions and worked directly with private sector organisations and nongovernmental organisations involved with vendors or street food marketers and others at the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10454446.2019.1572561">micro-economy level</a>. </p>
<p>This support could be in the form of basic health, hygiene and safety education and providing them with equipment like gloves and disinfectants.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203618/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Obiora Ezeudu does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Using leaves for local food packaging is beneficial for health and the environment.Obiora Ezeudu, Research Associate, University of NigeriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1892962022-10-02T11:38:25Z2022-10-02T11:38:25ZIndigenous food sovereignty requires better and more accurate data collection<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/486001/original/file-20220921-8022-utllly.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=19%2C38%2C6470%2C4281&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In the face of governmental efforts to dismantle Indigenous agricultural economies, Indigenous communities have made important strides toward food sovereignty.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Indigenous communities are increasingly investing in agriculture to sustain their <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/stories/thousands-years-indigenous-tribes-have-been-planting-future">cultures and economies</a>. Indigenous Peoples have a long history with agriculture — a history that wasn’t always recognized. </p>
<p>For much of the 20th century, scholars claimed that Indigenous farmers in <a href="https://www.cigionline.org/publications/undrip-implementation-comparative-approaches-indigenous-voices-canzus/">Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United States (CANZUS)</a> were marginal food producers who employed unsustainable farming practices, like <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/slash-and-burn-agriculture">slashing and burning</a>, that led to environmental declines and their ultimate downfall. </p>
<p>These scholars argued that the <a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-Conditions-of-Agricultural-Growth-The-Economics-of-Agrarian-Change/Boserup/p/book/9781853831591">“primitiveness” of Indigenous agriculture was reflected in the technologies they used</a>. They posited that tools used by Indigenous Peoples, like the digging stick, were rudimentary compared to the more advanced plow cultivation used by European farmers. </p>
<p>We now know those claims are incorrect; Indigenous Peoples throughout CANZUS have long engaged in <a href="https://manitobamuseum.ca/archives/34785">sophisticated forms of agriculture</a>. By some estimates, <a href="https://doi.org/10.3098/ah.2011.85.4.460">Indigenous farmers out-produced European wheat farmers in the 17th and 18th centuries</a> by a margin of three to five times per acre. </p>
<p>Despite <a href="https://doi.org/10.1139/facets-2020-0004">Indigenous communities’ increasing desire to engage in large-scale commercial agriculture</a>, there is still a lack of data about Indigenous engagement in the agriculture sector in CANZUS. This data is crucial to informing policies that set out to support Indigenous engagement and diversity in the agriculture sector.</p>
<h2>Indigenous food sovereignty</h2>
<p>Through the erasure of <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21401526-dark-emu">Indigenous agricultural histories</a>, premised on the notion of <a href="https://www.ictinc.ca/blog/indigenous-title-and-the-doctrine-of-discovery"><em>terra nullius</em></a>, CANZUS governments justified their appropriation of Indigenous lands and the territorial dispossession of Indigenous Peoples. </p>
<p>Latin for <a href="https://www.lawinsider.com/dictionary/terra-nullius">“land belonging to no one”</a>, <em>terra nullius</em> was a legal term used in the <a href="https://doctrineofdiscovery.org/">Doctrine of Discovery</a> to refer to land that was not occupied by the settlers or used according to their law and culture. Such land was considered “vacant” and available for colonization.</p>
<p>Yet in the face of <a href="https://apihtawikosisan.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/FNAgriculture.pdf">governmental efforts to dismantle Indigenous agricultural economies</a>, Indigenous Peoples have remained resilient and are making important strides toward <a href="https://www.indigenousfoodsystems.org/food-sovereignty">food sovereignty</a> through the <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2020.596237">revitalization of Indigenous food systems</a> and cultural traditions.</p>
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<p>Beyond <a href="https://www.producer.com/news/traditional-farming-seen-as-way-to-health/">food sovereignty</a>, by reclaiming their agricultural roots, Indigenous Peoples are also alleviating <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/6136161/first-nations-food-insecurity-study/">food insecurity</a> and <a href="https://cooperativesfirst.com/blog/2017/08/11/2017811first-nations-agricultural-production/">contributing to economic development</a> in their communities. As supporters of the <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/declaration-on-the-rights-of-indigenous-peoples.html">United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples</a>, it’s important that CANZUS governments prioritize and support these Indigenous food sovereignty initiatives. </p>
<h2>National databases are lacking</h2>
<p>Although Indigenous Peoples have been participating in the agriculture sector since precolonial times, it hasn’t been until recently that contemporary agriculture has become a policy focus for Indigenous community development and well-being.</p>
<p>However, little knowledge exists about contemporary Indigenous agriculture in CANZUS because of the lack of comprehensive databases at the national level. National scale data collection tools that are currently available are still fairly new or non-existent. </p>
<p><strong>1. Canada</strong></p>
<p>In Canada, the Census of Agriculture does not allow farm and ranch producers to self-identify as Indigenous. However, data from the <a href="https://www.statcan.gc.ca/en/census-agriculture">Census of Agriculture</a> and the <a href="https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/index-eng.cfm">Census of Population</a> provide some information about Indigenous engagement in agricultural activities. </p>
<p>Data from both censuses is linked using information which is common to both questionnaires such as name, sex, birth date and address of the operators. This information is used to create the <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/catalogue/95-633-X">Agriculture-Population linkage</a> database, which provides useful <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/96-325-x/2019001/article/00001-eng.htm">information about Indigenous engagement in agriculture in Canada</a>.</p>
<p><strong>2. Australia</strong></p>
<p>Australia does not maintain a national scale database on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders (collectively referred to as Indigenous) production in the agriculture sector. The Australian Bureau of Statistics’ Agriculture Census also <a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-agriculture-sector-sorely-needs-more-insights-from-first-nations-people-heres-how-we-get-there-173154">doesn’t allow farm and ranch producers to self-identify as Indigenous</a>, which creates a significant data gap about Indigenous agricultural operations in Australia. </p>
<p>Despite this, there is still <a href="https://daff.ent.sirsidynix.net.au/client/en_AU/search/asset/1027073/0">information available about the people employed in the industry</a>, including those who identify as Indigenous, through the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ Census of Population and Housing.</p>
<p><strong>3. New Zealand</strong></p>
<p>In New Zealand, information about Māori farms (the Māori are the Indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand, or <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/11/aotearoa-or-new-zealand-has-the-moment-come-to-change-the-countrys-name">Aotearoa in the Māori language</a>), are compiled using the <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/participate-survey/business-survey/agricultural-census">Agricultural Production Survey</a>. </p>
<p>Māori farms are identified by <a href="https://datainfoplus.stats.govt.nz/item/nz.govt.stats/b9bba050-a4bf-472e-a35d-abc9ecf56c68">matching the survey to three sources of data</a>: Māori enterprises from the <a href="https://datainfoplus.stats.govt.nz/item/nz.govt.stats/3d3c2360-72e6-4d3a-9fb1-e4286ce30150">Māori authorities</a>, self-identified Māori businesses from the <a href="https://www.stats.govt.nz/help-with-surveys/list-of-stats-nz-surveys/about-the-business-operations-survey/business-operations-survey-2022-survey-form/">business operations survey</a> and a database held by Statistics New Zealand’s partner <a href="https://poutama.co.nz/">Poutama Trust</a>. The matching process <a href="https://www.stats.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/Reports/Tatauranga-Umanga-Maori-2016-Statistics-on-Maori-businesses/tatauranga-umanga-maori-2016.pdf">yields information about Māori engagement in agriculture</a>, such as the number of agricultural operations, livestock and horticulture crops Māori farm operations have.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A set of hands harvest an ear of corn from a stalk" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/486184/original/file-20220922-32941-3ncg2w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/486184/original/file-20220922-32941-3ncg2w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486184/original/file-20220922-32941-3ncg2w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486184/original/file-20220922-32941-3ncg2w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486184/original/file-20220922-32941-3ncg2w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486184/original/file-20220922-32941-3ncg2w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/486184/original/file-20220922-32941-3ncg2w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Food sovereignty allows Indigenous Peoples to control the mechanisms and policies of their own food production and distribution.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong>4. United States</strong></p>
<p>In the U.S., a national scale data collection effort was <a href="https://agcensus.library.cornell.edu/wp-content/uploads/2002-History.pdf">piloted in 2002</a> in Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota to collect information about agricultural activity on American Indian reservations. Starting with the 2007 Census of Agriculture, this pilot project was expanded to include reservations across the U.S. </p>
<p>The Census of Agriculture in the U.S. allows farm and ranch producers to self-report agricultural activity on American Indian reservations. If producers don’t respond to the mailed report, census employees — <a href="https://www.nass.usda.gov/Publications/AgCensus/2017/Online_Resources/American_Indian_Reservations/AMINDIAN.pdf">many who are tribal members that can bridge language or cultural barriers</a> — follow up with them in person to help them completing their forms. The process yields an overview of agricultural activity on reservations in the U.S.</p>
<h2>Better data is needed</h2>
<p>The lack of baseline data on the scale and scope of Indigenous involvement in the agriculture sector continues to be an obstacle to effective engagement of Indigenous communities within the sector. This gap in data prevents governments and agri-food organizations from knowing what kinds of supports should be provided to reinvigorate Indigenous agricultural economies.</p>
<p>In order to better support the involvement of Indigenous Peoples in agriculture, more accurate data is needed. Being able to collect such data is crucial for developing a framework for Indigenous Peoples and communities that are interested in starting or expanding their engagement with the agriculture sector.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/189296/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A lack of data prevents governments and agri-food organizations from knowing what kinds of supports should be provided to reinvigorate Indigenous agricultural economies.Omid Mirzaei, Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, University of ReginaDavid Natcher, Professor, College of Agriculture and Bioresources, University of SaskatchewanLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1855522022-07-14T13:51:14Z2022-07-14T13:51:14ZAmazing ting: South Africa must reinvigorate sorghum as a key food before it’s lost<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472489/original/file-20220705-17-8z9t8x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Sorghum.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dusty Pixel photography/GettyImages</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The world’s <a href="https://www.futureoffood.ox.ac.uk/what-food-system">food systems</a> have developed in a way that is not serving health and sustainability. </p>
<p>People are increasingly eating industrially produced foods that are low in nutrients and high in fats and sugars. For example, in South Africa between 2005 and 2010, sales of snack bars, ready meals and noodles all rose by <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1001253">more than 40%</a>. These are associated with <a href="https://ipes-food.org/_img/upload/files/Health_FullReport(1).pdf">increasing levels</a> of obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases like diabetes. </p>
<p>The diets of people living in poverty are typically monotonous, <a href="https://www.unicef.org/southafrica/media/551/file/ZAF-First-1000-days-brief-2017.pdf">dominated by</a> refined cereals with impacts on nutrition, especially for children. Healthy diets <a href="https://foodsecurity.ac.za/news/healthy-diet-remains-unaffordable-for-most-south-africans/">remain unaffordable</a> for most South Africans. </p>
<p>The way food is produced, processed and transported also has environmental impacts. Among these are loss of biodiversity, high levels of water extraction and greenhouse gas emissions. </p>
<p>At the heart of the food system’s problems is a lack of diversity. Power is consolidated in the hands of a few mega-corporations. Growing single crops in a big area makes them susceptible to shocks. And the world relies on four main staple crops – <a href="https://croplife.org/news/beyond-the-big-four-staple-crops-around-the-world/">wheat, rice, maize and soybean</a> – to meet most food needs. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/russia-ukraine-crisis-highlights-africas-need-to-diversify-its-wheat-sources-181173">Russia-Ukraine crisis highlights Africa's need to diversify its wheat sources</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>There have been widespread calls for the food system to change. The question is how. </p>
<p>In our research project on <a href="https://shefsglobal.lshtm.ac.uk/">sustainable and healthy food systems</a>, we set out to explore some options. We looked at the South African, English and Indian food systems and how they could become more sustainable, healthy and fair. In particular we explored how to make these systems more diverse by growing local and indigenous foods.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/8/3493">We found</a> that the benefits and value of indigenous foods in the African context have not been fully understood. Knowledge of how to use these foods is being lost from one generation to the next. </p>
<p>So we decided to do a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15528014.2021.1984631">deep dive</a> into one specific crop indigenous to the African continent: sorghum. In South Africa it’s also known by names like <em>ting ya mabele</em> and <em>amazimba</em>.</p>
<h2>Following the ting</h2>
<p>Sorghum is one of the most important cereal grains for food consumption in Africa. Africa is the world regional leader in total production of sorghum at <a href="https://one.oecd.org/document/ENV/JM/MONO(2016)27/en/pdf#page=15">25.6 million tonnes</a>, but it has the average lowest yield at 967 kilograms per hectare. It is indigenous to the continent’s savannas and there is <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/359721a0">archaeological evidence</a> in the Sahara of the use of sorghum dating back 8,000 years. </p>
<p>Sorghum is <a href="https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/2305/lost-crops-of-africa-volume-i-grains">as nutritious</a> as maize and has high drought tolerance. This makes it a resilient option for farmers to plant under <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jac.12191">changing</a> climatic conditions. </p>
<p>Sorghum also has traditional significance. <a href="https://nationalmuseumpublications.co.za/umqombothi-our-african-beer/"><em>Umqombothi</em> or <em>utshwala</em></a> is a beer traditionally made from maize and sorghum by the family matriarch for special occasions. As well as traditional beer, the Tswana people of South Africa <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0168160511004260?via%3Dihub">also make</a> a fermented porridge (<em>ting ya mabele</em>) from sorghum. </p>
<p>Despite these benefits and traditional significance, production of sorghum in South Africa <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2022.786151/full">has declined</a>, with a peak of around 700,000 tonnes in the 1980s to a low of 100,000 in the later 2010s.</p>
<p>There is also a need to overcome its perception as a backward or “poor man’s food” and its association with drunkenness, which was reinforced during <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/history-apartheid-south-africa">apartheid</a> to denigrate indigenous food and traditional practices.</p>
<p>From <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15528014.2021.1984631">encounters</a> with a range of South Africans connected through sorghum by either its consumption, processing or production, we learned of <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2022.786151/full">three key interventions</a> that could be made to reinvigorate this food. They involve availability, affordability and appeal.</p>
<h2>New life for sorghum</h2>
<p>There is a need to focus research on improving sorghum production in collaboration with small scale farmers to allow them to adapt to new local conditions under climate change. This can also improve yields to be more competitive with maize, which has globally received a lot more research funding for crop improvement.</p>
<p>Making sorghum a zero-rated tax foodstuff so that it can compete with maize on the shelf could make it more competitive. As a rough comparison, the cheapest house brand mabele meal product in one retailer’s online store is R26.99 (US$1.58) for 2kg, whereas a brand of maizemeal is R22.49 (US$1.32) for 2.5kg. </p>
<h2>Innovation meets tradition</h2>
<p>Another important intervention is around product innovation and, through this, increase in demand, to offer a more guaranteed market to farmers. Once local production can be increased, this should reduce dependence on sorghum imports. As a respondent in <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2022.786151/full">our research</a> said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>If sorghum can be bought at the same price as maize, then people will start to shift their consumption because of its health benefits and because its indigenous heritage has marketing potential.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Another respondent said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>You need to create aspirational products. It shouldn’t be considered poor man’s food – if you ask many people in (South Africa) about sorghum, they come up with two associations: beer and the ‘drunk uncle’; and poor man’s food, ‘porridge’.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Sorghum products – newly developed ones and reconfigurations of traditional gastronomy – must meet modern consumers’ need for convenience and aspirational preferences. Then there could be a revolution in the sorghum market. Public procurement of sorghum, for example in schools, could not only teach children about these crops, but provide a more diversified and healthy diet – while enabling a market for farmers. As a third respondent told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Most people have a positive story about sorghum – we need to tap into tradition and culture … People remember things – what grandmother would eat. There is a lot of marketing in the stories – it’s tradition. It’s gogo (grandmother). </p>
</blockquote>
<p><em>Ting ya mabele</em> is now registered on <a href="https://www.fondazioneslowfood.com/en/ark-of-taste-slow-food/ting-ya-mabele/">Slow Food’s Ark of Taste</a>. This features a collection of artisanal products steeped in culture, but also at risk of extinction as the traditional practices upon which they are based are lost or the species from which they are made become endangered. </p>
<p>The potential loss of sorghum from the South African food system has implications not only for climate adaptation and agro-biodiversity, but for nutrition security, cultural practices and a sense of identity.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15528014.2021.1984631">Our research</a> highlights that a strong cultural link to sorghum remains in South Africa. If an enabling policy environment for research and innovation could be broadly interpreted, this might invigorate a richer engagement with sorghum. Not just as a commodity, but as a culturally significant food that could help build resilience in local food systems.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185552/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laura Pereira receives funding from the Wellcome Trust through the Sustainable and Healthy Food Systems
(SHEFS) Project Grant number-205200/Z/16/Z); the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), which is carried out with support from the CGIAR Trust Fund and through bilateral funding agreements (See <a href="https://ccafs.cgiar.org/donors">https://ccafs.cgiar.org/donors</a>); the National Research Foundation of South Africa (Grant Number 115300); the Swedish Research Council FORMAS Project No 2020-00670; the Exxaro Chairman's fund and the Future Ecosystems For Africa programme at the University of the Witwatersrand in partnership with Oppenheimer Generations Research and Conservation
</span></em></p>Known as ting or amazimba, indigenous sorghum is resilient and rich in cultural and health benefits – yet crops are declining.Laura Pereira, Associate professor, Global Change Institute, University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1682672021-10-22T01:17:13Z2021-10-22T01:17:13ZRestrictions on cultural hunting practices are limiting Indigenous people’s access to food during the pandemic<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/426466/original/file-20211014-27-1h7x56w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Smoke and dust as food is prepared for a traditional Māori feast or Hangi, Rotorua New Zealand.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/rotorua-new-zealand-april-2014-smoke-1738652690">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Indigenous people are some of the most food insecure people in Australia and Aotearoa (New Zealand). The COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns have made food security an even greater problem in both countries, though it has generally gone unnoticed. </p>
<p>The pandemic has worsened some Indigenous people’s food security by limiting their ability to partake in cultural food harvesting. </p>
<p>The diets of Indigenous people before colonisation were rich, varied, and seasonal. Indigenous people in both Australia and Aotearoa would eat a variety of plants, water and land fowl, seafood, and protein from animals, insects and reptiles. </p>
<p>In Australia, Aboriginal people had approximately <a href="https://www.newsouthbooks.com.au/books/oldest-new-ingredients-earth/">150</a> different plants and animals as a food source. </p>
<p>However since colonisation, Indigenous people’s diets have dramatically changed. This change has contributed to food insecurity, in part due to the reliance on <a href="https://www.newsouthbooks.com.au/books/oldest-new-ingredients-earth/">western</a> <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs12571-018-0780-9">cultural</a> methods for food sourcing and the displacement of Indigenous people from their land. </p>
<p>Some Indigenous people rely on agricultural traditions and cultural practices to not only be food secure, but as a way of <a href="https://journals.lincoln.ac.nz/index.php/mk/article/view/1157">maintaining cultural identity</a> and <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5325/aboriginal.3.1.0048">connections</a> to Country.</p>
<p>In Aotearoa, mahika kai (food knowledge and practices for Māori) is linked to wealth and hospitality. It connects families through kinship and whakapapa (genealogy) to whenua (the land) and te taiao (natural resources). </p>
<p>Mahika kai is also fundamentally linked to Māori people’s underlying principles of manaakitaka (care and hospitality) and to the protection and stewardship of the land (totems, kaitiakitaka). </p>
<p>Food traditions also honour cultural lore and laws regarding access to seasonal foods and sites. These have protective factors for social and emotional wellbeing, providing a connection to <a href="http://apr.thompsonbooks.com/vols/APR_Vol_2Ch5.pdf">culture and community</a>.</p>
