Gdo Akiiminaan Ganawendandann Symposium: Part 1

By Jessica Numminen, 2nd year MDP Student

The Anishinaabe Initiatives Division and the Department of Geography & Geology at Algoma University hosted the Symposium Gdo Akiiminaan Ganawendandann (Taking Care of our Land) from May 5th – 6th, 2015 in Sault Ste. Marie. During the opening proceedings organizers of the conference recognized that a conversation with the MCFN Chief Jason Gauthier about the Missanabie Cree new land base was the catalyst for the development of the conference and the hope that it is just the beginning of many more conferences in the coming years.

We were taken on a bus tour of Batchewana First Nation with Chief Dean Sayers who shared his knowledge, teachings and rich history of the lands. He explained the success of community economic development and the well-being of their territory is tied to the assertion of their jurisdiction and sovereignty over these lands. 

Chief Dean Sayers (L) and Jessica Numminen (R) along the Chippewa River

During the two-day conference there were a total of 23 presenters, which included 4 keynote speakers, poster presentations and presentations from Elders, knowledge holders, the grassroots practitioners, academics, and students. These presentations covered a diversity of topics that highlighted challenges, successes and the ongoing work of what land stewardship is and can be. 

Some highlights were:

• The Coalition for Algoma Passenger Rail Train (CAPT) and the ongoing work and partnerships i.e. with Missanabie Cree First Nation. 
• How GIS is being used by Wahnapitae First Nation to strengthen their land use plans that addresses land use and resource management including ways to engage youth from the community to get them involved and out on the land. 
• The Serpent River First Nation is developing their own Environmental Review Process for any development within their territory. 
• Elder Raymond Owl, in his presentation Working Together to Stop Land Management Practices Harming Our Health, Home and Future Forests, pointed out in order to create change we must not just listen to Elders we must take the advice and do something.  
• Deborah McGregor during her talk on Anishinaabe Knowledge Traditions: Governance, Treaties and Environmental Justices pointed out that elders and knowledge holders just don’t have knowledge, they also teach us how to understand Anishinabeg knowledge based on the Anishinabeg natural law and its systems.

The conference focused on what is happening in Aboriginal communities in Northern Ontario and it  offered a great opportunity for the exchange of knowledge and teachings and innovative approaches to community development.

Millets, Mangoes & Monsoon

By Manna Sainju, 2nd year MDP Student

My field placement started in Canada with a spring summer course from Dr. Shukla in the Department of Indigenous Governance. The course involved developing a research proposal within the context of community resilience in Indigenous communities in South Asia. However, after coming to the state of Andhra Pradesh, India - the field placement site - I realized that my proposed research goal and objectives had to be updated to make it relevant to the local context. 

 I’m currently living in a small rural village called Kotturu in northern Andhra Pradesh, which is surrounded by hillside dwelling Adivasi (Tribal/Indigenous) Savara communities. My research objective is studying the continuation of consumption of traditional food crops (specifically various small millets) and its impact on food security and nutrition among Adivasi communities.

 

Manna Sainju

Even when revising the research objective, little did I know that locating an Adivasi community that has maintained the cultivation and consumption of millets would prove to be indeed very challenging. After a series of preliminary field visits, we finally reached a village about an hour drive uphill from Kotturu where communities still practiced Podu (slash and burn) cultivation and consume millets. Cultivating millets is labour intensive and its market value is not attractive enough for Adivasis to cultivate them, in the face of the introduction of cash crops. Instead, over the last three decades, Adivasis have shifted to cultivating these cash crops, which include cashew, cotton, pineapple etc., which fetch additional income for these cash-strapped communities.

Although the quest for millets has been challenging, I am positive that I will be able to progress with my research in trying to understand issues around consumption of traditional food crops despite the changes these Indigenous communities have faced.

 

Apart from research work, living and working with my host family has been a valuable learning experience, as they have been working with Adivasi communities in the region for more than thirty years. They also have an organic vegetable garden from where we get to have a lot of organic mangoes (my favourite fruit). I have even developed the local habit of eating mangoes with the skin on, which has increased my daily fibre intake. And, every day I have been praying for the monsoon rains to pour down to provide relief from the scorching summer days, but we don’t always get what we want as the seasonal rains have been delayed so far!! Here’s to hoping they arrive soon…

On the Trail for Millets

By Dev Kashyap, 2nd year MDP student

After over a month in South Asia, I finally feel I am settling into a groove. The journey has led me to Kotturu, in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India. The weather is hot and it is pre-monsoon season with temperatures daily hitting low-to-mid 30 degrees Celsius, but our arrival in this rural setting was just after a debilitating heat wave that caused somewhere around 1,000 deaths in the region. The hot days usually get relieved with evening showers, but by mid-afternoon a seat in front of a fan, bottled water in close proximity, is the appropriate posture.

 

Dev on top of ARTIC sign in Kotturu, India

Amidst the heat and humidity, the purpose of our trip to this part of the world has commenced: researching ‘Adivasi’ (the local word) or Indigenous resilience in the face of environmental and external-driven change in the region around Kotturu, Andhra Pradesh. Specifically, the research is revolved around the traditional crop of Millets, a nutritious ‘ancient world’ grain whose cultivation has been in steady decline in recent years due to the introduction of ‘non-native’ food crops and cash crops into the area. Our research has been possible with the help of our host and local NGO, Appropriate Reconstruction Training and Information Centre (ARTIC), who have been doing grassroots development work in the area for over 30 years.

Since millets production and subsequently consumption has been in such decline over the last few decades, the first month of our field placement can be summarized as being ‘on the trail for millets’.  The trail has led us to local government and administrative offices, meeting officials in agriculture, health, local development. Furthermore, community visits have been conducted in more than 10 villages to get an idea of which communities will be targeted as part of our research.