Indigenous Food Systems: Leaders & Organizations
This guide aims to start a dialogue and provide resources around Indigenization, anticolonialism, and decolonization in the local food system.
Indigenous Leaders
- Nick Estes; Oceti Sakowin Oyate. Estes is the co-founder of The Red Nation.
- Robin Wall Kimmerer; Citizen Potawatomi Nation. Kimmerer is a SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor of Environmental Biology and the founder and director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment.
- Janie Simms Hipp; Chickasaw Nation.Food lawyer, policy expert, current general counsel for the USDA, and ex-CEO of the Native American Agriculture Fund. Hipp is also the founding director of the UoA Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative.
- Shina Nova; Inuk. Social media personality, singer, and activist.
- Rowan White; Mohawk community of Akwesasne. Seed Keeper, farmer, and activist who founded and directs Sierra Seeds. White is also the Current National Project Coordinator and advisor for the Indigenous Seed Keeper Network.
- Lyla June; Diné (Navajo) & Tsétsêhéstâhese (Cheyenne). Musician, public speaker, and performance poet.
- Lilian Hill; Hopi/Quechan Nations. Co-founder of Hopi Tutskwa Permaculture and founder of the Black Mesa Water Coalition.
- Michael Kotuwa Johnson; Hopi. Traditional dryland farmer and program officer at Native American Agriculture Funds (NAAF).
- Clayton Brascoupe; Mohawk / Anishnabeg. Gardener, farmer, and founding member of and Program Director of the Traditional Native American Farmers Association (TNAFA).
- Gloria Begay; Diné, Navajo. Executive Director of Diné Food Sovereignty Alliance and food justice policy advocate.
- Sean Sherman; Oglala Lakota. Founder of and CEO chef at The Sioux Chef.
Poets
- Ofelia Zepeda; Tohono O’odham. Author, poet, MacArthur Fellow, and Regents’ Professor of Linguistics and Director of the American Indian Language Development Institute at the University of Arizona.
- Linda Hogan; Chickasaw. Public reader, speaker, writer, poet, Pulitzer Finalist, Writer in Residence for The Chickasaw Nation, and Professor Emerita from the University of Colorado.
- Deborah Miranda; Ohlone-Costanoan Esselen Nation. Poet and teacher of English at Washington and Lee University. Winner of the Diane Decorah Memorial First Book Award from the Native Writers’ Circle of the Americas and 2000 Writer of the Year Award for Poetry from the Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers.
- Simon Ortiz; Acoma Pueblo Indian. Writer, poet, teacher, and founder of the Indigenous Speakers Series at Arizona State University.
Check out these links for more lists of key figures.
- “These Six Chefs Are Championing Indigenous Food”
- “Traditional Foodways of Native America: Oral Histories of Native Food Revitalization”
- “Indigenous Chefs and Activists Who Eat Plants for a Change”
- “Indigenous Food System Changemakers to Follow Now”
- “Indigenous Chefs and Activists Who #EatPlantsForAChange”
Organizations
ASU Organizations
Arizona-Based Organizations
National Organizations
- I-Collective
- Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance
- Indigenous Foods Knowledges Network
- North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems
- Intertribal Agriculture Council
- Intertribal Buffalo Council
- IndigiKitchen
- Native American Agriculture Fund
- Navajo Ethno Agriculture
- Cheyenne River Youth Project
- Dream of Wild Health
- Indigenous Food Systems Network
- Inuit Circumpolar Council - Alaska
- Sierra Seeds
- NDN Collective
- USDA Indigenous Food Sovereignty Initiative
- HEAL Food Alliance
- Native CDFI Network
- NDN Collective
- Native American Business Association
- Black Mesa Resistance Camp
- First Nations Development Institute
- Traditional Native American Farmers Association (TNAFA)
- Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance
- American Indian Community House
- Decolonize This Place
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.