<p>Although governments and volunteer programs have been providing food and medical supplies to areas affected by COVID lockdowns, the loss of cultural practices can cause significant disconnect for Indigenous communities.</p>
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<h2>Cultural practices stifled in Australia</h2>
<p>Western New South Wales has been significantly affected by rising COVID-19 cases in Aboriginal communities. People have also become increasingly <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/2021/08/25/food-insecurity-concerns-covid-hit-wilcannia">food insecure</a>. Some have limited financial resources to purchase food, which in rural and remote areas, is <a href="http://theconversation.com/covid-19-revealed-flaws-in-australias-food-supply-it-also-gives-us-a-chance-to-fix-them-159642">comparatively overpriced</a>. </p>
<p>People are also having to rely on <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/we-don-t-have-uber-eats-and-click-and-collect-how-wilcannia-is-getting-its-essentials-20210904-p58osi.html">food donations</a>. This has worsened the longer lockdowns have continued and may have lasting effects once they are over. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-covid-19-crisis-in-western-nsw-aboriginal-communities-is-a-nightmare-realised-166093">The COVID-19 crisis in western NSW Aboriginal communities is a nightmare realised</a>
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<p>Earlier in the pandemic, Aboriginal people in Wilcannia had maintained their cultural practice of hunting kangaroo and distributing the <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/2021/08/31/deliver-roo-solving-covid-hit-wilcannias-food-shortage">butchered meat</a> to families within the township.</p>
<p>According to <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/2021/08/25/food-insecurity-concerns-covid-hit-wilcannia">NITV News</a>, however, health authorities discouraged residents from hunting and distributing roo meat in August.</p>
<p>Said one resident, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I got a cousin telling me that him and his family went out and got kangaroo and they delivered it into Wilcannia, but health officials were saying that they can’t hand out wild meat to Aboriginal families because it’s not fit for consumption.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The NSW government has long made engaging in cultural food practices difficult, with <a href="https://www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/2021-02/licensing_requirements_for_field_harvesters_of_game_animals.pdf">game</a> meat regulations, and <a href="https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/hunting/volunteer-non-commercial-kangaroo-shooting/kangaroo-management-faq">culling</a> and <a href="https://www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/2021-02/licensing_requirements_for_field_harvesters_of_game_animals.pdf#:%7E:text=The%20law%20in%20New%20South,in%20line%20with%20National%20Standards.&text=A%20person%20supplying%20carcases%20without,and%20have%20their%20carcases%20condemned.">licensing</a> legislation. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://legislation.nsw.gov.au/view/whole/html/inforce/current/act-1994-045">Native Title (New South Wales) Act 1994</a> acknowledges the land has social, cultural, economic and spiritual importance to Aboriginal people, but it does not define these as legal rights or say how they can be asserted to support cultural food practice, including resource sharing. </p>
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<p>Authorities eventually <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/sep/11/scared-and-angry-warnings-ignored-before-delta-ripped-through-wilcannia">permitted</a> roo meat from Broken Hill to be delivered. Since late August, Malyangapa Barkindji Wiimpatja man Leroy Johnson has reportedly been <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/2021/08/31/deliver-roo-solving-covid-hit-wilcannias-food-shortage">delivering kangaroo meat to affected communities</a> in Wilcannia, with the support of local police. </p>
<h2>Protection of Māori food practices</h2>
<p>In Aotearoa, mahika kai is an enduring and intergenerational food practice for Māori protected by <a href="https://www.mpi.govt.nz/fishing-aquaculture/maori-customary-fishing/maori-customary-fishing-information-and-resources/">law</a>. In March 2020, when Aotearoa first went into lockdown, all New Zealanders were required to remain at home. This prohibited activities such as hunting, seaside fishing, and <a href="https://www.hrc.co.nz/our-work/indigenous-rights/">food gathering</a>. </p>
<p>Concerns were raised by kaumātua (Elders) acknowledging these restrictions were affecting whānau (families) who regularly relied on hunting for food security and <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/414888/covid-19-whanau-relying-on-hunting-for-food-should-have-exemption-leaders">staples within the home</a>. </p>
<p>In the current lockdown, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s government adjusted the lockdown rules to allow Māori to hunt and fish within a <a href="https://www.teaomaori.news/level-4-fishing-rules-changed-clearing-confusion">culturally acceptable</a> <a href="https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/heather-du-plessis-allan-drive/audio/nicole-mckee-divisive-legislation-only-maori-can-go-fishing-under-level-4-health-legislation/">framework</a>. </p>
<p>This resulted in a resurgence in food gardens (maara kai) and traditional hospitality and service exchanges (kai hau kai) to support kaumātua and whānau. Other mahika kai activities, such as preserving and utilising local waterways, have also returned. </p>
<p>This demonstrates that lockdown rules can be tailored to allow cultural food sourcing, while still reducing the spread of the virus.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-the-significance-of-the-treaty-of-waitangi-110982">Explainer: the significance of the Treaty of Waitangi</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>However, Māori rights are protected through both treaty and legislation, whereas Indigenous people in Australia still have no treaty. This means the protection of cultural activities are not prioritised within the public health orders in NSW. This contributes to growing food insecurity in affected communities.</p>
<p>Although the Commonwealth <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2021C00165">Native Title Act 1993</a> provides limited protections, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural rights still have no equivalent national protection. </p>
<p>Both Australia and Aotearoa have signed the UN’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, however. This declaration could <a href="https://www.hrc.co.nz/our-work/indigenous-rights/">provide</a> some <a href="https://www.hrc.co.nz/files/5814/5618/4456/NZHR_Booklet_12_WEB.pdf">protections</a> to cultural hunting <a href="https://www.humanrights.gov.au/publications/un-declaration-rights-indigenous-peoples-1">rights</a>.</p>
<p>Without social distancing measures taking these rights into account, food insecurity will continue to occur. This could lead to poorer <a href="https://link-springer-com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/article/10.1007/s12571-015-0433-1">ill-health</a> in communities beyond the pandemic.</p>
<p>Restoring cultural practices should be considered in federal and state governments’ exiting plans once crisis-level case numbers are down.</p>
<p>Australia’s governments must follow Aotearoa’s lead and find a way for public health orders and cultural food practices to work together.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/168267/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dione Payne receives funding from Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment for indigenous research.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amanda Wingett and Stewart Sutherland do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Many Indigenous people in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand are lacking food security due to public health orders preventing them from traditional food sourcing.Stewart Sutherland, Senior Lecturer Indigenous Health, Australian National UniversityAmanda Wingett, Associate lecturer, Australian National UniversityDione Payne, Assistant Vice Chancellor, Maori & Pasifika, Lincoln University, New ZealandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1668952021-09-14T02:39:43Z2021-09-14T02:39:43Z‘The pigs can smell man’: how decimation of Borneo’s ancient rainforests threatens hunters and the hunted<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420236/original/file-20210909-17-12fslap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C521%2C2819%2C1745&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Monika Gregussova/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>For more than 40,000 years, Indigenous communities in Borneo have hunted and eaten bearded pigs – huge, nomadic animals that roam the island in Southeast Asia. These 100kg creatures are central to the livelihood and culture of some Bornean peoples – in fact, some hunters rarely talk of anything else.</p>
<p>But this ancient relationship is now at serious risk. Oil palm expansion and urbanisation are forcing changes to hunting practices in Sabah, a Malaysian state in Borneo. <a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/pan3.10250">Our research</a> examined these changes by focusing on Indigenous Kadazandusun-Murut hunters, for whom bearded pigs are a favourite game animal. </p>
<p>The oil palm industry has cleared much of Borneo’s lowland tropical rainforests to make way for plantations. And a shift to a more agrarian and urbanised life means many people hunt less than they used to.</p>
<p>Hunting is one of the most fundamental and enduring of human–wildlife relationships. But the changing dynamic between Borneo’s pigs and Indigenous peoples is a powerful reminder of the fragility of these connections. There is much at stake right now, for both the hunted and the hunter. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420233/original/file-20210909-25-pkdbdt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420233/original/file-20210909-25-pkdbdt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420233/original/file-20210909-25-pkdbdt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420233/original/file-20210909-25-pkdbdt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420233/original/file-20210909-25-pkdbdt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420233/original/file-20210909-25-pkdbdt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420233/original/file-20210909-25-pkdbdt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Detail from an artistic representation of a traditional form of Indigenous bearded pig hunting.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Amy Koehler/author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Changing times</h2>
<p>As its name suggests, the bearded pig has a prominent beard. It’s a large species thought to move up to 650km in search of food, in large herds of up to 300 individuals. </p>
<p>Wild meat can contribute to as much as 36% of meals in Indigenous Bornean societies, and bearded pig meat accounts for 54–97% of this by weight. Bearded pig hunting is also central to recreation, gift-giving and social practices in many of Borneo’s Indigenous communities. </p>
<p>But widespread deforestation and agricultural expansion (primarily oil palm and rubber plantations) has drastically reduced bearded pig habitat in recent decades. The bearded pig is now listed as vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List. </p>
<p>Sabah has been on the front lines of the oil palm boom since the late 20th century. As of 2015, roughly 24% of Sabah’s land area was covered by oil palm or pulpwood plantations. </p>
<p>Sabahans sometimes take work with oil palm companies, own their own oil palm smallholdings or move to urban areas for relatively well-paying jobs in manufacturing and retail. </p>
<p>Those who remain in rural parts of the state have reduced access to croplands and forests in some areas which, among other negative impacts, restricts their ability to hunt game.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/human-progress-is-no-excuse-to-destroy-nature-a-push-to-make-ecocide-a-global-crime-must-recognise-this-fundamental-truth-164594">Human progress is no excuse to destroy nature. A push to make ‘ecocide’ a global crime must recognise this fundamental truth</a>
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</em>
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<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="oil palm plantation meets rainforest" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420246/original/file-20210909-19-1ihhpie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420246/original/file-20210909-19-1ihhpie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420246/original/file-20210909-19-1ihhpie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420246/original/file-20210909-19-1ihhpie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420246/original/file-20210909-19-1ihhpie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420246/original/file-20210909-19-1ihhpie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420246/original/file-20210909-19-1ihhpie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Oil palm plantations have fundamentally changed Borneo’s landscape.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>‘This is our life’</h2>
<p>We investigated how the above land-use changes have affected pig hunting practices of the Kadazandusun-Murut ethnic group, including 38 interviews with bearded pig hunters.</p>
<p>Hunters are adapting new methods to pursue pigs inside plantations. Respondents reported that hunting in oil palm plantations was easier overall than hunting in forests – because the walking was generally less tiring (and they could sometimes hunt from a car), it was easier to see pigs and foraging locations were more predictable. </p>
<p>Five respondents noted a difference between the taste of meat from pigs in oil palm plantations as compared to forest. One said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The pig from the forest is much tastier, it’s more fit. If the pig eats oil palm its fat isn’t as sweet. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Many hunters said bearded pigs were “wilder”, “smarter” and more skittish than they had been in the past. Comments included:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The pigs can smell man; they are getting more wild because they are always getting shot by men.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Another participant said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>In the past pigs only looked, but now they run away. Now the pig has got a high school certificate.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Among hunters who had started hunting before 1985, 71% noted this increased flight response, whereas only 26% of those who began hunting after 1985 mentioned this behavioural change.</p>
<p>Respondents consumed wild bearded pig meat more frequently in rural villages than in urban contexts, indicating an important shift in dietary patterns. Some respondents also hunted less frequently when living in urban environments, due to having less time, increased distance to the forest, lower energy because of having to work or other factors. </p>
<p>But despite these substantial changes in hunting practices, much has remained the same over the last few decades.
Hunting with guns has remained the primary technique over the past two generations, and meat provision is the primary motivation to hunt. </p>
<p>One respondent said his father taught him:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>This is our life. We live in the forest; this is our food.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Cultural practices, such as gifting the meat for community events, provided additional motivations to hunt. Some considered weddings, festivals and church events to be incomplete without bearded pig meat.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="meat on grill" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420658/original/file-20210913-21-jgbd9k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420658/original/file-20210913-21-jgbd9k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420658/original/file-20210913-21-jgbd9k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420658/original/file-20210913-21-jgbd9k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420658/original/file-20210913-21-jgbd9k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420658/original/file-20210913-21-jgbd9k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420658/original/file-20210913-21-jgbd9k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Wild pig meat is an important source of food in Borneo.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Preserving a fragile relationship</h2>
<p>Our results show both the persistence and malleability of hunting practices among Kadazandusun-Murut people in Sabah. The challenge now is how best to manage bearded pig hunting in the face of ongoing oil palm expansion, urbanisation and broader political–economic changes. </p>
<p>The onslaught of African Swine Flu is complicating matters. For the pigs, the deadly virus is an extra burden for a species already in decline. For some Indigenous hunters, it threatens their food security and livelihoods. </p>
<p>The loss of bearded pigs also erodes traditional celebrations and family gatherings, and the passing down of ancient customary hunting practices to children. </p>
<p>Environmental governance initiatives should support the cultural traditions of Borneo’s Indigenous communities, and any new regulation should be devised in collaboration with local people and tailored to their needs. At the same time, these initiatives must ensure the long-term conservation of bearded pig populations and their habitat.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/orangutans-gibbons-and-mr-sooty-what-the-origins-of-words-in-southeast-asia-tell-us-about-our-long-relationships-with-animals-165175">Orangutans, gibbons and Mr Sooty: what the origins of words in Southeast Asia tell us about our long relationships with animals</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/166895/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The changing dynamic between Borneo’s pigs and Indigenous people is a powerful reminder of the fragility of the human-nature connection.Matthew Scott Luskin, Lecturer in Conservation Science, The University of QueenslandDavid Kurz, Postdoctoral fellow in Environmental Science, Trinity CollegeFiffy Hanisdah Saikim, Senior lecturer, Universiti Malaysia Sabah’s Institute for Tropical Biology and Conservation, Indigenous KnowledgeMatthew D. Potts, Professor, S.J. Hall Chair in Forest Economics, University of California, BerkeleyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1618772021-06-13T20:06:03Z2021-06-13T20:06:03ZBook review: Farmers or Hunter-gatherers? The Dark Emu Debate rigorously critiques Bruce Pascoe’s argument<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403712/original/file-20210601-15-1twxu96.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C22%2C1680%2C1202&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Reconstruction of traditional dwelling, Lake Condah, 2020. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo: Peter Sutton</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Eminent Australian anthropologist Peter Sutton and respected field archaeologist Keryn Walshe have co-authored a meticulously researched new book, <a href="https://www.mup.com.au/books/farmers-or-hunter-gatherers-paperback-softback">Farmers or Hunter-gatherers? The Dark Emu Debate</a>. It’s set to become the definitive critique of Bruce Pascoe’s <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21401526-dark-emu">Dark Emu: Black Seeds — Agriculture or Accident?</a></p>
<p>First published in 2014, Pascoe’s Dark Emu has spawned numerous derivatives. Pascoe contends that in pre-contact times, Australian Aboriginal people weren’t “mere” hunter-gatherers, but agriculturalists. Descriptors like “simple” or “mere” are anathema to people like me who’ve lived long-term with hunter-gatherers.</p>
<p>For many Australians, Pascoe’s book is a “must-read”, speaking truth to power. For such readers, Dark Emu seems a breakthrough text. Not so, in Sutton and Walshe’s estimation. Nor mine.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405283/original/file-20210609-6115-z4qga2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405283/original/file-20210609-6115-z4qga2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405283/original/file-20210609-6115-z4qga2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405283/original/file-20210609-6115-z4qga2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405283/original/file-20210609-6115-z4qga2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405283/original/file-20210609-6115-z4qga2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1154&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405283/original/file-20210609-6115-z4qga2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1154&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405283/original/file-20210609-6115-z4qga2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1154&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
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<p>Underpinning Dark Emu is the author’s rhetorical purpose. This proselytising is partly achieved by painstaking “massaging” of his sources, a practice forensically examined by Walshe and Sutton. It has led to converts to Pascoe’s dubious proposition. But this willingness to accept Pascoe’s argument reveals a systemic area of failure in the Australian education system.</p>
<p>On the basis of long-term research and observation, Sutton and Walshe portray classical Australian Aboriginal people as highly successful hunter-gatherers and fishers. They strongly repudiate racist notions of Aboriginal hunter-gatherers as living in a primitive state. </p>
<p>In their book, they assert there was and is nothing “simple” or “primitive” about hunter-gatherer-fishers’ labour practices. This complexity was, and in many cases, still is, underpinned by high levels of spiritual/cultural belief. </p>
<h2>Not agriculturalists</h2>
<p>As Sutton attests, seeds were and are occasionally deliberately scattered. But in classical Aboriginal societies they were <em>never</em> planted nor watered for agricultural purposes. Such aforementioned rituals are collectively called “increase ceremonies”. Sutton’s alternative term, “maintenance ceremonies”, invokes <em>spiritual propagation</em> as opposed to oversupply.</p>
<p>Their objective was continuing subsistence. Australia’s hunter-gatherer-fishers left an extremely light carbon footprint — the diametric opposite of many contemporary agricultural/industrial practices. The photo below, taken in 1932 or earlier, shows Pilbara people throwing yelka (nutgrass) — not threshing or scattering seeds. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404711/original/file-20210607-27-1yunkvv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404711/original/file-20210607-27-1yunkvv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404711/original/file-20210607-27-1yunkvv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404711/original/file-20210607-27-1yunkvv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404711/original/file-20210607-27-1yunkvv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404711/original/file-20210607-27-1yunkvv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=575&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404711/original/file-20210607-27-1yunkvv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=575&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404711/original/file-20210607-27-1yunkvv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=575&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The people in this photo are throwing pebbles and dust - not scattering or threshing seeds. It’s a maintenance ceremony for nutgrass (‘yelka’), to ensure spiritual reproduction.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ralph Piddington, ‘Totemic system of the Karadjeri tribe’, Oceania 4, 1932, pp. 376–93, Plate II.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Pascoe’s sources and approach</h2>
<p>Pascoe draws on records of explorers and early colonists, also citing recent works, including Bill Gammage’s <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13041243-the-biggest-estate-on-earth?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=09BOiswTLF&rank=1">The Biggest Estate on Earth: How Aborigines made Australia</a>. Dark Emu leans most heavily on the work of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rupert_Gerritsen">late historian/ethnographer Rupert Gerritsen</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-dark-emu-and-the-blindness-of-australian-agriculture-97444">Friday essay: Dark Emu and the blindness of Australian agriculture</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Counter-intuitively, Pascoe mainly cites non-Aboriginal sources. There is no real “voice” given to the few remaining people who lived traditional lives as youngsters, or are cited in books or articles.</p>
<p>While some have described Dark Emu as fabrication, Sutton and Walshe are more measured. They methodically show that in Dark Emu, Pascoe has removed significant passages from publications that contradict his major objectives. This boosts his contention that all along Aboriginal people were farmers and/or aquaculturalists. </p>
