Indigenous Food Systems: Indigenous Foodways
Overview
Intention
This page will talk about the foodways for the culturally rich and unique Indigenous nations living in Arizona (the state name derives from the O’Odham name alĭ ṣonak, meaning "small spring”). These concepts also apply to nations throughout Turtle Island.
Food is a framework for thinking and ways of knowing, fitting into Indigenous lifeways. Foodways is a term that points to the complex, holistic, and interrelated significances of food within native ideology.
First Foods
First foods refer to the reciprocal relationships that exist between Indigenous Peoples and their traditional foods. Within creation stories, there is a promise that these plants and animals will culturally and physically take care of Indigenous Peoples, with the understanding that Indigenous communities will protect their health, too. Indigenous creation stories also guide how and when Indigenous communities gather and prepare these foods.
There are thousands of different creation stories that describe the place-specific interconnectedness of responsibilities toward ancestral land, animals, plants, and people that Indigenous communities hold.
Food is in all aspects of Indigeneity, both in a spiritual sense and in Indigenous Sciences (IS). There are many different ways of knowing connected to food, which are also adapting as the climate changes.
Cosmogeneology
Cosmogeneology explains how Indigenous Peoples are direct descendants of their first foods, where these relationships are explained in creation stories. This cultural memory is maintained through traditions that continue to protect and pay respect to first foods.
This places first foods not only as ancestors, but as relatives.
- This TedTalk of Winona LaDuke, an Anishinaabe activist and author, talks of cosmogenelogy.
- This is a visual gallery of ancestral seeds with their placement within creation stories for the Haudenosaunee people.
- The Little Boy and Seven Grandfathers is an Anishinaabe traditional story that can be seen at the American Indian Museum in Washington D.C.
Medicine Wheel
The Medicine Wheel is portrayed differently throughout Indigenous cultures, but centrally it relates to the four cardinal directions of North, East, South, and West, the four seasons, and the four dimensions of being: spiritual, physical, mental, and emotional. It “...represents the alignment and continuous interaction of the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual realities…” that create connectivity within oneself and to the natural world (Joseph, 2020).
The values depicted in the Medicine Wheel relate to Indigenous creation stories and teach the wisdom and knowledge required to sustain healing relationships and live a balanced life.
Related Resources
- Indian Pueblo Cultural Center
- NCAI Sovereignty Institute
- Cheyenne River Youth Project
- Terra Madre
- Intertribal Bison Cooperative
- Well for Culture
For a more extensive list of resources and to learn more about how to serve and support Indigenous Peoples, communities, and organizations, go to the Solidarity & Resources and Ecosystem tabs.
The ASU Library acknowledges the twenty-three Native Nations that have inhabited this land for centuries. Arizona State University's four campuses are located in the Salt River Valley on ancestral territories of Indigenous peoples, including the Akimel O’odham (Pima) and Pee Posh (Maricopa) Indian Communities, whose care and keeping of these lands allows us to be here today. ASU Library acknowledges the sovereignty of these nations and seeks to foster an environment of success and possibility for Native American students and patrons. We are advocates for the incorporation of Indigenous knowledge systems and research methodologies within contemporary library practice. ASU Library welcomes members of the Akimel O’odham and Pee Posh, and all Native nations to the Library.
