MARQUETTE, Mich. (WZMQ) – For its second year, Northern Michigan University brought back an event revolving around indigenous culture, history, and language. Each year holds a theme, and on Thursday, the Indigenous Perspectives Symposium focused on food.
“Food is a great connector, its a way to celebrate, its a way to share,” said Jennifer Gauthier, the director of the Sustainable Development Institute at the College of Menominee Nation.
Gauthier was one of the symposium’s many presenters, as they looked through the lens of ancestral practices. After events of disconnection from a number of original food sources, such as the damming of rivers or droughts of rice farms, the goal of the day sought to widen the knowledge of what has, and what is still to come throughout these communities.
“We’ve been here for 16,000 years, and it’s because of what they observed, what they gathered, and what they passed along,” said Gauthier.
“It’s important that that timeframe is coming into a place of resurgence, where it’s now about revitalization,” said Dr. April Lindala, department head of NMU’s Center for Native American Studies.
Lindala explains that food systems in indigenous culture highlight the importance of life and relation beyond humans and animals.
“We’re thinking about ‘how do we have a relationship to our food? How do we take care of it? How do we honor it?'” she said. “When we have those kinds of conversations within Indian country, and as we teach other people around us, it’s important to keep in mind that there are more than just human relatives, and we need to honor and take care of them in such a way.”
Along with its numerous presentations throughout the day, the symposium offered a lunch inspired by the Decolonizing Diet Project, followed by a performance by Woodland Sky Native American Dance Company. The full schedule for Thursday’s event can be found here.
Next year’s symposium will focus on practices in medicine, intending to build each year off of the last.