<p>One example concerns Pascoe’s quoting of the journal entries of the explorer Charles Sturt. Sutton writes:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Sturt is quoted [by Pascoe] on his party’s discovery of a large well and ‘village’ of 19 huts somewhere north of Lake Torrens in South Australia.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This “village” concept arose from colonial records, and is still sometimes used in recent articles. </p>
<p>Pascoe’s edit of Sturt’s original 1849 text breathes oxygen into Dark Emu’s polemical edge. It’s misleading at best. For Sturt’s diary reveals Aboriginal people didn’t live in “houses” in any single site all year round. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404755/original/file-20210607-8878-i2usnb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404755/original/file-20210607-8878-i2usnb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404755/original/file-20210607-8878-i2usnb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404755/original/file-20210607-8878-i2usnb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404755/original/file-20210607-8878-i2usnb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404755/original/file-20210607-8878-i2usnb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404755/original/file-20210607-8878-i2usnb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404755/original/file-20210607-8878-i2usnb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Page 153, Dark Emu Debate.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Such accounts destabilise Pascoe’s argument, reinforced by ethnographic, colonial, and archaeological records. </p>
<p>Hunter-gatherers <em>did</em> alter the country in significant ways — most Australians know about the ancient practice of firing the country, recently discussed in depth owing to our increasingly devastating bush-fires. This involved ecological agency and prowess. But expert fire-burning isn’t an agricultural practice, as Pascoe avers.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404759/original/file-20210607-21-1db910j.JPEG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404759/original/file-20210607-21-1db910j.JPEG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404759/original/file-20210607-21-1db910j.JPEG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=466&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404759/original/file-20210607-21-1db910j.JPEG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=466&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404759/original/file-20210607-21-1db910j.JPEG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=466&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404759/original/file-20210607-21-1db910j.JPEG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=585&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404759/original/file-20210607-21-1db910j.JPEG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=585&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404759/original/file-20210607-21-1db910j.JPEG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=585&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Wik people firing the country, middle Kirke River, Cape York Peninsula, 1977.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Peter Sutton</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/indigenous-expertise-is-reducing-bushfires-in-northern-australia-its-time-to-consider-similar-approaches-for-other-disasters-155361">Indigenous expertise is reducing bushfires in northern Australia. It's time to consider similar approaches for other disasters</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Misidentification of implements</h2>
<p>In a key chapter, Walshe homes in on Pascoe’s mis-interpretations of hunter-gatherer implements, which he labels “agricultural” tools. For instance, Pascoe misconstrues grooved “Bogan Picks” as heavy stones used for agricultural activity. </p>
<p>Walshe disputes Pascoe’s claim, stating that, “with their adze-shaped end and grooved midline for <a href="https://www.lexico.com/definition/haft">hafting</a>, they were likely used in a similar way to stone axes.” </p>
<p>Wooden digging sticks were also used for breaking up the earth to extract yams when in season, among various other purposes — not for “tilling” or “ploughing” the soil in preparation for planting seeds. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404762/original/file-20210607-19-1caq5fh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404762/original/file-20210607-19-1caq5fh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404762/original/file-20210607-19-1caq5fh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404762/original/file-20210607-19-1caq5fh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404762/original/file-20210607-19-1caq5fh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404762/original/file-20210607-19-1caq5fh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404762/original/file-20210607-19-1caq5fh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404762/original/file-20210607-19-1caq5fh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Grooved (Bogan style) picks.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Malcolm Davidson</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Language used by early colonists and explorers — words like “village” and “picks” — befuddles readers. British colonists’ monolingualism meant they used English words, often imposed arbitrarily, to name never-before-seen hunter-gatherer implements. For example, “Bogan Pick” references the nearby Bogan River. </p>
<h2>Hunter-gatherer mobility and stasis</h2>
<p>Sutton expertly summarises the experience of escaped convict, <a href="https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/buckley-william-1844/text2133">William Buckley</a>, who spent 32 years travelling around country with the Wathawurrung people in Central Victoria.</p>
<p>Over time, Buckley became fluent in the language of his Wathawurrung hosts. Later, his oral account of the hunter-gatherer group’s approximate lengths of mobility and stasis at numerous sites was transcribed. It’s a unique document covering a significant timespan. </p>
<p>This account reinforces earlier chapters in Dark Emu Debate. Sutton and Walshe make it crystal clear that Aboriginal people weren’t “simple nomads” wandering around randomly, opportunistically searching for food and water. They knew their country intimately. </p>
<p>Rather, hunter-gatherers engaged in purposeful travel to sites with which they familiar and able to source seasonally available food, water and shelter at variable times of year. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404782/original/file-20210607-28232-9m55t7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404782/original/file-20210607-28232-9m55t7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404782/original/file-20210607-28232-9m55t7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404782/original/file-20210607-28232-9m55t7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404782/original/file-20210607-28232-9m55t7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404782/original/file-20210607-28232-9m55t7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404782/original/file-20210607-28232-9m55t7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404782/original/file-20210607-28232-9m55t7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Shelter Tree, Eden Valley 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Keryn Walshe</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Another conspicuous weakness in Dark Emu’s approach, pinpointed by Sutton and Walshe, is Pascoe’s penchant for choosing exceptions to the general rule, implying that these atypical practices were widespread or universal. It’s another strategy to consolidate his argument but involves eliding vital information.</p>
<h2>Pre-contact aquaculture</h2>
<p>Pascoe offers two examples of <a href="https://www.agriculture.gov.au/fisheries/aquaculture">“aquacultural”</a> practice, one in Brewarrina (NSW) in the bed streams of the Barwon River, and the other in Lake Condah, in south-western Victoria. </p>
<p>He seizes on rock use in the Brewarrina fishery and Lake Condah’s fish and seasonal eel trapping as “proof” of Aboriginal people’s aqua/agricultural prowess — giving the impression they created these complex hydrological systems from scratch. </p>
<p>But Sutton writes, “The fish traps of Brewarrina … were not claimed as the ingenious works of human beings, but … regarded as having been put there in the Dreaming, by Dreamings.” Both he and Walshe readily acknowledge the fact that Aboriginal people use/d their human agency to create modifications. It’s not an either/or matter.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404984/original/file-20210608-135198-vqouoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="File:FMIB 36637 Brewarrina Fishery.jpeg - Wikimedia Commons" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404984/original/file-20210608-135198-vqouoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404984/original/file-20210608-135198-vqouoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404984/original/file-20210608-135198-vqouoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404984/original/file-20210608-135198-vqouoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404984/original/file-20210608-135198-vqouoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404984/original/file-20210608-135198-vqouoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404984/original/file-20210608-135198-vqouoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Brewarrina Fishery (‘Baiames Ngunnhu’), photograph Lindsay G. Thompson, 1893.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">University of Washington, Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, a chapter written by Walshe throws light on the seismic activity that forged Lake Condah’s unique terrain and waterways. This area, she writes, is part of </p>
<blockquote>
<p>a volcanic system … last active … 9,000 years ago, with a major eruption much earlier, about 37,000 thousand years ago, causing a massive lava flow across the pre-existing drainage system.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The natural tilt southwards, she explains, facilitated “naturally formed ancient river channels … to reach the Southern Ocean”. </p>
<p>This enabled migratory fish to spawn. Fish, and at certain times of year, eels, swam through both fresh and salty water — making for ease of catching. Local Aboriginal people moved the heavy stones into semi-circular formations to enable netting, spearing or grabbing by hand, possibly creating further semi-captivity of these food staples. </p>
<p>In this way, hunter-gatherers consistently and constantly “value-added” to, or enhanced, nature’s creation.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405277/original/file-20210609-27-rc0n24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405277/original/file-20210609-27-rc0n24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405277/original/file-20210609-27-rc0n24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=222&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405277/original/file-20210609-27-rc0n24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=222&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405277/original/file-20210609-27-rc0n24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=222&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405277/original/file-20210609-27-rc0n24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=279&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405277/original/file-20210609-27-rc0n24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=279&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405277/original/file-20210609-27-rc0n24.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=279&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lake Condah in the Budj Bim National Heritage Landscape.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Budj Bim/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-detective-work-behind-the-budj-bim-eel-traps-world-heritage-bid-71800">The detective work behind the Budj Bim eel traps World Heritage bid</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Not a bunfight</h2>
<p>Pascoe’s skilful editing of his sources involves conscious, deliberate intervention. Does he hope Dark Emu will convince people to change their belief in the noxious evolutionary ladder, once uniformly, but still sometimes, applied to different groups of homo sapiens? </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405281/original/file-20210609-8777-156vdo6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405281/original/file-20210609-8777-156vdo6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405281/original/file-20210609-8777-156vdo6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=956&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405281/original/file-20210609-8777-156vdo6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=956&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405281/original/file-20210609-8777-156vdo6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=956&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405281/original/file-20210609-8777-156vdo6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1202&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405281/original/file-20210609-8777-156vdo6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1202&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405281/original/file-20210609-8777-156vdo6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1202&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Or was his book written to prove Aboriginal people were/are more like Europeans, which could perhaps lead to much needed progress on reconciliation? Perhaps that accounts for its rapturous reception by many Australians, especially the young.</p>
<p>Why not simply celebrate the long-term achievements of hunter-gatherers? </p>
<p>Hunter-gatherers worked in concert with the natural world, not against it as most humans do today, resulting in insoluble difficulties such as overcrowding, pandemics and toxic agricultural and aquacultural practices. Survival depends on this. For eons, it ensured the continuity and the continuing existence of Australia’s hunter-gatherer people and their culture.</p>
<p>Farmers or Hunter Gatherers? The Dark Emu Debate needs to be read carefully, keeping an open mind. The book’s focus is on both material and spiritual economies and their misrepresentation. Despite racist commentary from some, this isn’t an exclusively right or left-wing issue or a bunfight. </p>
<p>Bruce Pascoe’s Dark Emu will continue to be granted recognition, if not immortality. But Sutton and Walshe’s Dark Emu Debate will undoubtedly be acclaimed. As a critique of Pascoe’s book, it’s just about perfect — a volume with the twin virtues of rigour and readability. </p>
<p><em>Farmers or Hunter Gatherers? The Dark Emu Debate is <a href="https://www.mup.com.au/books/farmers-or-hunter-gatherers-paperback-softback">published by Melbourne University Press</a> and will be released 16 June 2021.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/161877/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christine Judith Nicholls does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A new book by an eminent anthropologist and archaeologist mounts a rigorous critique of Dark Emu, repudiating notions of ‘primitive’ hunter-gatherers.Christine Judith Nicholls, Honorary Senior Lecturer, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1588582021-05-27T17:53:19Z2021-05-27T17:53:19ZEnding food insecurity in Native communities means restoring land rights, handing back control<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403177/original/file-20210527-14-8c975g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=15%2C31%2C3535%2C2539&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Handouts from food banks are no substitute for self-sufficiency.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/native-americans-of-the-navajo-nation-people-pick-up-news-photo/1214295994?adppopup=true">Mark Ralston/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For Indigenous people in the U.S., <a href="http://doi.org/10.1093/her/cyr089">food is</a> considered <a href="http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10460-014-9548-9">a sacred gift</a>. Healthy and bountiful produce is received when we care for the land.</p>
<p>Yet, with <a href="https://www.feedingamerica.org/sites/default/files/2021-03/National%20Projections%20Brief_3.9.2021_0.pdf">one in four Native Americans lacking reliable access</a> to healthy foods and Indigenous peoples <a href="https://minorityhealth.hhs.gov/omh/browse.aspx?lvl=4&lvlid=40">disproportionately affected by diet-related diseases</a>, something clearly isn’t working as it should.</p>
<p>As an <a href="https://scholars.okstate.edu/en/persons/valarie-blue-bird-jernigan">expert on Indigenous health and food insecurity among Native populations</a>, I argue that the high rate of food insecurity and poor dietary health of Native Americans can be traced to the events that disrupted Indigenous people’s relationship with the land: <a href="https://indiancountrytoday.com/archive/assimilation-integration-and-colonization">colonization and</a> <a href="https://theconversation.com/indigenous-peoples-day-comes-amid-a-reckoning-over-colonialism-and-calls-for-return-of-native-land-147734">the widespread theft of territory</a> by white settlers. Any attempt to improve access to sufficient, nutritious foods today needs to focus on <a href="https://www.indigenousfoodsystems.org/food-sovereignty">Indigenous food sovereignty</a> and <a href="https://knowledge.unccd.int/publications/land-justice-re-imagining-land-food-and-commons">land justice</a> – giving control and land back to Native communities to enable them to grow culturally appropriate, healthy produce and become self-sufficient.</p>
<h2>A broken system</h2>
<p>“A healthy food system is an indicator of a healthy community; one cannot exist without the other,” noted the Native Hawaiian activist <a href="https://onipaa.org/pages/kamuela-enos">Kamuela Enos</a>.</p>
<p>This view is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1159/000487605">increasingly being echoed</a> by public health experts. Diet is the <a href="https://minorityhealth.hhs.gov/omh/browse.aspx?lvl=4&lvlid=40">number one risk factor for preventable disease</a> in the U.S. and is driven by a food system that comprises <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/19320248.2011.597705">food production, access, marketing and individual dietary intake</a>.</p>
<p>Since the 1980s, an <a href="http://doi.org/10.1017/s1368980007001097">influx of fast food restaurants and convenience stores</a> and an exodus of supermarkets in poorer neighborhoods across the U.S. have led to <a href="http://doi.org/10.1093/jnci/djh296">chronic disease</a> disparities in <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2004.06.007">low-income communities and racial minorities</a>. This is especially true <a href="https://minorityhealth.hhs.gov/omh/browse.aspx?lvl=4&lvlid=40">among the U.S.’s Native population</a>.</p>
<p>American Indian and Alaska Native adults are 50% more likely to be obese and 30% more likely to suffer from hypertension compared to white Americans. They are also 50% more likely to be diagnosed with coronary heart disease, and three times more likely to have diabetes.</p>
<p>Native Americans also experience <a href="https://www.feedingamerica.org/sites/default/files/2021-03/National%20Projections%20Brief_3.9.2021_0.pdf">high rates of food insecurity</a>, meaning they don’t have enough food to live an active, healthy life. </p>
<p>In a <a href="http://doi.org/10.1300/J477v01n04_04">study of a Northern Plains reservation in Montana</a>, 43% of tribal households were found to be food-insecure. In Oklahoma, <a href="http://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2016.303605">more than 60% of American Indians surveyed were food-insecure</a>. This compares with a <a href="https://www.feedingamerica.org/sites/default/files/2021-03/National%20Projections%20Brief_3.9.2021_0.pdf">national food insecurity rate of 11%</a>.</p>
<h2>Structural, not short-term approaches</h2>
<p>Government and social service organizations have tried to address food insecurity by promoting <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-food-banks-help-americans-who-have-trouble-getting-enough-to-eat-148150">food banks</a> or encouraging use of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-snap-can-help-people-during-hard-economic-times-like-these-133664">Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program</a>, or SNAP, benefits. </p>
<p>But the <a href="http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jada.2011.06.002">limited existing</a> <a href="http://doi.org/10.1080/19320248.2015.1112755">research shows</a> Indigenous communities are less likely than non-Native groups to use those services. This is due to a number of reasons including lack of access to places that accept SNAP or discriminatory practices such as being refused service at stores.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, public health efforts focused on encouraging healthy lifestyles – through eating more fruits and vegetables, for example – fail to acknowledge the systemic barriers that Native Americans face when it comes to accessing healthy, sustainable and traditional foods.</p>
<p>Feeding people is important, no doubt. But I believe it will never result in long-term health improvements in Native communities without looking and addressing the underlying roots of the problem.</p>
<h2>Stolen land, forced removal</h2>
<p>Indigenous people in the United States <a href="http://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2487-2">share a common deep ancestry</a> and a contentious colonial history with the U.S. that resulted in <a href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/a-nation-rising">land removal and confiscation</a> on a massive scale.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/immigration/native-american/removing-native-americans-from-their-land/">forced removal of Native people</a> from their traditional homelands in the 19th century to often unfamiliar and barren reserves disrupted Indigenous food systems and diets.</p>
<p>For example, in my own Native population, Choctaw, a type of river cane, <em>Arundinaria tecta</em>, was used not only as a food source but also in medicine, for clothing, to build houses and to make baskets. In the places where my people <a href="https://www.nlm.nih.gov/nativevoices/timeline/279.html#:%7E:text=The%20Removal%20Act%20that%20President,more%20than%20500%2Dmile%20journey.">were forced to move</a>, this species of river cane did not exist.</p>
<p>Moreover, Choctaw are an agricultural society, yet many portions of reservation lands where Choctaws were forcibly moved to were arid plains or flood zones – places that were not able to be farmed. As a result, many people starved to death.</p>
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<p>This disruption was the impetus for the nutritional crisis seen today in Native communities. Forced removal was accompanied by a new reliance on government-issued foods for Native communities. From the earliest treaties with the U.S. government, <a href="https://doi.org/10.5406/jamerfolk.126.499.0055">Native Americans were promised food rations</a>. This reliance continues today through the <a href="https://www.fns.usda.gov/fdpir/fdpir-fact-sheet">Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations</a>, through which the U.S. Department of Agriculture provides canned and packaged foods to around 270 tribes with limited access to SNAP. It constitutes the primary food source for 60% of rural and reservation-based American Indians, but the foods tend to be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/69.4.747S">high in fat and sugar</a>. Fresh vegetables <a href="http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/07/AI-AN-obesity/">are rarely offered</a>. </p>
<h2>Toward food sovereignty</h2>
<p>To end reliance on government-provided foods, many Native communities are seeking a different approach: a <a href="https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2105/AJPH.2014.302447">return to traditional foods and practices</a> that are healthy and culturally centered. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A child uses a spade to break up soil during a gardening exercise with the American Indian Center in Chicago." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403185/original/file-20210527-18-cva7ey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403185/original/file-20210527-18-cva7ey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403185/original/file-20210527-18-cva7ey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403185/original/file-20210527-18-cva7ey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403185/original/file-20210527-18-cva7ey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403185/original/file-20210527-18-cva7ey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403185/original/file-20210527-18-cva7ey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Native American youth are being taught in urban gardens about the importance of their connection to the land.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/NativeAmericansUrbanGardens/1038b41f20d94b6fb629e62fef17bba8/photo?Query=NAtive%20American%20land&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=228&currentItemNo=30">AP Photo/Stacy Thacker</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Indigenous food sovereignty – the right and responsibility of Indigenous people to produce healthy and culturally appropriate foods <a href="https://www.canadianscholars.ca/books/indigenous-food-systems">through traditional Indigenous food systems</a> – has emerged as an important strategy to support Indigenous communities.</p>
<p>It involves Native communities <a href="https://www.indigenousfoodsystems.org/food-sovereignty">taking greater control over their land and health</a> and reducing dependence on packaged and fast foods and government-provided food.</p>
<p>For example, the Osage Nation in Oklahoma is supporting the development of sustainable agricultural practices <a href="https://www.ncai.org/ptg/Osage.Nation.Case.Study.pdf">that provide a sustainable source</a> to increase their access to fresh vegetables, fruits and meat to their community.</p>
<p>“For us, food sovereignty means self-sufficiency,” <a href="https://www.ncai.org/ptg/Osage.Nation.Case.Study.pdf">explained</a> Osage Nation’s Assistant Principal Chief Raymond Red Corn in an interview. “If we fed ourselves for thousands of years, I don’t know why we can’t feed ourselves now.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/158858/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Valarie Blue Bird Jernigan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Indigenous people in the US have high rates of food insecurity and dietary-related health problems. Any attempts to address the problem must start with land justice, argues a scholar of Native health and food.Valarie Blue Bird Jernigan, Professor of Rural Health, Oklahoma State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1551082021-02-21T12:05:53Z2021-02-21T12:05:53ZA sin tax on sugary drinks unfairly targets Indigenous communities instead of improving health<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385316/original/file-20210219-15-2hg8nd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=99%2C46%2C3941%2C3122&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A water bottle sits on the table in front of Chief and NDP candidate Rudy Turtle during a visit by NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh on Oct. 5, 2019 on the Grassy Narrows First Nation, where industrial mercury poisoning in its water system has seriously affected the health of the community.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>“Sin taxes” are a tried, <a href="https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/do-sin-taxes-really-change-consumer-behavior/">although not necessarily true</a>, strategy for reducing harm connected to alcohol and tobacco. Calls for a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages are supported by a large body of evidence linking weight gain and Type 2 diabetes, to excess consumption of these drinks. <a href="https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/260253/WHO-NMH-PND-16.5Rev.1-eng.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y">This response is supported by the World Health Organization</a>, among others, <a href="https://www.heartandstroke.ca/-/media/pdf-files/canada/media-centre/the-health-and-economic-impact-of-a-sugary-drink-tax-in-canada-summary.ashx">to offset negative health and economic effects</a>. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://greenparty.mb.ca/news/manitoba-greens-sugar-tax-proposal-would-save-36-million-in-health-care-costs/">idea of taxing sugar-sweetened beverages</a> has <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/liberals-ontario-soda-tax-proposal-federal-election-campaign-katie-simpson-1.5136724">caught the attention of political leaders</a> <a href="https://www.fin.gov.nt.ca/en/services/have-your-say-proposed-nwt-sugar-sweetened-drinks-tax">in Canada</a>, too. However, this paternalistic “we know best” approach ignores the most obvious needs and rights of Indigenous Peoples. Rather than seeing the harms of colonization to Indigenous Peoples, governments are fixating on how to tax the Coke in their hands. </p>
<p>Imposing a sugary beverage tax on Indigenous consumers would <a href="https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2018/08/10/do-sin-taxes-work">be unethical</a>, contravene tax law and undermine Indigenous rights to self-determination. Even the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/indigenous-forced-labour-sugar-beet-farms-1.4165272">production of sugar in Canada</a> has exploited Indigenous people, who were used essentially as forced labour. </p>
<h2>Health and mental health gaps</h2>
<p>The connection between lack of employment, education and family supports, to poorer health outcomes <a href="https://www.wellesleyinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Full-Report-FPSCT-Updated.pdf">is well documented</a>. For Indigenous peoples, who often occupy the worst end of wellness measures, this is directly connected to the legacy of colonization. </p>
<p>Moreover, the health gap is profound and getting worse. <a href="http://mchp-appserv.cpe.umanitoba.ca/reference/FN_Report_web.pdf">The Manitoba Centre for Health Policy</a> found the life expectancy gap between First Nations persons and all other Manitobans has widened to 11 years from eight years since 2002. </p>
<p>It comes as no surprise then that Indigenous Peoples also experience diabetes at much higher rates. In Canada, treating diabetes <a href="https://www.diabetes.ca/media-room/press-releases/new-data-shows-diabetes-rates-and-economic-burden-on-families-continue-to-rise-in-ontario--">costs upwards of $30 billion per year</a>. It seems unlikely that a tax on sugary drinks can set this crisis right.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Close-up of an Indigenous woman with grey hair in a blue shirt" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385307/original/file-20210219-21-kmf6x0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=238%2C8%2C2757%2C1985&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/385307/original/file-20210219-21-kmf6x0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385307/original/file-20210219-21-kmf6x0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385307/original/file-20210219-21-kmf6x0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385307/original/file-20210219-21-kmf6x0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385307/original/file-20210219-21-kmf6x0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/385307/original/file-20210219-21-kmf6x0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Laura Green, a resident of Shoal Lake 40 First Nation, was photographed while speaking about water and access issues in her community on Feb. 25, 2015. The boil water advisory at Shoal Lake 40 has lasted more than two decades, beginning in 1997.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Similarly, for those struggling with addiction, eating disorders or other challenges, adding more tax provides no support for better “lifestyle choices.” There is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2021.106447">evidence linking adverse childhood experiences</a> and trauma to higher intake of sugar-sweetened beverages both in childhood and later in life, as well as <a href="http://doi.org/10.3390/nu12051485">calls to include sugar-sweetened drinks within addiction models</a>, including for survivors of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2020.106176">childhood maltreatment</a> who disproportionately use food to cope.</p>
<p>Indigenous Peoples are also more likely to live with <a href="https://www.fnha.ca/what-we-do/mental-wellness-and-substance-use">mental illness and addiction</a>, largely due to <a href="http://www.nccah-ccnsa.ca/Publications/Lists/Publications/Attachments/142/2015-04-28-AguiarHalseth-RPT-IntergenTraumaHistory-EN-Web.pdf">intergenerational trauma</a>. This raises ethical questions about taxing addiction or behaviours associated with trauma, particularly in light of its colonial roots.</p>
<h2>Taxes, food and water</h2>
<p>One obvious problem with taxing sugar-sweetened beverage consumption by First Nations persons is their <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/aboriginal-peoples/indians.html">tax-exempt status</a> for all purchases made on reserves. There is no Canadian tax scheme that can avoid this exemption, thus a tax on sugary beverages has no impact on those who are at highest risk for Type 2 diabetes. With the growing presence of <a href="https://www.ictinc.ca/blog/what-are-urban-reserves">urban reserves</a> in many Canadian cities, buying tax-exempt sugar-sweetened beverages is increasingly easy. </p>
<p>Taxation also doesn’t address <a href="https://theconversation.com/canadas-food-guide-is-easy-to-follow-if-youre-wealthy-or-middle-class-114963">underlying issues of food insecurity</a>, prevalent in communities with high Indigenous populations. In urban areas, the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s12937-019-0488-5">2015 Canadian Community Health Survey</a> found Indigenous populations to have the highest intake of sugar-sweetened beverages of any racial or ethnic group. This often reflects a <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17238818">lack of healthy and affordable food in neighbourhoods</a> with large Indigenous populations.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/mining-push-continues-despite-water-crisis-in-neskantaga-first-nation-and-ontarios-ring-of-fire-150522">Mining push continues despite water crisis in Neskantaga First Nation and Ontario’s Ring of Fire</a>
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</em>
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<p>Canada’s historic approach to resource development and wildlife management has been to ignore the needs and rights of Indigenous communities. Industry was allowed to pollute water bodies, <a href="https://pulitzercenter.org/projects/generations-activism-grassy-narrows-first-nations-fight-clean-water">including with mercury</a>, and destroy food sources relied upon by Indigenous Peoples. For <a href="https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.181617">northern</a>, <a href="http://www.fnfnes.ca/docs/FNFNES_draft_technical_report_Nov_2__2019.pdf">rural, remote</a> and <a href="https://proof.utoronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Household-Food-Insecurity-in-Canada-2017-2018-Full-Reportpdf.pdf">urban populations</a>, food insecurity continues to be a problem. Increasing food prices wouldn’t fix this.</p>
<p>A tax on sugar-sweetened beverages implies that Indigenous Peoples can either make better food choices, or choose to pay the tax. Yet <a href="https://canadians.org/fn-water">safe drinking water</a> and <a href="https://www.rcinet.ca/eye-on-the-arctic/2019/03/29/canada-nutrition-north-food-security-iqaluit-grocery-price/">affordable food</a> are not within reach of many Indigenous Peoples. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/water-crisis-in-first-nations-communities-runs-deeper-than-long-term-drinking-water-advisories-148977">Water crisis in First Nations communities runs deeper than long-term drinking water advisories</a>
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<p>The disconnect here is how taxing sugary drinks will help reduce diabetes and other health problems for this group. There is a serious credibility gap when governments demand consumers pay extra when choices are limited, and then promise tax revenue will be used to benefit their health. Despite promises by the federal government to fix all boil water advisories in five years, <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7497223/indigenous-services-minister-says-trudeau-government-wont-end-boil-water-advisories-by-march-2021/">it failed to deliver</a> on this basic human right. </p>
<h2>Shifting responsibility</h2>
<p>The solution, it seems, shifts responsibility for wellness from addressing inequality, to imposing a sugar-sweetened beverage tax on those most affected by poverty and lack of clean water, and for whom <a href="https://theconversation.com/joyce-echaquans-death-how-a-decolonizing-approach-could-help-tackle-racism-in-health-care-148517">racism in health care</a> is a daily reality. By framing the “problem” just the right way, the “solution” is easy to sell to a nation struggling to accept responsibility for the continuing harms of colonization.</p>
<p>As a young nation, Canada signed Treaty agreements to share land and resources. Instead of honouring those promises, Canada enacted the <a href="https://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/the_indian_act/"><em>Indian Act</em></a>, essentially stripping First Nations of even the most basic human rights. Since then, Canadian governments have rarely acted in the best interests of Indigenous Peoples. </p>
<p>Today, Canada is considering <a href="https://parl.ca/DocumentViewer/en/43-2/bill/C-15/first-reading">Bill C-15</a> to adopt minimum standards of Indigenous rights as set out in the <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2018/11/UNDRIP_E_web.pdf">United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples</a>. This includes the right to self determination. Rather than taxing sugar-sweetened beverages, a better solution is to end paternalism and to provide real choices by confronting inequality and racism.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/155108/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Myra J Tait receives funding from Canadian Institutes of Health Research.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Natalie Diane Riediger receives funding from Canadian Institutes of Health Research. </span></em></p>A tax on sugar-sweetened beverages may be intended to improve health, but for Indigenous consumers, such a tax would be unethical, contravene tax law and undermine Indigenous rights.Myra J Tait, Assistant Professor, Governance, Law and Management, Athabasca UniversityNatalie Diane Riediger, Assistant Professor of Nutritional Epidemiology, University of ManitobaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1448132020-09-16T03:25:23Z2020-09-16T03:25:23ZAustralia’s plants and animals have long been used without Indigenous consent. Now Queensland has taken a stand<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/358148/original/file-20200915-22-4eg92c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=10%2C0%2C3385%2C2428&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> </figcaption></figure><p>Many products we use each day contain compounds taken from nature. Aspirin, for example, is derived from willow trees. And nanofibres from <a href="https://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/journals/index.php/ijrlp/article/view/5713/6337">spinifex grass</a> in Queensland is added to bitumen to make stronger roads.</p>
<p>But throughout history, native plants, animals and other biological materials have been removed without the consent of Indigenous people. In many cases, Indigenous knowledge was also taken without permission – and Indigenous people rarely benefited from the commercial products developed as a result.</p>
<p>Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities have strong connections to country, and totemic relationships with certain plants and animals. If these are removed without permission, Indigenous people suffer significant spiritual harm. And using Indigenous knowledge without permission perpetuates the social and economic injustices of colonisation. </p>
<p>With those important considerations in mind, the Queensland government last month reformed a law governing “biodiscovery” - the taking, analysing and using of native biological material. It should serve as a model for other states to follow.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Indigenous women displays native seeds" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/358159/original/file-20200915-18-squu7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/358159/original/file-20200915-18-squu7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358159/original/file-20200915-18-squu7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358159/original/file-20200915-18-squu7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358159/original/file-20200915-18-squu7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358159/original/file-20200915-18-squu7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358159/original/file-20200915-18-squu7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Indigenous cultural knowledge must be protected.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A leader in biodiscovery law</h2>
<p>In 2004, Queensland was the first Australian jurisdiction to <a href="https://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/act-2004-019">regulate biodiscovery</a>. Since then, the Commonwealth and Northern Territory governments have also passed biodiscovery laws.</p>
<p>Queensland’s original Biodiscovery Act was beset with limitations, such as:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>it did not cover traditional knowledge. This meant Indigenous people were left out of benefit-sharing negotiations</p></li>
<li><p>it didn’t meet all requirements of the <a href="https://www.cbd.int/abs/">2014 Nagoya Protocol</a>, which sets conditions for access to genetic resources and traditional knowledge</p></li>
<li><p>the approvals process for biodiversity researchers was burdensome</p></li>
<li><p>only biological materials from state land or waters were regulated – not those from private or Indigenous land.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>The Queensland government wanted to rectify these issues. During the reform process, it consulted widely – including with Indigenous people, scientists, and experts on intellectual property and Indigenous rights.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Hands holding native seeds" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/358156/original/file-20200915-22-65ki34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/358156/original/file-20200915-22-65ki34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358156/original/file-20200915-22-65ki34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358156/original/file-20200915-22-65ki34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358156/original/file-20200915-22-65ki34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358156/original/file-20200915-22-65ki34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358156/original/file-20200915-22-65ki34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Queensland’s biodiscovery laws offer a model for other states.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>So what’s changed?</h2>
<p>Under the revised law, anyone engaging in biodiscovery must take all reasonable measures to form agreement with the custodians of Indigenous knowledge being used. This includes a benefit-sharing agreement.</p>
<p>The act now aligns with the Nagoya Protocol. This is important for those in the Queensland biodiscovery industry who want to export to countries that have ratified the protocol, such as in Europe. The approvals process has also been streamlined.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/all-things-will-outlast-us-how-the-indigenous-concept-of-deep-time-helps-us-understand-environmental-destruction-132201">'All things will outlast us': how the Indigenous concept of deep time helps us understand environmental destruction</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Finally, the Queensland government is designing a “Traditional Knowledge Code of Practice” in consultation with Indigenous communities and other experts. The code will aim to help the biodiscovery industry work more inclusively with traditional knowledge custodians. It will be important to monitor whether the code meets these aims.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A hand holding native seeds" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/358152/original/file-20200915-16-1bvvphd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/358152/original/file-20200915-16-1bvvphd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358152/original/file-20200915-16-1bvvphd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358152/original/file-20200915-16-1bvvphd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358152/original/file-20200915-16-1bvvphd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358152/original/file-20200915-16-1bvvphd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358152/original/file-20200915-16-1bvvphd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Queensland government hopes the reform will encourage more biodiscovery.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Collaboration is key</h2>
<p>The Queensland government hopes the reforms will lead to more biodiscovery activities. These will often rely on the knowledge and practices of Indigenous people. </p>
<p>As well as custodians of Indigenous knowledge, others involved in the biodiscovery process include:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>scientists researching the properties of native biological materials</p></li>
<li><p>businesses that commercialise new products</p></li>
<li><p>consumers who buy the products</p></li>
<li><p>government officials who grant regulatory approvals.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Collaboration between all these groups is key. One good example of this involves the Chuulangun Aboriginal Corporation and researchers at the University of South Australia. In 2013, the partners began <a href="http://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/p154251/pdf/ch02.pdf">work on</a> a biodiscovery project in the Kuuku I’yu Northern Kaanju homelands in Cape York. It investigated traditional medicinal plants used to treat ailments such as psoriasis, a skin condition. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/strength-from-perpetual-grief-how-aboriginal-people-experience-the-bushfire-crisis-129448">Strength from perpetual grief: how Aboriginal people experience the bushfire crisis</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>David Claudie – a coauthor of this article and Kuuku I’yu Northern Kaanju Traditional Owner – knows how to use local plants as medicine. Working together, traditional knowledge custodians and scientists collected medicinal plants and analysed them in a lab. This approach drew on both Indigenous and Western perspectives, and led to <a href="https://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/tools-resources/case-studies/chuulangun-aboriginal-corporation-and-university-south-australia">plant-based medicinal products</a> being developed.</p>
<p>The project also protected Indigenous intellectual property and negotiated an agreement to share commercial benefits. Claudie is named as an inventor on the <a href="https://patents.google.com/patent/AU2010317657C1/en">patents</a> and an author of <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/ch/fulltext/CH15456">scientific articles</a> published from the collaboration.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Man holds native snails" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/358160/original/file-20200915-16-1vsv6fl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/358160/original/file-20200915-16-1vsv6fl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=346&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358160/original/file-20200915-16-1vsv6fl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=346&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358160/original/file-20200915-16-1vsv6fl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=346&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358160/original/file-20200915-16-1vsv6fl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358160/original/file-20200915-16-1vsv6fl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358160/original/file-20200915-16-1vsv6fl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Biodiscovery should incorporate Indigenous and Western perspectives.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>An important example</h2>
<p>Australia is one of 17 countries considered “<a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/conservation/hotspots">megadiverse</a>”. It is home to up to 700,000 species, many found nowhere else in the world. This means the biodiscovery industry has big potential in Australia – but Indigenous knowledge must be protected.</p>
<p>Queensland’s reforms to biodiscovery laws set an important example. Other Australian states should follow Queensland’s lead and develop better legal protections for Indigenous knowledge. These should take into account both Indigenous and Western perspectives, for the benefit of all.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/144813/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Jefferson receives funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC) as a member of the 'Harnessing Intellectual Property to Build Food Security' ARC Laureate Project at The University of Queensland School of Law. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel Robinson receives funding from the Australian Research Council Discovery Projects (DP180100507) 'Indigenous Knowledge Futures: Protecting and Promoting Indigenous Knowledge'; and the Access and Benefit-Sharing Capacity Development Initiative (ABS-Initiative) Pacific Project, which receives European Union and BMZ funding, and is implemented by the German International Development Implementing Agency (GIZ).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jocelyn Bosse receives funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC) as a member of the 'Harnessing Intellectual Property to Build Food Security' ARC Laureate Project at The University of Queensland School of Law.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Margaret Raven was an expert adviser for the Queensland Government's consultations on the reforms. She sat on an Indigenous Advisory Committee informing the consultations.
She has an Australian Research Council Grant Discovery Project grant - DP180100507: Indigenous knowledge futures: protecting and promoting indigenous knowledge.
She is a member of the Australian College of Experts. Until relatively recently I was a member of the AIATSIS Human Research Ethics Committee.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Claudie does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Our medicine, cosmetics and other everyday products contain compounds taken from nature. But Traditional Owners may not have given permission for the materials or their knowledge to be used.David Jefferson, Research Fellow, The University of QueenslandDaniel Robinson, Associate Professor, UNSW SydneyDavid Claudie, Invited User, Indigenous KnowledgeJocelyn Bosse, PhD candidate in Law, The University of QueenslandMargaret Raven, Senior Scientia Lecturer (Research), UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1425372020-08-11T12:10:15Z2020-08-11T12:10:15ZIndigenous Mexicans turn inward to survive COVID-19, barricading villages and growing their own food<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352041/original/file-20200810-18-1o44ij8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=9%2C8%2C613%2C430&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Zapotec farmers return from their 'milpa,' the garden plots that provide much of the communities' food, in Oaxaca, Mexico. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jeffrey H. Cohen</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>While the coronavirus <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/specialseries/2020/07/frontline-mexico-fight-covid-19-200723100729057.html">hammers Mexico</a>, some Indigenous communities in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca are finding creative ways to cope.</p>
<p>Oaxaca, <a href="https://politica.expansion.mx/mexico/2019/08/06/chiapas-guerrero-y-oaxaca-los-estados-con-mas-pobreza-en-mexico">one of Mexico’s poorest</a> and most ethnically diverse states, is home to numerous Indigenous communities, including the Zapotec people. I have spent many years in the central valleys of Oaxaca conducting anthropological research in rural Zapotec villages, documenting the people’s <a href="https://utpress.utexas.edu/books/cohcoo">lives</a>, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7560/705708">migration patterns</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=e7tYdvkAAAAJ&hl=en">food culture</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350647/original/file-20200731-14-how2n2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Map of Mexico showing Oaxaca" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350647/original/file-20200731-14-how2n2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350647/original/file-20200731-14-how2n2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350647/original/file-20200731-14-how2n2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350647/original/file-20200731-14-how2n2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350647/original/file-20200731-14-how2n2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350647/original/file-20200731-14-how2n2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350647/original/file-20200731-14-how2n2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Oaxaca.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Oaxaca_in_Mexico.svg">TUBS/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Now, my summer research in Oaxaca canceled due to the pandemic, I am learning from afar how the Zapotec are confronting the coronavirus given such complicating factors as <a href="https://www.gob.mx/cms/uploads/attachment/file/348121/Violencia_de_G_nero_Contra_Mujeres_en_Zonas_Ind_genas_en_M_xico.pdf">chronic poverty</a>, inadequate health care, limited internet, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-mexico-indigenous/language-barriers-social-distancing-mexicos-indigenous-face-coronavirus-idUSKBN21M03L">language barriers</a> and a lack of running water.</p>
<p>Working with colleagues at Mexico’s <a href="http://utvco.edu.mx/">Universidad Tecnológica de los Valles Centrales de Oaxaca</a> and scouring online media resources, I find the Zapotec are surviving the pandemic by doing what they’ve always done when the Mexican government can’t, or won’t, help them: drawing on local Indigenous traditions of cooperation, self-reliance and isolation.</p>
<p>So far, it’s working. While infections and death <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/08/coronavirus-cases-deaths-rise-brazil-mexico-200810071724113.html">are rising relentlessly across Mexico</a>, many Indigenous communities in Oaxaca remain largely insulated from the coronavirus. The Indigenous Mixtec village of Santos Reyes Yucuná reported its <a href="https://wearemitu.com/things-that-matter/the-coronavirus-is-starting-to-hit-mexicos-poorest-communities-and-the-results-could-be-devastating/">first infection on July 17</a>, for example – four months after COVID-19 reached Mexico. </p>
<h2>Indigenous survival strategies</h2>
<p><a href="https://nacla.org/news/2019/05/30/coast-oaxaca-afro-and-indigenous-tribes-fight-water-autonomy">Cooperation</a> is a cornerstone of Zapotec life in Oaxaca. A history of <a href="https://theconversation.com/study-reveals-racial-inequality-in-mexico-disproving-its-race-blind-rhetoric-87661">social exclusion</a> by the federal government reminds the Zapotec <a href="https://news.trust.org/item/20200417171219-xdsy2">not to rely on politicians</a> to save them.</p>
<p>People work together from a young age, joining together in “tequio,” or communal labor brigades, to complete projects that can range from painting a school to repairing the electrical grid. Individuals, their families and their friends routinely work together to make small jobs go quickly and to make big jobs seem less overwhelming. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Woman prepares cornmeal for tortillas" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350724/original/file-20200802-17-1faxfay.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350724/original/file-20200802-17-1faxfay.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350724/original/file-20200802-17-1faxfay.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350724/original/file-20200802-17-1faxfay.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350724/original/file-20200802-17-1faxfay.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350724/original/file-20200802-17-1faxfay.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350724/original/file-20200802-17-1faxfay.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Zapotec woman making tamales using locally grown maiz, or corn.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jeffrey H. Cohen</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Zapotec also maintain relative isolation from broader Mexican society, <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/M/bo20850757.html">my research shows</a>. They grow food in their “milpas,” or garden plot, to supplement store-bought fare, and police their own communities with volunteers called “topiles.” With high levels of community trust and a history of self-rule that predates the Spanish conquest, the Zapotec who continue to live in rural Oaxaca neither need nor allow much outside access to their villages. </p>
<p>These three aspects of traditional Zapotec culture – cooperation, isolation and self-reliance – are all helpful in a pandemic. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350064/original/file-20200729-27-b9kc6s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350064/original/file-20200729-27-b9kc6s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350064/original/file-20200729-27-b9kc6s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=735&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350064/original/file-20200729-27-b9kc6s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=735&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350064/original/file-20200729-27-b9kc6s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=735&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350064/original/file-20200729-27-b9kc6s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=924&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350064/original/file-20200729-27-b9kc6s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=924&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350064/original/file-20200729-27-b9kc6s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=924&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Chapulines at a market.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jeffrey H. Cohen</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>According to <a href="https://utvco.academia.edu/NydiaDehliMataSanchez">researcher M.C. Nydia Sanchez</a> of Oaxaca’s Universidad Tecnológica, Zapotec families are sharing scarce resources like food, information, water and face masks in what’s called “guelaguetza,” the practice of working together and gift-giving.</p>
<p>And at a time when <a href="https://www.animalpolitico.com/blog-invitado/covid-19-y-las-cadenas-de-suministro-de-alimentos/">Mexico’s food supply chain is under stress</a>, villagers are ensuring no one goes hungry by ramping up their crop of “maiz,” the corn used to make tortillas.</p>
<p>“Chapulines” – grasshoppers harvested from the fields and quickly toasted over a fire – are returning to the table as a protein-rich alternative to expensive, store-bought meats that are no longer available locally.</p>
<h2>Consensus rules</h2>
<p>The tight-knit nature of Zapotec communities can, however, also complicate other measures critical to limiting residents’ exposure to infection. </p>
<p>These are small villages of no more than a few thousand souls. Everyone knows everyone, and it is typical for Zapotec people to spend much of their day together with family and friends. This can make it difficult to maintain the social distancing recommended by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pD6t62pv11Y">national health officials</a>. </p>
<p>[<em>You need to understand the coronavirus pandemic, and we can help.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=coronavirus-help">Read The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>“To no longer greet each other so much on the street [is difficult], because we are used to it,” a Zapotec man named Jose Abel Bautista Gonzalez <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-mexico-indigenous/language-barriers-social-distancing-mexicos-indigenous-face-coronavirus-idUSKBN21M03L">told Reuters in April</a>. “It is a tradition, the culture of the people.” </p>
<p>Rather than closing their doors to family and friends, then, the Zapotec are aiming to stop COVID-19 from getting in at all. </p>
<p>Across much of Oaxaca, villagers are building barricades made of chain, stones and wood to physically block access into and out of their communities, which are typically served by only one road. Many villages are effectively quarantined from society. </p>
<p>“We decided to set up these barriers so that visitors or outsiders wouldn’t be coming in,” José Manzano, of San Isidro del Palmar, <a href="https://globalpressjournal.com/americas/mexico/mexicos-coast-communities-unite-keep-coronavirus/">told Global Press Journal on June 28</a>. </p>
<p>Such decisions, like most Zapotec policies, are <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0010414019857094">built upon community consensus</a> – not made on the order of a local or national political leader. </p>
<h2>Uncertain future</h2>
<p>Indigenous Mexican communities are unlikely to escape unscathed from the pandemic. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2020/03/30/amlos-feeble-response-to-covid-19-in-mexico/">Mexico</a> is so far losing its battle with the economic effects of the coronavirus: Jobs are disappearing, and economists predict the <a href="https://www.csis.org/analysis/covid-19-pandemic-threatens-mexicos-economy">national economy may contract by 8% this year</a>. Tourism, the lifeblood of Mexico’s economy, <a href="https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2020/jul/18/tourism-will-be-key-to-recovery-for-oaxaca-post-co/">has halted</a>. </p>
<p>That means hunger and a long recession that experts say will impact the rural poor disproportionately. <a href="https://www.coneval.org.mx/SalaPrensa/Comunicadosprensa/Documents/2020/Comunicado_06_POLIITICA_SOCIAL_EN_CONTEXTO_COVID_19.pdf?platform=hootsuite">Mexico’s social development agency</a> estimates up to 10 million people may fall into extreme poverty, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/07/30/895698797/if-coronavirus-doesn-t-kill-me-hunger-will-mexico-s-poor-bear-brunt-of-pandemic">ending the country’s nearly decade-long run of poverty reduction</a>. </p>
<p>And if the coronavirus does get into Zapotec communities, it will probably <a href="https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/-mexico-chiapas-natives-vulnerable-to-covid19-20200403-0005.html">hit residents hard</a>. Their villages lack the running water, social distancing, mask supply and health care necessary to slow the spread of the disease. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350727/original/file-20200802-17-fwk79p.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350727/original/file-20200802-17-fwk79p.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350727/original/file-20200802-17-fwk79p.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350727/original/file-20200802-17-fwk79p.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350727/original/file-20200802-17-fwk79p.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350727/original/file-20200802-17-fwk79p.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350727/original/file-20200802-17-fwk79p.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An anti-cholera campaign for clean drinking water in Oaxaca.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jeffrey H. Cohen</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The lack of potable water additionally increases the risk that intestinal problems like cholera, among <a href="https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/full/10.1377/hlthaff.21.3.47">other health conditions common</a> in rural Indigenous populations, will exacerbate the effects of COVID-19.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://siete24.mx/mexico/estados/desde-hace-diez-anos-51-hospitales-y-dos-autopistas-estan-en-construccion-en-oaxaca/">Mexican government has committed</a> to build more rural hospitals, including in Oaxaca. But the virus moves faster than construction crews. The <a href="https://oaxaca.eluniversal.com.mx/municipios/30-07-2020/en-estos-municipios-zapotecas-la-organizacion-comunitaria-mantiene-raya-la">Zapotec’s best bet</a>, they know, is still themselves. </p>
<p><em>Editor’s note: This story has been updated to accurately characterize the Indigenous inhabitants of the village Santos Reyes Yucuná.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/142537/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jeffrey H. Cohen receives funding from the National Science Foundation. He has served as a Senior Fulbright scholar in Mexico and earlier work was supported by National Geographic Society as well as the Ohio State University.</span></em></p>The Zapotec people of southern Mexico have always relied on each other to solve problems when the government can’t, or won’t, help. That’s proving to be a pretty effective pandemic response.Jeffrey H. Cohen, Professor of Anthropology, The Ohio State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1003312019-11-19T00:31:17Z2019-11-19T00:31:17ZOur land is burning, and Western science does not have all the answers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/302324/original/file-20191118-169393-x1173f.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C0%2C1991%2C1598&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Modern fire managers can learn much from Aboriginal fire practice.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Matthew Newton/RUMMIN Productions</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Last week’s catastrophic fires on Australia’s east coast – and warnings of more soon to come – will become <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-bitter-lesson-of-the-californian-fires-106842">all too common</a> as climate change gathers pace. And as the challenges of modern hazard reduction become clear, there is much to learn from the ancient Aboriginal practice of burning country.</p>
<p>Indigenous people learnt to use fire skillfully and to their advantage, including to moderate bushfires. Most of the fires were small and set at dry times of the year, resulting in a <a href="https://www.dpaw.wa.gov.au/management/fire/fire-and-the-environment/41-traditional-aboriginal-burning">fine-scale mosaic</a> of different vegetation types and fuel ages. This made intense bushfires uncommon and made plant and animal foods more abundant. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-surprising-answer-to-a-hot-question-controlled-burns-often-fail-to-slow-a-bushfire-127022">A surprising answer to a hot question: controlled burns often fail to slow a bushfire</a>
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<p>Contemporary fire managers also attempt to lower bushfire risk by reducing fuel loads through hazard reduction burning. To <a href="http://www.bnhcrc.com.au/sites/default/files/managed/downloads/21._think_long_term_the_costs_and_benefits_of_prescribed_burning_in_the_south_west_of_wa.pdf">minimise costs</a>, this is often achieved by <a href="https://www.raindancesystems.com.au">dropping incendiaries from aircraft</a>. </p>
<p>Concern is growing that such methods <a href="https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/conl.12685">exacerbate biodiversity declines</a> and often <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-surprising-answer-to-a-hot-question-controlled-burns-often-fail-to-slow-a-bushfire-127022">do not prevent</a> a subsequent bushfire. As climate change makes bushfires more ferocious and extreme, now is the time to better understand how our First Peoples used fire.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/302315/original/file-20191118-169330-e6g7hg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4121%2C2673&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/302315/original/file-20191118-169330-e6g7hg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302315/original/file-20191118-169330-e6g7hg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302315/original/file-20191118-169330-e6g7hg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=389&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302315/original/file-20191118-169330-e6g7hg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302315/original/file-20191118-169330-e6g7hg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302315/original/file-20191118-169330-e6g7hg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Patch burning in the Midlands region of Tasmania. The technique draws on traditional Aboriginal knowledge and can help in modern fire management.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alan McFetridge</span></span>
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<h2>A slow, ancient craft</h2>
<p>Traditional Aboriginal fire practices are based on local knowledge and spiritual connection to country.</p>
<p>Before white settlement, Aboriginal people were a constant presence in the landscape, and traditionally burnt country by walking the land. This meant they could control the timing and spread of fire, as well as its ecological effects. </p>
<p>By contrast, most modern fire programs are far <a href="https://theconversation.com/aboriginal-fire-management-part-of-the-solution-to-destructive-bushfires-55032">less flexible and responsive</a>. They usually take place on weekdays in specific seasons and weather conditions. Many fires are ignited from the air – especially those in remote areas where vast areas of burning is desired. This technique results in bigger, more intense fires than those conducted by Aboriginal people.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/grattan-on-friday-when-the-firies-call-him-out-on-climate-change-scott-morrison-should-listen-127049">Grattan on Friday: When the firies call him out on climate change, Scott Morrison should listen</a>
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<p>Contemporary fire managers do reduce fuel in small areas, through ground crews working on foot. These crews often work in specific weather windows such as fog, and at cooler times of day such as the evening, to keep fires controlled and protect sensitive areas.</p>
<p>This method is reminiscent of Aboriginal fire practice and leads to smaller, less intense fires than aerial ignition. But it also differs from traditional techniques. Modern ground crews use “drip torches” – hand-held devices filled with fuel – and burn in a box pattern. By contrast, Indigenous people <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-16/reconciliation-at-heart-of-central-victoria-indigenous-fire/8530412">use a slower technique</a> such as dragging a smouldering stick through the bush, and burn in spiral or strip patterns to achieve a mosaic effect.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/302319/original/file-20191118-169359-1nhav0i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/302319/original/file-20191118-169359-1nhav0i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302319/original/file-20191118-169359-1nhav0i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302319/original/file-20191118-169359-1nhav0i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302319/original/file-20191118-169359-1nhav0i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302319/original/file-20191118-169359-1nhav0i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302319/original/file-20191118-169359-1nhav0i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A hazard reduction operation conducted by the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Services in the Blue Mountains. About 120 hectares were burnt.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mick Tsikas/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Taking lessons from the past</h2>
<p>Aboriginal fire practice across Australia was severely disrupted by European invasion. The practice is being reinvigorated through initiatives such as the <a href="http://www.firesticks.org.au/">Firesticks Alliance</a>, an Indigenous-led network involving training, on-ground works and scientific monitoring to better understand the ecological effects of cultural burning.</p>
<p>But there is a huge opportunity to further develop traditional fire management alongside western science. Our project on a farm in Tasmania offers a good example. Since 2017, University of Tasmania scientists have worked with a farmer and the Aboriginal community to reintroduce Indigenous burning to native grasslands (see video below).</p>
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<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/299353829" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
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<p>This project began as straightforward research into fire management in an endangered eucalypt woodland community. It took a novel turn when the landowner asked that the Tasmanian Aboriginal community be involved. We then employed Aboriginal rangers to burn experimental plots. </p>
<p>Importantly, this research does not take the old-school anthropological approach of solely studying Aboriginal burning practices. Instead, it is a true collaboration where all parties learn from each other. </p>
<p>As a consequence, the project design changed in the course of the experiment. For example its original “efficient” approach involved burning predetermined units of a set size. But in the second year, Aboriginal rangers selected the areas burnt, resulting in a patchy and varied burning pattern. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/bushfires-can-make-kids-scared-and-anxious-here-are-5-steps-to-help-them-cope-126926">Bushfires can make kids scared and anxious: here are 5 steps to help them cope</a>
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<p>The project is still being monitored and results are not finalised. However it has already achieved an important goal: stronger cross-cultural partnerships. </p>
<p>Such initiatives should not be rushed. Genuine engagement of the Aboriginal community requires time, allowing trust to build between groups that don’t have a long history of working together. </p>
<p>The project took place on private property, at the request of a landowner who took responsibility for approvals and compliance. Such small-scale projects are excellent for building skills and allowing Aboriginal people to reconnect with country. Upscaling such projects to public lands such as national parks requires more complex negotiation and agreement, but this will be easier if a record of successful smaller programs exists. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/302321/original/file-20191118-169374-aypymw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/302321/original/file-20191118-169374-aypymw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302321/original/file-20191118-169374-aypymw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302321/original/file-20191118-169374-aypymw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302321/original/file-20191118-169374-aypymw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302321/original/file-20191118-169374-aypymw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302321/original/file-20191118-169374-aypymw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Indigenous-led burning at a project site in Tasmania.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Matthew Newton/RUMMIN Productions</span></span>
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<h2>Looking to the future</h2>
<p>There are profound cultural differences between traditional and modern fire management, stemming from different understanding of belonging, place, history, values and metaphysics. </p>
<p>The growing fire crisis means it’s vital western science and Aboriginal knowledge are brought together to make communities as fire-safe as possible. </p>
<p>This includes a sustainable funding model for Indigenous-led fire management programs, as well as cross-cultural training for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous fire managers to better work together.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/100331/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Bowman receives funding to study fire ecology and management from the Australian Research Council (ARC) , the NSW Bushfire Risk Management Research Hub, Bushfire and Natural Hazard CRC, and the Tasmanian Government Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and the Environment.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ben J. French receives a Future Leaders Scholarship from the Westpac Scholars Trust, supporting his research. </span></em></p>Indigenous people used small fires skilfully to prevent larger bushfires. In this time of crisis, we must learn from them.David Bowman, Professor of Pyrogeography and Fire Science, University of TasmaniaBen J. French, PhD student in Environmental Change Biology, University of TasmaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/953692018-05-09T20:23:01Z2018-05-09T20:23:01ZHow we’re using fish ear bones as ‘time capsules’ of past river health<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/217870/original/file-20180507-166906-dmnwdj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An image from 1886 showing a group of Indigenous Australians posed around the lower Murray River in flood. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/national_library_of_australia_commons/6174049594/in/photolist-apwREV-apzzFG-apzAAQ-apzBQW-apzzqh-apzBuj-apzBjs-apwSy4-apzyFL-apzAMo-apwSWe-apzzLy-apwTmr-apzAvf-apwTQr-apzA8C-apwShV-apwTaH-apwUpR-apwUAp-apwU34-apwU8v-apwS8D-apwUM8-apzBVw-apwURZ-apwS2D-apwSni-apzzbU-apzySu-apzyWJ-apwTye-apwSDH-apzAjY-apzBa7-apwT3n-apzB4w">national_library_of_australia_commons/flickr </a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Fish have ears. They also have ear bones, known as <a href="https://blog.csiro.au/fish-ear-bones-point-to-climate-impacts/">otoliths</a>. Recent research has focused on otoliths of fish from Australia’s inland waters. These unique structures act as a kind of scientific time capsule, telling us about environmental conditions of the past. </p>
<p>Prior to European arrival, Australia’s rivers were naturally dynamic systems. Fluctuations in salinity levels occurred in tune with inflows of sea water from the ocean, and fresh water arriving from further upstream.</p>
<p>Waterways such as the Murray River and Coorong are now severely degraded from human activities, such as <a href="http://www.murrayriver.com.au/about-the-murray/barrages/">barrage construction</a> and the removal of <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-the-murray-darling-basin-plan-broken-81613">water for irrigation</a>. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/it-will-take-decades-but-the-murray-darling-basin-plan-is-delivering-environmental-improvements-93568">It will take decades, but the Murray Darling Basin Plan is delivering environmental improvements</a>
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<p>Before these alterations, rivers provided bountiful food and other resources for local people. We can only begin to imagine the sheer number and size of the fish and other animals that would have been found in these waters. But they existed – and evidence can be found in the remains of the meals of the Indigenous people who lived near these waterways over tens of thousands of years. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/216970/original/file-20180501-135825-a5vdl7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/216970/original/file-20180501-135825-a5vdl7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/216970/original/file-20180501-135825-a5vdl7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216970/original/file-20180501-135825-a5vdl7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216970/original/file-20180501-135825-a5vdl7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216970/original/file-20180501-135825-a5vdl7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216970/original/file-20180501-135825-a5vdl7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216970/original/file-20180501-135825-a5vdl7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Surfaces of an archaeological otolith from a 1m long mulloway (top). X-ray image shows the location of otolith in the head of a mulloway.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://australianmuseum.net.au/image/x-ray-image-of-a-mulloway">Otolith images from Morgan Disspain. Mulloway X-ray copyright Australian Museum</a></span>
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<h2>Ancient fish remains tell a story</h2>
<p>Ancient fish remains are a key source of evidence to help archaeologists and palaeoecologists reconstruct past environments. Fish <a href="https://blog.csiro.au/fish-ear-bones-point-to-climate-impacts/">otoliths</a>, hold a wealth of <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352409X15300079">unique information</a> within their makeup.</p>
<p>Otoliths are hard, calcium carbonate structures that help with balance and hearing. They are located in the head of all bony fish, directly behind the brain.</p>
<p>Different fish species have otoliths of different shapes and sizes, and an otolith’s internal structure has seasonal growth rings, similar to those of a tree. Features of otoliths can be used to identify the species, size, age, growth rate, and season of death of an individual fish.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/216958/original/file-20180501-135848-gora3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/216958/original/file-20180501-135848-gora3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/216958/original/file-20180501-135848-gora3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216958/original/file-20180501-135848-gora3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216958/original/file-20180501-135848-gora3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216958/original/file-20180501-135848-gora3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216958/original/file-20180501-135848-gora3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/216958/original/file-20180501-135848-gora3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Inside structure of an archaeological <em>Argyrosomus japonicus</em> (mulloway) otolith,
with black spots indicating increments. Otolith is aged to 7 years; the edge increment is hyaline, indicating the fish died in the warm season.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Morgan Disspain</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Analysis of the oxygen isotope values of fish otoliths can provide information on the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0031018205002713?via%3Dihub">temperature of the water</a> in which the fish lived, while studying concentrations of trace elements such as barium can indicate the <a href="http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/abs/10.1139/f05-029?journalCode=cjfas#.Wue74YiFOUk">salinity levels</a> of the water.</p>
<p>Middens are occupation sites where Aboriginal people left the remains of their meals; they can contain shell, animal bone, plant remains, stone artefacts, and hearths. Studies conducted on archaeological fish otoliths excavated from Aboriginal midden sites have provided rare data on fish populations, environments and the use of natural resources by Indigenous Australians in times long ago. </p>
<p>When these data are compared with modern records, changes in fish populations and environmental conditions can be assessed.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/218062/original/file-20180508-34015-12cljk8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/218062/original/file-20180508-34015-12cljk8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218062/original/file-20180508-34015-12cljk8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218062/original/file-20180508-34015-12cljk8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218062/original/file-20180508-34015-12cljk8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218062/original/file-20180508-34015-12cljk8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218062/original/file-20180508-34015-12cljk8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Excavating an Aboriginal midden site at the Coorong.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lynley Wallis</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Trace elements can show changing salinity</h2>
<p>Studies of otoliths from ancient Aboriginal camp sites along the <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/j.1834-4453.2012.tb00126.x">Lower Murray River</a> (approximately 6400 years old) and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305440311001129">Coorong region</a> (<a href="https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/51705/">approximately 2900 years old</a>) show the changing nature of the waterways. </p>
<p>Trace element analysis reveals fluctuating levels of salinity in both the river (which is now predominantly fresh) and the estuary (which now experiences hypersaline conditions in some areas). This change is likely the result of the extensive alteration of the river since the early 1900s. </p>
<p>People did express opinions about these changes when they were first initiated. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165783618300833?via%3Dihub">Historical newspaper articles</a> record the concern of residents and fishers about the damage barrages and weirs were having on fish populations. An article titled Fishermen Oppose Murray Barrage – Would Mean Ruin, reported from Milang and published in The Advertiser, 27 June 1933 reads: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Most local fishermen are strongly opposed to the proposal to build a barrage across the mouth of the Murray. They declare that it would completely block the supply of butterfish (mulloway) about the lakes. </p>
<p>The locks impede the free passage of the fish during low water periods, and the seepage of salt water from irrigation turns the water, impounded by locks and weirs, stagnant and salt, and kills the fish.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>What we know about sizes of fish over time</h2>
<p>The impact of overfishing and environmental changes on river systems can be seen by assessing the <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1577/1548-8446%282004%2929%5B23%3AFSVPOA%5D2.0.CO%3B2">size and age</a> of relevant fish species. Overfished populations usually experience some degree of change that reflects the targeting of larger, older individuals – with some species more susceptible to long-term impacts.</p>
<p>However, because the systematic collection of fisheries data in most parts of the world is only very recent – less than 100 years in most parts of Australia – it is difficult to determine what fish populations looked like prior to the industrialisation of fishing in the nineteenth century.</p>
<p>The “<a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/daniel_pauly_the_ocean_s_shifting_baseline">shifting baseline syndrome</a>” refers to the concept that fish populations are measured against baselines identified by each successive generation of researchers, baselines which themselves may represent significant changes from even earlier states.</p>
<p>Overriding this issue to some extent, <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11160-016-9424-3">fish remains</a> from archaeological sites can be used to extend the recent record of fish population data. When combined with historical archival information and modern fisheries data, changes in fish abundance, age and size over time can be examined. In particular, fish length can be determined based on the size of the otoliths.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/218250/original/file-20180509-34018-1gjihya.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/218250/original/file-20180509-34018-1gjihya.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=960&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218250/original/file-20180509-34018-1gjihya.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=960&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218250/original/file-20180509-34018-1gjihya.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=960&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218250/original/file-20180509-34018-1gjihya.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1206&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218250/original/file-20180509-34018-1gjihya.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1206&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218250/original/file-20180509-34018-1gjihya.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1206&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Early 20th century postcard, bearing image of a man carrying a 44kg Murray River Cod on his back.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/anmm_thecommons/10989266794/in/photolist-hK5Sa9-bUAzCD-q3gvZk-onsGNK-cNeGXG-bvHqyt-79pKTJ-8sybwA-8sy3Ao-owKjCH-nGq5fo-5WFHdZ-qsCy1P-6fSf53-2vfeMo-SNijut-uEbqn-VkqBqU-TyWHkQ-8GaZhs-TBdb9C-TBMMVx-TyWHww-Tn6Gck-bn1wKw-RKiqvx-TuUmbh-SZgXPD-bzVmxH-TuUpVb-8sv6Ak-TDms34-5AE7hn-8sv1tg-RpJV3o-TyWHzs-4hhhs2-TuUpzm-6C1LbK-Tn6HS4-eCABcn-p8MPCp-qib7eZ-RCLjwA-ouusbn-SjDwBn-TuUm7Q-SjDsTk-q6q1BT-Trv9gA">anmm_thecommons/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The endangered iconic Murray cod (<em>Maccullochella peelii</em>), <a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-endangered-species-murray-cod-12555">Australia’s largest native freshwater species</a>, is currently known to reach lengths of around 180 centimetres, weigh up to 100 kilograms, and live to an age of around 48 years.</p>
<p>It is one large fish.</p>
<p><a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/j.1834-4453.2012.tb00126.x">Archaeological otoliths</a> from midden sites in the Lower Murray River region that are <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/j.1834-4453.2012.tb00128.x">at least 5000 years old</a>, show that in the past, monstrous Murray cod (more than 220 centimetres long!) once lived in this part of the river, and were targeted by the Indigenous people who lived there, the Ngarrindjeri.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-endangered-species-murray-cod-12555">Australian endangered species: Murray Cod</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Historical records show that between 1955 and 2001, Murray cod were the third most commercially harvested species in the Lower Murray-Darling catchment. However, the commercial fishery is now closed, and the species has been listed as vulnerable under Australia’s Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Act 1999.</p>
<h2>Archaeology for environmental science</h2>
<p>Conservation and rehabilitation of native flora and fauna is of vital importance if we are to ensure its survival for future generations. </p>
<p>But it can be difficult to truly understand the extent of damage that has been wrought on our environment throughout the industrialised age – because seeing past our own experience is impossible without evidence from the time long before us.</p>
<p>Archaeological remains hold crucial information for increasing our knowledge of the past condition of our waterways and native fish populations. Ancient fish otoliths in particular, carry unique evidence that can inform us of past fish populations and environmental conditions, providing real rehabilitation targets.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/95369/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Morgan Disspain receives funding from AINSE and AIATSIS. </span></em></p>As the health of the Murray Darling Basin is in decline, fish ear bones recovered from ancient Aboriginal camp sites can provide vital data about river health in the past.Morgan Disspain, Archaeologist and Adjunct Researcher, Southern Cross UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/927032018-04-13T10:41:09Z2018-04-13T10:41:09Z5 food trends that are changing Latin America<p>Latin America’s <a href="http://www.worldbank.org/en/region/lac">economy has grown enormously over the past two decades</a>. However, unemployment in the region still hovers at 8 percent, <a href="https://iloblog.org/2017/05/24/more-than-26-million-unemployed-in-latin-america-the-need-for-new-engines-of-growth/">double that of the United States</a>. </p>
<p>Youth joblessness is even higher – almost 15 percent among Latin Americans under the age of 18. Sixty percent of young people between the ages of 16 and 24 <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/06/youth-unemployment-is-a-huge-problem-for-latin-america-here-s-how-to-solve-it/">work informally</a>, without a contract, benefits or social security. </p>
<p>The region also has <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-fix-latin-americas-homicide-problem-79731">among the world’s highest violence levels</a>, a problem some scholars have connected to high joblessness. In Brazil, for example, studies show that a <a href="https://www.anpec.org.br/encontro/2015/submissao/files_I/i12-0ce869e09e6385120c0146e239bb5bf8.pdf">1 percent rise in male unemployment leads murders to rise an additional 2.1 percent</a>.</p>
<p>Some Latin American restaurateurs think they can help. </p>
<p>These pioneering chefs <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiUW59ZTeg8">are stepping out of the kitchen and into public service</a>, going beyond feeding customers to creating jobs, boosting economies and preventing violence.</p>
<p>This movement – dubbed “social gastronomy” by Brazilian chef David Hertz – is the focus of my <a href="https://www.womensmediacenter.com/shesource/expert/johanna-mendelson-forman">academic research on the politics of food</a>. </p>
<p>Here are five Latin American culinary ventures you should know about. </p>
<h2>1. Brazil: Cooking to prevent violence</h2>
<p>Hertz first realized that food could help alleviate the poverty and violence of São Paulo’s poorest neighborhoods over a decade ago. </p>
<p>In 2006 he launched a project called <a href="http://www.gastromotiva.org/en/">Gastromotiva</a>, urging local gang members to come train with him and start their lives anew as chefs.</p>
<p>“By interacting with other people through cooking, you learn confidence, discipline, collaboration,” he told me recently. “So why not use gastronomy to empower people?”</p>
<p>So far, Hertz’s social gastronomy program has trained 1,850 young men and women, <a href="http://culinaryinteraction.com/en/projects/gastromotiva-social-transformation-in-the-favelas/">80 percent of whom have gone on to get jobs in the restaurant industry</a>. </p>
<p>Working with the <a href="http://reports.weforum.org/the-forum-of-young-global-leaders-2014/ygl-stories/my-myanmar-at-a-click/">World Economic Forum</a>, chef Hertz urges leaders across Latin America to use culinary training as a violence prevention tactic. Gastromotiva has expanded to Rio de Janeiro, Mexico and El Salvador. </p>
<p>During the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, Hertz worked with Italian chef Massimo Bottura to launch a Brazilian version of Bottura’s pop-up soup kitchen in Milan called Refettorio. The Brazilian venture turned food waste from Olympic Village food stands into <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetorch/2016/08/14/489987964/master-chef-turns-leftovers-into-fine-dining-for-brazils-hungry">hot meals for Rio’s poorest residents</a>. </p>
<p>The project <a href="http://www.gastromotiva.org/en/refettorio/">continues today</a>, staffed by volunteer chefs and supplied, for free, by Rio food companies.</p>
<h2>2. Venezuela: Feeding the hungry</h2>
<p>At night, Venezuelan chef Carlos García runs <a href="https://www.theworlds50best.com/latinamerica/en/The-List/31-40/Alto.html">Alto</a>, a swanky restaurant in the capital of Caracas. But by day he directs <a href="http://guayoyoenletras.net/2016/08/14/barriga-llena-corazon-contento-la-fundacion-alimenta-ayudar/">Barriga Llena, Corazon Contento</a> – “Full Belly, Full Heart” – a foundation that delivers daily meals to schools in Caracas’ poorest neighborhood. </p>
<p>Venezuela’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/inside-venezuelas-crisis-7-essential-reads-89018">three-year-long economic crisis</a> has led to widespread food shortages. Venezuelans <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-food/venezuelans-report-big-weight-losses-in-2017-as-hunger-hits-idUSKCN1G52HA">lost an average of 20 pounds each in 2017</a>. Childhood malnutrition has <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/12/17/world/americas/venezuela-children-starving.html">spiked</a>.</p>
<p>Against this backdrop, “each day we prepare meals for 260 children and 100 of their grandparents,” Chef García told me. The Venezuelan government won’t let the group serve inside schools, so kids line up for food in a nearby building.</p>
<p>The foundation also serves 160 people at the J.M. de los Rios Children’s Hospital, where parents often cannot afford to feed their children while they receive treatment for cancer. García feeds 30 doctors as well. </p>
<p>More than an act of charity, García says, he sees feeding starving people as the professional obligation of a chef. </p>
<p>García won’t disclose how he gets ingredients every day in a country <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/04/07/522912791/venezuelas-bread-wars-with-food-scarce-government-accuses-bakers-of-hoarding">with empty grocery store shelves</a> and an <a href="https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-economy/venezuela-inflation-454-percent-in-first-quarter-national-assembly-idUKKBN1HI2MO">inflation rate of over 450 percent</a>. But his project’s crowdfunding campaign, seven co-chefs and a wide circle of allies surely help.</p>
<h2>3. The Amazon: Creating a rainforest-to-table movement</h2>
<p>Perhaps the most innovative social gastronomy project in Latin America is <a href="http://rainforesttotable.com/">Cumari</a>, a collaboration of several nonprofit environmental organizations based in the Amazon rainforest of Peru and Brazil. </p>
<p>With <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0963996912001123">40,000 species of plants</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/amazonian-dirt-roads-are-choking-brazils-tropical-streams-89226">thousands of kinds of fish</a> and 3,000 different fruits, the Amazon is bursting with ingredients. But traditional food production is threatened by <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-world-protests-as-amazon-forests-are-opened-to-mining-83034">development</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/for-cattle-farmers-in-the-brazilian-amazon-money-cant-buy-happiness-85349">the rise of industrial agriculture</a>.</p>
<p>Cumari’s founders hope that demand for local ingredients will rise as more people get to know Amazonian cuisine. A bigger market for rainforest foods should, in turn, protect this biodiverse environment. </p>
<p>Working together to attract influential Latin American chefs into the jungle, the Cumari collaborative places them in kitchens across the region. There, the chefs prepare meals spotlighting traditional Amazonian flavors – from super healthy fruits like <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jf0609779">acai berry</a> and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308814612003585">sacha inchi</a> to fleshy river fish – in indigenous village lunch spots and big city restaurants. </p>
<p>This is rainforest-to-table dining.</p>
<h2>4. Peru: Fighting inequality with gastronomy</h2>
<p>Chef Gastón Acurio put Peru on the map as a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/aug/01/gaston-acurio-celebrity-chef-peru">culinary destination in the early 2000s</a>, opening outposts of his award-winning Lima restaurant Astrid y Gastón in London, Bogota and beyond.</p>
<p>Now, he’s using global interest in Peruvian food to help young people back home. Acurio’s <a href="http://www.fundacionpachacutec.org">Fundación Pachacutec Culinary Institute</a>, which opened in Lima in 2007, offers scholarships to budding chefs from marginalized communities in Peru and pays them a living wage while they train. </p>
<p>“Peru is a developing country. Many who dream of being a chef don’t have the opportunity,” Acurio says. </p>
<p>Though its economy is growing quickly, <a href="http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/peru">9 percent of Peruvians still live on less than US$2.50 a day</a>. Acurio believes that education is Peru’s most powerful weapon against inequality, which <a href="https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2172rank.html">remains very high</a>. </p>
<p>Today, the institute’s more than 300 graduates showcase their Peruvian cooking skills in many of the world’s most celebrated restaurants, including El Celler de Can Roca in Spain and Acurio’s own Astrid y Gastón.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214584/original/file-20180412-543-19xbuux.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214584/original/file-20180412-543-19xbuux.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214584/original/file-20180412-543-19xbuux.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214584/original/file-20180412-543-19xbuux.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214584/original/file-20180412-543-19xbuux.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214584/original/file-20180412-543-19xbuux.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214584/original/file-20180412-543-19xbuux.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Chef Gastón Acurio at a Peruvian market.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Karel Navarro</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>5. Bolivia: Reclaiming indigenous cuisine</h2>
<p>Latin American cooks aren’t alone in seeing the social power of the region’s food. </p>
<p>In 2013 Claus Meyer, the Danish founder of Copenhagen’s <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/noma-2-0-reinventing-the-best-restaurant-in-the-world-1519381800">award-winning restaurant NOMA</a>, wanted to open a great restaurant abroad that <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/04/04/gustu-fine-dining-for-a-better-world">could also make a difference</a>.</p>
<p>Bolivia is the Western Hemisphere’s second poorest country, after Haiti. Over half the population <a href="http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/bolivia">lives in poverty</a>. </p>
<p>The Andean country of 11 million also has a large indigenous population. An estimated <a href="https://indiancountrymedianetwork.com/news/where-have-all-the-indigenous-gone-bolivia-sees-20-percent-drop/">40 to 60 percent of people identify as a member</a> Bolivia’s <a href="http://minorityrights.org/country/bolivia/">36 recognized indigenous communities</a>. </p>
<p>Meyer launched Gustu in La Paz, Bolivia’s capital, in 2013. The restaurant’s menu highlights the “unreleased potential” of indigenous Bolivian cuisine. </p>
<p>“Bolivia may have the most interesting and unexplored biodiversity in the world,” he <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2013/jun/13/gustu-restaurant-la-paz-bolivia-review">told The Guardian newspaper when it opened</a>. All ingredients are locally sourced. </p>
<p>Gustu also runs a culinary training program that recruits students from La Paz’s poorest neighborhoods. Meyer pays them well above the <a href="http://www.dw.com/es/bolivia-aumenta-m%C3%A1s-de-10-por-ciento-el-salario-m%C3%ADnimo/a-38619203">country’s $143 a month minimum wage</a>, pulling them out of the informal economy and, hopefully, keeping them there for the long term.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/92703/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Johanna Mendelson Forman is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a distinguished scholar at the Stimson Center, a nonpartisan policy research center focused on global security.</span></em></p>Pioneering chefs from Bolivia to Brazil are stepping out of the kitchen and into public service. The ‘social gastronomy’ movement uses food to create jobs, prevent violence and boost economies.Johanna Mendelson Forman, Scholar in Residence, American University School of International ServiceLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/849802017-10-15T22:27:12Z2017-10-15T22:27:12ZWhy the Indigenous in New Zealand have fared better than those in Canada<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/188996/original/file-20171005-15464-f7v6kb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=176%2C0%2C3271%2C2353&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Maggie Cywink, of Whitefish River First Nation, holds up a sign behind Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during a summit in Ottawa in support of missing and murdered Indigenous women.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s recent <a href="http://pm.gc.ca/eng/news/2017/09/21/prime-minister-justin-trudeaus-address-72th-session-united-nations-general-assembly">speech to the United Nations</a> brought Canada’s genocidal story to the world stage.</p>
<p>It gave historical context to an enduring colonialism.</p>
<p>The impact is widespread, but neatly summarized in a life expectancy differential between Indigenous and other Canadians of <a href="https://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/89-645-x/2010001/life-expectancy-esperance-vie-eng.htm">five to 15 years for men and 10 to 15 years for women</a>. In New Zealand, by way of contrast, the differential between Maori and non-Maori is <a href="https://pophealthmetrics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12963-017-0140-6">7.3 years for men and 6.8 years for women</a>.</p>
<p>These figures summarise the story of the power gap between Indigenous peoples and the settler state in both countries. Policy solutions lie beyond the liberal welfare state, beyond egalitarian justice. The origins of the persistent power gaps in each country are different, however, and reflect different understandings of relationships among sovereignty, citizenship, nationhood and self-determination.</p>
<p>The Indigenous peoples of Canada and New Zealand share similar experiences as subjects of British colonialism. </p>
<p>Yet there are profound differences both in the situation for Indigenous peoples in both countries and in the opportunities for resistance they’ve been able to pursue. </p>
<p>Maori have always held a greater share of the New Zealand national population than the Indigenous in Canada. Maori share a common language, and New Zealand’s smaller land mass makes resistance simpler to organize. Yet their place in the body politic is always contested, as state and public strategies of exclusion compete with the claim to self-determination.</p>
<h2>‘Lead the lad to be a good farmer’</h2>
<p>Historically, the greater Maori capacity for resistance did not dampen colonial resolve. But it did mean that assimilation, rather than genocide, was the intent of government policy. The purpose of New Zealand’s non-residential native schools, for example, was to “<a href="http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-HillStat-t1-body-d6-d4.html">lead the lad to be a good farmer and the girl to be a good farmer’s wife</a>,” as the director-general of education put it in 1931.</p>
<p>Following the Canadian Supreme Court ruling in 1997, Canada’s concern for “<a href="https://www.canlii.org/en/ca/scc/doc/1996/1996canlii216/1996canlii216.html#par31">the reconciliation of the pre-existence of Aboriginal societies with the sovereignty of the Crown</a>” was minimized by the previous Conservative government of Stephen Harper but rhetorically aligned with the “new beginning” that Trudeau spoke of at the United Nations. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/189008/original/file-20171005-14086-8icqwf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/189008/original/file-20171005-14086-8icqwf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189008/original/file-20171005-14086-8icqwf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189008/original/file-20171005-14086-8icqwf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189008/original/file-20171005-14086-8icqwf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189008/original/file-20171005-14086-8icqwf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/189008/original/file-20171005-14086-8icqwf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper speaks with a Maori elder as he and his wife, Laureen, watch an official Maori powhiri during a visit to New Zealand in 2014.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Trudeau proposed that the <a href="http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/DRIPS_en.pdf">UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples</a> would now be Canada’s policy guide. It would rationalize stronger nation-to-nation, or government-to-government, relationships. Yet at the same time, the 2016 <a href="https://fncaringsociety.com/sites/default/files/Info%20sheet%20Oct%2031.pdf">Canadian Human Rights Tribunal’s ruling</a>, handed down a year after Trudeau’s election and urging the government to address discrimination against Indigenous children on reserves, has yet to be heeded.</p>
<p>Trudeau expressed concern at the UN about the self-determination of First Nations in Canada, but he didn’t speak of the individual Indigenous citizen’s self-determination. </p>
<p>He did not speak to the child on the reserve whose poverty is a direct result of lesser access to services that others in Canada take for granted as rights of citizenship. </p>
<p>Similar circumstances do exist in New Zealand where racism in schooling, health, the labour market and criminal justice compromise citizenship. However, Maori in New Zealand can demand better with reference to the <a href="http://archives.govt.nz/exhibitions/treaty">Treaty of Waitangi</a> and the “rights and privileges of British subjects” that it confers.</p>
<h2>Maori protected under treaty</h2>
<p>That treaty gave the British Crown the right to establish government. In return, Britain offered protection of Maori authority over their own affairs and natural resources. </p>
<p>The promise has not been consistently kept, but the treaty does give moral and increasingly political and jurisprudential authority to the Maori claim to self-determination. The treaty means that Maori do not contest the post-settler presence, but they do contest the Crown exercising a unilateral sovereign authority.</p>
<p>In 2015, the Waitangi Tribunal, which hears claims against the Crown for breaches of the treaty, found that the agreement was not a cession of sovereignty as the Crown had always claimed. While the government does not accept the finding, and it’s not legally binding, it affirms the Maori position on self-determination.</p>
<p>It also affirms a Maori way of thinking about contemporary politics. It raises possibilities for deeper introspection about Maori as nations, and Maori as citizens, in ways that are not apparent in Trudeau’s interpretation of the UN’s Indigenous declaration as it pertains to Canada.</p>
<p>There is an argument that nation to nation relationships respect the fact that sovereignty was never ceded. Perhaps an argument that indigenous Canadians claiming the full rights and capacities of state citizenship requires accepting the moral legitimacy of Crown sovereignty. However, if sovereignty means the capacity to function as a self-determining people one needs to think about the relative and relational character of political authority, and the sources of political possibility. These exist both inside and outside the state. They exist simultaneously. Neither is a site of political possibility for self-determination that can reach its potential without the support of the other. </p>
<h2>Sharing sovereignty does not mean assimilation</h2>
<p>Political authority and self-determination can’t reach their full potential without the support of each other. They exist both inside and outside the state. They exist simultaneously. </p>
<p>If the Crown is sovereign, it exercises that sovereignty only as the people’s agent. The UN declaration is insistent that, if they wish, Indigenous peoples have a right to share that sovereignty. </p>
<p>Sharing sovereignty is not dependent on the Indigenous person’s assimilation into an homogenous body politic, but on the capacity to contribute to society as an Indigenous person. </p>
<p>That could include the ability to receive public education in one’s own language, to be elected to Parliament by one’s own people (<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-new-zealands-vote-means-for-maori-and-potentially-first-nations-in-canada-84573">as is the situation in New Zealand</a>) or to receive health care in ways that are responsive to cultural preferences. </p>
<p>In these ways, state sovereignty is not an authority that exists over and above Indigenous citizens. Nor does state citizenship exist at the expense of the Indigenous nation. It complements and supports self-determination.</p>
<p>In the only <a href="http://www.otago.ac.nz/press/books/otago071809.html">book-length comparative study</a> of Indigenous politics in Canada and New Zealand, Roger Maaka and Augie Fleras imagine Indigenous peoples as “sovereign in their own right yet sharing sovereignty with society at large.”</p>
<p>New Zealand continues to work out the terms of this kind of system. </p>
<p>Canada does not give it substantive thought, and that’s a serious constraint on the goal of self-determination for First Nations.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/84980/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dominic O'Sullivan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Indigenous in New Zealand have fared better than First Nations in Canada in terms of self-determination. Why? It’s about a lot more than geography, land mass and language.Dominic O'Sullivan, Associate Professor, Charles Sturt UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/721992017-03-20T03:18:13Z2017-03-20T03:18:13ZContested spaces: the ‘long-grassers’, living private lives in public places<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160751/original/image-20170314-10759-1jpsrhn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">People have camped in the long grass since colonisation. From this perspective, bans on the practice are a denial of Indigenous agency, culture and rights to country.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo: K. Pollard</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>This is the final article in our <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/contested-spaces-36316">Contested Spaces</a> series. These pieces look at the conflicting uses, expectations and norms that people bring to public spaces, the clashes that result and how we can resolve these.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>The number of people in Australia who are homeless <a href="http://www.homelessnessaustralia.org.au/index.php/about-homelessness/doing-a-project-on-homelessness">is increasing</a>. They lead lives that are often hidden – either hidden from view or hidden from recognition.</p>
<p>Looking at the places they camp and the things they use gives us insights into these private lives in public places. In Darwin, Northern Territory, more than 90% of homeless people <a href="http://abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/2049.02011?OpenDocument">are Aboriginal</a>. In contrast to perceptions of other homeless people sleeping rough, these “long-grassers” are applying a long cultural tradition to deal with the situation in which they find themselves. </p>
<p>Two recent films, Rolf de Heer’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aYLzIFcPk8">Charlie’s Country</a> and Jeremy Sims’ <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hypCdpjTMDI">Last Cab to Darwin</a>, succinctly – but accurately – encapsulate the ease with which people can end up living in the long grass. Many come to the city from remote communities. They may have been visiting someone in hospital, watching friends in an AFL game, or staying with relatives in the city. </p>
<p>After a time, these short-term stays come to an end. Often, these visitors move into the “long grass”, urban fringe areas where tall spear grass grows.</p>
<p>The long grass is shared space – parks, beaches, urban bushland. However, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people behave differently in these spaces. The agency of Aboriginal people can challenge mainstream expectations about the uses of shared public space.</p>
<h2>Laws that deny Indigenous custom</h2>
<p>The Aboriginal use of long grass spaces contravenes NT laws. Under Darwin City Council Bylaws <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nt/consol_reg/dccb262/s103.html">Regulation 103</a>, it is an offence to camp or sleep in public places. Other bylaws regulate behaviours ranging from the consumption of alcohol to leaving food scraps in public. </p>
<p>People who camp in the long grass risk fines they can’t pay. Sometimes, they are <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/AltLawJl/1999/84.pdf">jailed for non-payment</a>. As their disadvantage becomes criminalised, their capacity to improve their lives decreases.</p>
<p>Successive governments and city councils have engaged in campaigns against the long-grassers. George Brown, Darwin lord mayor from 1992 to 2002, <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/AltLawJl/2000/42.html">said</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… harass, harass, harass … I reckon that if you keep shifting them around, constantly harass them so they can’t settle, they will get sick and tired of it and maybe some of them will go back to their own communities.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Such attitudes fail to grapple with the realities of the situation. Unless they are assisted, how can people on low incomes return to communities hundreds of kilometres away? If no transitional or last-resort housing is available in the city, where are they expected to go? </p>
<p>In fact, a <a href="http://sustainable.unimelb.edu.au/case-investing-last-resort-housing">recent cost-benefit analysis</a> found that providing “last resort” housing is cheaper than dealing with health care and other costs of homelessness.</p>
<h2>A sense of community</h2>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161329/original/image-20170317-6133-dys7og.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161329/original/image-20170317-6133-dys7og.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161329/original/image-20170317-6133-dys7og.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161329/original/image-20170317-6133-dys7og.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161329/original/image-20170317-6133-dys7og.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161329/original/image-20170317-6133-dys7og.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161329/original/image-20170317-6133-dys7og.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A long-grass camp in Darwin.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo: K. Pollard</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For some, living in the long grass is a cultural choice. Many camps are designed for short-term living. They have evidence of eating and sleeping, but not of cooking. </p>
<p>In Aboriginal communities in remote areas, people occasionally cook on outdoor fires. Camping in the bush is a highly valued cultural activity. From this perspective, living in the long grass extends aspects of their normal lives. </p>
<p>For others, it is a way of escaping the pressures of contemporary life. In <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hypCdpjTMDI">Last Cab to Darwin</a>, Tilly (played by Mark Coles Smith), a young Aboriginal man from Oodnadatta, has fled the demands of professional AFL training to seek the <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/tv/messagestick/stories/s1412406.htm">social support</a> of other Aboriginal people in the long grass. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hypCdpjTMDI?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Last Cab to Darwin:
the trailer.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When possible, people camp near their relations or family members. The strong sense of community in the long grass is reflected in the song, <a href="http://www.dlmusicas.com/dl/UzdXc75i_e7.html">I’m a Long Grass Man</a>. </p>
<p>The objects around long-grass camps can offend mainstream notions of order. Those designed for long-term stays are more likely to offend. These camps have evidence of intensive usage and substantial investment in shelter and sleeping accommodation.</p>
<p>Occasionally, a camp is laid out like a home, with distinct sleeping, cooking and laundry areas.</p>
<h2>Privacy in a public place</h2>
<p>What happens when your private home is in a public place? Some people manage by hiding their camp behind the long grass – hidden in plain view.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160808/original/image-20170314-14776-1pr25mg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160808/original/image-20170314-14776-1pr25mg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160808/original/image-20170314-14776-1pr25mg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160808/original/image-20170314-14776-1pr25mg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160808/original/image-20170314-14776-1pr25mg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160808/original/image-20170314-14776-1pr25mg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160808/original/image-20170314-14776-1pr25mg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A long-grass camp, hidden in plain view.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo: K. Pollard</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the long grass, the private act of sleep is undertaken in the open. “Beds” are swags, sleeping bags, foam mats, ensemble mattresses, a rug, sheets, flattened plastic or cardboard materials like pizza boxes or beer cartons. </p>
<p>Most Australians like to have the occasional party in their home. While people in the long grass like to party, too, only 40% of camps had evidence of alcohol use. Very few had evidence of drug use. </p>
<p>The resourcefulness of homeless people is evident in caches of plastic bags discreetly wrapped in “discarded” clothing. These hold important belongings such as prescription medicines, identity papers and paperwork related to government welfare benefits.</p>
<h2>Cultural menus and modern fusions</h2>
<p>Like many Australians, people in the long grass eat takeaway foods or prepare meals. Their food remains show a fusion of traditional and contemporary economies. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160936/original/image-20170315-5364-1lbe74p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160936/original/image-20170315-5364-1lbe74p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160936/original/image-20170315-5364-1lbe74p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160936/original/image-20170315-5364-1lbe74p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160936/original/image-20170315-5364-1lbe74p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160936/original/image-20170315-5364-1lbe74p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160936/original/image-20170315-5364-1lbe74p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Provisions at a long-grass camp, Darwin.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo: K. Pollard</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There is ample evidence of takeaway foods like KFC and Red Rooster. Shop-bought foods like tins of tuna, mussels, oysters and sardines naturally extend a bushfood menu. </p>
<p>This preference is part of a distinctive “cultural menu” that includes mud mussel, periwinkle, mangrove worms, crabs, fish, stingray and turtle. The frequency and variety of these foods suggests that hunting, collecting and preparing bushfoods are significant activities for Aboriginal people in the long grass. </p>
<p>The presence of “longbum” (<em>Telescopium telescopium</em>), a species of shellfish found in abundance in mangroves in Darwin, can be used to distinguish Aboriginal from non-Aboriginal camps. A majority of the long-grass camps surveyed contained this species.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160749/original/image-20170314-10759-10eh5ok.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160749/original/image-20170314-10759-10eh5ok.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160749/original/image-20170314-10759-10eh5ok.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160749/original/image-20170314-10759-10eh5ok.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160749/original/image-20170314-10759-10eh5ok.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160749/original/image-20170314-10759-10eh5ok.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160749/original/image-20170314-10759-10eh5ok.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Evidence of bushfoods consumed in a long-grass camp.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo: K. Pollard</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While the hunting and collecting of bushfoods is a continuation of cultural practices, it is more than this. Interviews revealed the social significance. Some people take taxis to the Elizabeth River, several kilometres from their camp, so they can collect bushfoods. </p>
<p>In addition, people on low incomes use their skills to collect bushfood. Aboriginal people in the long grass are simply applying their learned food-procurement skills to their situation.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160937/original/image-20170315-5357-17d36xx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160937/original/image-20170315-5357-17d36xx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160937/original/image-20170315-5357-17d36xx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160937/original/image-20170315-5357-17d36xx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160937/original/image-20170315-5357-17d36xx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160937/original/image-20170315-5357-17d36xx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160937/original/image-20170315-5357-17d36xx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The remains of a magpie goose meal at a Darwin long-grass camp.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo: K. Pollard</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Looking after their health</h2>
<p>In <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aYLzIFcPk8">Charlie’s Country</a> we see how quickly Charlie (played by David Gulpilil), an Aboriginal man from Ramingining, joins the long-grass population when he is <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-05-26/indigenous-long-grassers-unable-to-get-back-to-communities/7449188">unable to return to his home country</a> after being released from hospital. </p>
<p>The lack of emergency accommodation and public housing, as well as inadequate support to return to communities, means some Aboriginal people <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-29/darwins-homeless-longrassers-tell-of-struggle-to-survive/6570440">go directly from hospital to the long grass</a>. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2aYLzIFcPk8?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Charlie’s Country: the trailer.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Though homelessness <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1805022/">contributes to poor health</a>, it is clear that people in the long grass care for their health. The evidence includes medical creams, bandages, medication bottles, heart-monitor patches and cotton earbuds. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.aihw.gov.au/indigenous-data/health-performance-framework/">Aboriginal health</a> is significantly poorer than that of other Australians, so it is not surprising that camps are clustered close to the hospital. This accords with a <a href="https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2016/204/3/factors-contributing-frequent-attendance-emergency-department-remote-northern">recent study</a> that found “a very strong association” between frequent emergency department attendance, homelessness and Aboriginal identity.</p>
<p>People care for themselves. Evidence of hygiene products at long-grass camps included toothbrushes, combs, toilet paper, tissues, towels and deodorants. These reflect attempts to maintain their personal appearance. </p>
<p>It is possible that people living in the camps wish to not appear conspicuous when walking around Darwin. In their study of long-grass people in Darwin, <a href="http://www.ndlerf.gov.au/sites/default/files/publication-documents/monographs/monograph33.pdf">Holmes and McRae-William</a> recorded Aboriginal people’s sensitivities to mainstream perceptions of them as dirty and unkempt. </p>
<p>Aboriginal people have camped in the long grass since the first European colonisation. Their use of this public space is a continuum of cultural practice. From this perspective, the response of authorities to Aboriginal homelessness in the long grass is a denial of Indigenous agency, culture and rights to country. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>You can find other pieces published in the series <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/contested-spaces-36316">here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/72199/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kellie Pollard has received funding from the Australian Research Council for research into Aboriginal people living in the long grass in Darwin.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Claire Smith has received funding from the Australian Research Council for research into Aboriginal people living in the long grass in Darwin.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jordan Ralph receives funding from an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship and Flinders University to support his research into modern material culture and graffiti in the Aboriginal community of Barunga, Northern Territory. </span></em></p>In contrast to perceptions of other homeless people sleeping rough, Darwin’s “long-grassers” are applying a long cultural tradition to deal with the situation in which they find themselves.Kellie Pollard, PhD Candidate, Department of Archaeology, Flinders UniversityClaire Smith, Professor of Archaeology, Flinders UniversityJordan Ralph, PhD Candidate, Archaeology, Flinders UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/599772017-01-25T19:54:50Z2017-01-25T19:54:50ZParrot pie and possum curry – how colonial Australians embraced native food<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154189/original/image-20170125-23858-1t5a153.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Tea and Damper by A . M. Ebsworth. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">From Digital Collection of the State Library of Victoria.</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The relationship between European settlers and native Australian foodstuffs during the 19th century was a complex one. While the taste for native ingredients waxed and waned for the first century of European settlement, there’s ample evidence to demonstrate that local ingredients were no strangers to colonials’ kitchens or pots. </p>
<p>British settlers needed to engage with the edible flora and fauna of the continent almost immediately upon arrival. The journals of First Fleet officers record not only their reliance on native food, but the relish with which they enjoyed it. For example, First Fleet surgeon <a href="http://www2.sl.nsw.gov.au/archive/discover_collections/history_nation/terra_australis/journals/worgan/">George Worgan</a> noted in his diary a feast held to celebrate the King’s birthday:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We sat down to a very good Entertainment, considering how far we are from Leaden-Hall Market, it consisted of Mutton, Pork, Ducks, Fowls, Fish, Kanguroo, Sallads, Pies & preserved Fruits.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154190/original/image-20170125-23878-1xscwji.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154190/original/image-20170125-23878-1xscwji.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154190/original/image-20170125-23878-1xscwji.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=805&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154190/original/image-20170125-23878-1xscwji.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=805&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154190/original/image-20170125-23878-1xscwji.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=805&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154190/original/image-20170125-23878-1xscwji.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1012&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154190/original/image-20170125-23878-1xscwji.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1012&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154190/original/image-20170125-23878-1xscwji.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1012&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">S. T. Gill’s sketch of a ‘Butcher’s Shamble’ from 1869.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">State Library of Victoria</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But despite the colonists’ reliance on native ingredients to supplement their diet, they were regarded with deep suspicion. Cooks – mainly women – relied on traditional British methods to transform these raw materials into something that they deemed culturally recognisable and appropriate.</p>
<p>Journals and other written accounts record these efforts. Kathleen Kirkland, a migrant who settled in Australia in the 19th century, wrote about the kangaroo soup, bush turkey and parrot pie she prepared for New Year’s Day 1841. She also praised the wild mushrooms from which she made a ketchup. </p>
<p>A contemporary of Kirkland, Louisa Meredith, describes eating kangaroo, wattle bird and echidna, although admitting that her tastes were not shared by all. But at least enough agreed with her that Phillis Clark, who was born in Tasmania in 1836, could compile a manuscript cookbook of recipes copied from other books and newspaper clippings. This personal collection contained a number of dishes featuring native ingredients like kangaroo, as well as detailed instructions for butchering the animal.</p>
<h2>Kangaroo steamers</h2>
<p>These examples notwithstanding, the settlers went to considerable trouble to maintain British food habits, in order to maintain a British identity.</p>
<p>Mrs Allan Macpherson, who settled in northern New South Wales in 1856, recounted that a dish of rock wallaby had a “very close resemblance to the hare” specially when cooked the same way and eaten with currant jelly. This application of European cooking techniques made it impossible to “distinguish them apart”. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154188/original/image-20170125-23851-10twufi.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154188/original/image-20170125-23851-10twufi.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154188/original/image-20170125-23851-10twufi.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=892&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154188/original/image-20170125-23851-10twufi.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=892&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154188/original/image-20170125-23851-10twufi.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=892&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154188/original/image-20170125-23851-10twufi.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1121&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154188/original/image-20170125-23851-10twufi.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1121&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154188/original/image-20170125-23851-10twufi.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1121&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Frontispiece of The English and Australian cookery book : cookery for the many, as well as for the upper ten thousand, by an Australian aristologist.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">National Library of Victoria</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Suspicion extended to traditional Aboriginal food practices such as using cooking vessels made from from bark or tree gnarls and wrapping food in leaves. They were disdained entirely, even if the ingredients used by Indigenous Australians were not.</p>
<p>It is in this manner that native ingredients appear in Australia’s first cookbook, <a href="http://www.sbs.com.au/food/article/2015/02/09/readable-feasts-english-australian-cookery-book">The English and Australian Cookery Book</a>, written by Tasmanian politician Edward Abbott and published in 1864. </p>
<p>In a section dedicated to game meats, Abbott featured recipes for kangaroo, emu, wombat and other native fauna. There were a number of recipes for “kangaroo steamer”, a dish that had been popular for at least almost half a century across the colonies. </p>
<p>Kangaroo steamer was a colonial adaptation of the traditional British dish of jugged hare and involved slowly cooking kangaroo meat with bacon and other seasonings. The dish would be cooked in a glass jar or earthenware vessel and sealed so it could be stored for an extended period. </p>
<h2>Engaging with Indigenous food methods</h2>
<p>One of the few cookbook writers to fully engage with Aboriginal people and their food methods was Wilhelmina Rawson. Born in Sydney, Rawson spent long portions of her life in northern and central Queensland. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154011/original/image-20170124-8078-7gzkrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154011/original/image-20170124-8078-7gzkrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154011/original/image-20170124-8078-7gzkrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=935&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154011/original/image-20170124-8078-7gzkrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=935&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154011/original/image-20170124-8078-7gzkrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=935&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154011/original/image-20170124-8078-7gzkrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1175&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154011/original/image-20170124-8078-7gzkrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1175&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154011/original/image-20170124-8078-7gzkrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1175&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">State Library of NSW</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It was here that she began gathering the recipes that would appear in her first cookbook, <a href="http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/12443697">Mrs Lance Rawson’s cookery book and household hints</a>, first published in 1878. </p>
<p>This book holds the distinction of being the first cookbook written by a woman in Australia. From the outset, Rawson noted the abundance of edible native ingredients that her readers could rely on such as kangaroos, bush turkeys and bandicoots. She urged her readers not to think of these foods as ingredients of last resort but rather, to consider them as a “sumptuous repast” not far from their kitchen. </p>
<p>Rawson’s adventurous palate extended beyond fauna and included such things as wild mushrooms and the young shoots of the rough leaved, fig tree which had been pointed out to her by Aboriginal informants. </p>
<p>In her 1895 book <a href="http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/8480899?">The Antipodean Cookery Book</a>, Rawson noted that “I am beholden to the blacks for nearly all my knowledge of the edible ground game” and that “whatever the blacks eat the whites may safely try”.</p>
<p>Rawson’s relationship with Aboriginal people was complex and nuanced. Demonstrating an understanding of the dispossession of land occurring in Queensland at the time, she wrote sympathetically of</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The lessons white men should learn from the blacks before the work of extermination which is so rapidly going on has swept all the blacks who possess this wonderful bush lore off the face of the earth. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Here she was voicing common sentiments about the predicted demise of the Aboriginal race. Rawson’s long periods of living in remote rural locations throughout Queensland had most likely placed her in closer contact with Aboriginal people than cookbook writers who lived in towns or cities.</p>
<p>British settlers, especially those living away from metropolitan centres, consumed native ingredients both out of choice and out of necessity for most of the 19th century. </p>
<p>However, this consumption was mediated by deeply held cultural prejudices. The transformation of native ingredients into recognisable British dishes can be regarded as part of the broader colonising process taking place.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/59977/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Blake Singley does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The first European settlers in Australia used a dizzying array of flora and fauna in their kitchens – but they cooked them in a traditional British style.Blake Singley, Curator, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/639932016-08-22T20:15:07Z2016-08-22T20:15:07ZDo you know a Bunji from a Boorie? Meet our dictionary’s new Indigenous words<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134879/original/image-20160822-30400-1rhmr9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Balga is the Noongar name for the grass tree - seen here in the Flinders Ranges.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Melanie Ball/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A new edition of the <a href="http://australiannationaldictionary.com.au/">Australian National Dictionary</a> has just been published. It contains 16,000 words and while the first edition (published in 1988) included about 250 words from 60 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages, the latest has more than 500 words from 100 languages. </p>
<p>Conventional wisdom has it that borrowings of this kind usually occur in the initial “contact” period. In 1770, for instance, James Cook and Joseph Banks collected the word kangaroo from the Guugu Yimithirr language in the area now known as Cooktown in Queensland, and it immediately came into use in English. </p>
<p>Soon after the initial batches of convicts arrived in Sydney from 1788 onwards, words from local languages were taken up, especially for new flora and flora and for things associated with the Indigenous people: koala, wallaby, kurrajong, waratah, woomera, corroboree. Later, the language of the Perth area provided jarrah, kylie (a word for “boomerang”), numbat, and quokka. The language of the Geelong area provided the mythical monster the bunyip.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134888/original/image-20160822-30406-1qi0wk5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134888/original/image-20160822-30406-1qi0wk5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=831&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134888/original/image-20160822-30406-1qi0wk5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=831&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134888/original/image-20160822-30406-1qi0wk5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=831&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134888/original/image-20160822-30406-1qi0wk5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1045&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134888/original/image-20160822-30406-1qi0wk5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1045&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134888/original/image-20160822-30406-1qi0wk5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1045&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Indigenous word waratah was quickly adopted.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Internet archive book image/flickr</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some Aboriginal words, although noted in the early period, were not used widely in Australian English until much later. Perhaps the most startling example of this is the word quoll, which comes from the Guugu Yimithirr language, and was also collected by Cook and Banks in 1770.</p>
<p>When the Europeans arrived in 1788, they did not use quoll or other Indigenous names for these marsupials. Instead, they used the term native cat, preferring to construct terms based on superficial resemblances to things of their “known” world. It wasn’t until the 1960s that quoll was reintroduced, and eventually replaced native cat, largely due to the efforts of the naturalist David Fleay, who highlighted the absurdity of some of the vernacular names for Australian animals.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134884/original/image-20160822-30370-j27hie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134884/original/image-20160822-30370-j27hie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134884/original/image-20160822-30370-j27hie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134884/original/image-20160822-30370-j27hie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134884/original/image-20160822-30370-j27hie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134884/original/image-20160822-30370-j27hie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134884/original/image-20160822-30370-j27hie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134884/original/image-20160822-30370-j27hie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">It took nearly 200 years for the word quoll to be widely used.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">WA Department of Parks and Wildlife/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Many of the new Aboriginal words in this edition refer to flora and fauna, and many of these result from an interest in using Indigenous names rather than imposed English descriptive ones.</p>
<p>Thus, the southern and northern forms of the marsupial mole are now referred to by their Western Desert language names itjaritjari and kakarratul. The rodent once called the heath mouse is now known by its indigenous name dayang, from the Woiwurrung language of the Melbourne area. The amphibious rodent formerly known as water rat, is now more commonly referred to in southern Australia as the rakali, from the Ngarrindjeri language.</p>
<p>Other additions to the dictionary include (from the Noongar language of the Perth area) balga for the grass tree, coojong for the golden wreath wattle, moitch for the flooded gum and moort for Eucalyptus platypus.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134885/original/image-20160822-30396-gqhodq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134885/original/image-20160822-30396-gqhodq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134885/original/image-20160822-30396-gqhodq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134885/original/image-20160822-30396-gqhodq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134885/original/image-20160822-30396-gqhodq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134885/original/image-20160822-30396-gqhodq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134885/original/image-20160822-30396-gqhodq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134885/original/image-20160822-30396-gqhodq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Coojong, formerly known as golden wreath wattle.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">liesvanrompaey/flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The increasing interest in bush tucker has meant the inclusion of akudjura for the bush tomato, from the Alyawarr language of the southern region of the Northern Territory, and gubinge, from Nyul Nyul and Yawuru of northern Western Australia, for an edible plum-like fruit.</p>
<p>Other new terms reflect a renewed interest in aspects of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and various kinds of activism on the part of Indigenous peoples. </p>
<p>They include bunji, “a mate, a close friend a kinsman” (from Warlpiri and other languages of the Northern Territory and northern Queensland), boorie, “a boy, a child” (from Wiradjuri), jarjum, “a child” (from Bundjalung), kumanjayi, “a substitute name for a dead person” (from Western Desert language), pukamani “a funeral rite” (from Tiwi), rarrk “a cross-hatching design in art” (from Yolngu languages), tjukurpa, “the Dreaming; traditional law” (from Western Desert language) and yidaki, “a didgeridoo” (from Yolngu languages). </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134886/original/image-20160822-30409-szbmy2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134886/original/image-20160822-30409-szbmy2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134886/original/image-20160822-30409-szbmy2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134886/original/image-20160822-30409-szbmy2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134886/original/image-20160822-30409-szbmy2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134886/original/image-20160822-30409-szbmy2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134886/original/image-20160822-30409-szbmy2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134886/original/image-20160822-30409-szbmy2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Performance of a Yidaki Didg and Dance at Sydney Opera House in 2000.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Adam Pretty/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The word migaloo – “a white person” – comes from Biri and other northern Queensland languages, where it originally meant “a ghost, a spirit”; many Australians are familiar with this word as a name for the albino humpback whale that migrates along the east coast of Australia.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134875/original/image-20160822-30383-1tsg31a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134875/original/image-20160822-30383-1tsg31a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134875/original/image-20160822-30383-1tsg31a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134875/original/image-20160822-30383-1tsg31a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134875/original/image-20160822-30383-1tsg31a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=704&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134875/original/image-20160822-30383-1tsg31a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=704&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134875/original/image-20160822-30383-1tsg31a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=704&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Many of these terms begin their transition to mainstream Australian English in forms of Aboriginal English, and some of them are primarily used in Aboriginal English. </p>
<p>In addition to the words from Indigenous languages, there are numerous terms new to the dictionary that render Indigenous concepts and aspects of traditional culture, formed from the resources of English. </p>
<p>These include such terms as: carved tree, dreamtime being, freshwater people, keeping place, law woman, paint up, saltwater people, secret women’s business, smoking ceremony, songline, sorry business, welcome to country. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134883/original/image-20160822-30377-n921em.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134883/original/image-20160822-30377-n921em.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134883/original/image-20160822-30377-n921em.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134883/original/image-20160822-30377-n921em.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134883/original/image-20160822-30377-n921em.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134883/original/image-20160822-30377-n921em.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134883/original/image-20160822-30377-n921em.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A smoking ceremony at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra earlier this year.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mick Tsikas/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Others derive from more specific political contexts and political activism: Day of Mourning, great Australian silence, <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/explainer/australia-day-invasion-day-survival-day-whats-name">Invasion Day</a>, <a href="http://www.nfsa.gov.au/digitallearning/mabo/">Mabo</a>, tent embassy, traditional ownership and white blindfold (“a view of Australian history that emphasises the achievements of white society and ignores Aboriginal society”). </p>
<p>This is a dictionary based on historical principles. This means that each entry maps the full history of a word, establishing its origin, and documenting its use over time with illustrative quotations from books, newspapers, and the like. Words and meanings are included if they are exclusively Australian, or used in Australia in special or significant ways. </p>
<p><em>The dictionary, edited at the Australian National Dictionary Centre at the Australian National University, and published by Oxford University Press, will be launched today at Parliament House in Canberra.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/63993/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bruce Moore does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Words from 100 Indigenous languages are in the new edition of the Australian National Dictionary – reflecting a heightened interest in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture.Bruce Moore, Visiting Fellow in the School of Literature, Languages, and Linguistics, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/602072016-07-05T03:52:06Z2016-07-05T03:52:06ZWhy the African food basket should be full of beans and other pulses<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/129172/original/image-20160704-19098-1tehpre.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Sorghum and legumes could help children reach their required protein intake. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>On December 20 2013, the 68th session of the United Nations General Assembly passed an adopted resolution declaring 2016 the <a href="http://www.fao.org/pulses-2016/en/">International Year of the Pulse</a>. <a href="http://www.pulsecanada.com/about-us/what-is-a-pulse">Pulses</a> – which include dried beans, chickpeas and lentils – are a good source of protein and amino acids and are a critical part of the <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/multitude2008/Home/economy/economical-alternatives/the-food-basket">food basket</a>. They are important for food security, health and nutrition.</p>
<p>The resolution was adopted to reap the benefits that pulses have towards the environment where they increase soil fertility. Nutritionally, they also assist in maintaining a healthy weight, prevent and manage chronic diseases. </p>
<p>Due to the increasing concerns for the environment, food security, health and nutrition, pulses are one of the best foods to feed the millions of people suffering from chronic hunger, micro-nutrient deficiencies and chronic diseases. A majority of the people suffering live in Africa. </p>
<p>These concerns are set against a background of a continent that has the ability to produce its own rich diversity of nutritious plant foods and crops like pulses that could play a far more significant role in solving malnutrition in Africa. For example, indigenous cereals and pulses such as sorghum and cowpea which grow well where other crops fail such as in the arid and semi-arid areas can be used.</p>
<h2>What are pulses</h2>
<p>Dry beans, dry broad beans, dry peas, chickpeas, dry cow peas, pigeon peas, lentils, bambara beans, vetches and <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2003GB002108/full">lupins</a> are all plant foods which belong to the family of legumes. The term legume is used to refer to foods enclosed in a pod and pulses are only a subgroup of the legume family which is used in its dried seed form.</p>
<p>Besides being a good source of protein, pulses are good sources of fibre, calcium, iron and vitamins B, E and K. Depending on their genetic makeup, pulses can grow in extreme climatic conditions where other foods are difficult to find. Pulses make up most of the average diet in developing countries due to their <a href="http://advances.nutrition.org/content/1/1/17.full">low cost</a>. </p>
<p>Even though the production and consumption of pulses has declined, they form <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books?id=zVz-CAAAQBAJ&pg=PA6&lpg=PA6&dq=4%25+of+the+major+crops+in+the+world+are+pulses&source=bl&ots=b3XL1DngBd&sig=HZUx_dAw1xMEuxX1HXBgDFRlvUk&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwidzNeWkNrNAhVIB8AKHTpGATQQ6AEISTAH#v=onepage&q=4%25%20of%20the%20major%20crops%20in%20the%20world%20are%20pulses&f=false">almost 4% of the major crops</a> grown in the world. In Africa, the term indigenous food crops does not only refer to food crops from the continent, they include crops that have been introduced and are recognised as naturalised or traditional crops. </p>
<p>An example of this are the pulses <a href="http://www.fao.org/3/a-i5528e.pdf">originally from Asia</a> now considered to be indigenous to Africa. The most <a href="http://www.nda.agric.za/docs/Brochures/Indigfoodcrps.pdf">commonly consumed pulses in South Africa</a> are cowpeas and mung bean produced in the Limpopo, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, North West and KwaZulu-Natal provinces.</p>
<h2>South Africa’s problem</h2>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/129173/original/image-20160704-19118-1eg3dpw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/129173/original/image-20160704-19118-1eg3dpw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129173/original/image-20160704-19118-1eg3dpw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129173/original/image-20160704-19118-1eg3dpw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129173/original/image-20160704-19118-1eg3dpw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129173/original/image-20160704-19118-1eg3dpw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129173/original/image-20160704-19118-1eg3dpw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cowpea, a nutritional food, is mostly consumed by small-holder farmers in South Africa.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In South Africa, sorghum and cowpea have good potential. They produce higher yields than less resistant crops like maize and wheat. But they are produced in smaller quantities by subsistence farmers for home consumption. The decrease in use of indigenous foods is mainly a result of dietary changes due to <a href="http://www.cpc.unc.edu/projects/nutrans/whatis">nutrition transition</a>.</p>
<p>One in four children in South Africa have also been found to be too short for their age - their growth is stunted. One in three people in the country, are also faced with <a href="http://www.hsrc.ac.za/en/media-briefs/population-health/results-sanhanes1">hunger</a> due to <a href="http://www.feedingtexas.org/learn/food-insecurity/">food insecurity</a>.</p>
<p>All these signs of growth faltering begin in early childhood. More so, a considerably larger proportion of South Africa’s population has been said to experience what is termed, <a href="http://www.unicef.org/republicadominicana/english/survival_development_12473.htm">hidden hunger</a>. This kind of hunger is characterised by growing numbers of overweight, obesity and micro-nutrient malnutrition, which can easily be solved by providing a cheaper, yet good source of nutrition from plant foods like pulses.</p>
<p>The desire for convenience, driven by urbanisation and nutrition transition has increased the consumption of highly processed, less nutritious foods. The high processing and refining of foods unfortunately come at a higher cost to consumers. </p>
<p>The availability of convenient <a href="http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/pressreleases/the_influence_of/">westernised type of diets</a> has led to the neglect of locally available healthier and less expensive food options. These western types of diets offer high levels of energy and a low micro-nutrient content leading to overweight, obesity and micro-nutrient malnutrition.</p>
<p>Foods indigenous to Africa, however have the ability to provide adequate nutrition. Currently, indigenous foods use is slowly diminishing. Indigenous foods are mainly used by small holder farmers for their own consumption, hence they are produced in smaller quantities.</p>
<h2>Sorghum and cowpea – lost food resources</h2>
<p>There is need for greater creativity in identifying ways to assist government interventions for the malnutrition problem. Pulses like cowpea can be used as a cheaper source for nutrition. South Africa’s government are currently using some interventions like <a href="https://www.health-e.org.za/2015/06/04/strategy-roadmap-for-nutrition-in-south-africa-2013-2017/">supplementation of vitamins, fortification</a> of processes flour and bread and <a href="http://www.gov.za/services/child-care-social-benefits/child-support-grant">child support grants</a> to deal with the issue of malnutrition. </p>
<p>In a recent <a href="http://repository.up.ac.za/handle/2263/51189">study</a> we found that 40% of children between the ages of two and five could get their required protein intake in a ready-made meal which included sorghum and cowpea. Proper marketing and re-introducing indigenous foods in the diet can help to increase the use of such foods. The same mix could also provide essential amino acids like lysine that is typically missing in maize. Lysine is an essential amino acid because it cannot be synthesised by the body, but can only be obtained through the diet. It can also provide children aged two to five with the recommended iron and zinc.</p>
<p>Africa needs to make use of indigenous foods. As the year of the pulse, 2016 is the year that they are made use of in more creative ways. To add to that indigenous foods are climate resilient and have a <a href="http://www.greeneatz.com/foods-carbon-footprint.html">low carbon footprint</a> because they can be produced locally with minimal inputs.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/60207/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nokuthula Vilakati is a Post doctoral fellow at the University of Pretoria's Institute of Food Nutrition and Wellbeing (IFNuW). She receives funding support from the Office of Agricultural Research and Policy, Bureau for Food Security, U.S. Agency for International Development, under the terms
of Cooperative Agreement No. AID-OAA-L-14-00003, the South African National Research Foundation (NRF) and University of Pretoria's Institute for Food, Nutrition and Well-being (IFNuW).</span></em></p>Pulses – or grain legumes – are indigenous foods that can play a massive role in tackling food security on the African continent.Nokuthula Vilakazi, Researcher at the University of Pretoria, University of PretoriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.