Inaugural Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change Seminar Series explores Black and Indigenous Foods in Relation

hands holding plants in a circle
This inaugural Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change Seminar
The inaugural Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change Seminar Series will continue on Oct. 20

Assistant Professor Lisa Myers‘ Finding Flowers project presents the inaugural Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change (EUC) Seminar Series Seminar Series, “Miijim: Food as Relations.”

Miijim is a fall and winter conversation series presenting renowned Indigenous, Black and People of Colour food scholars, growers, artists and advocates who will gather virtually from across Canada. Discussions will cover the interconnections between art, earthwork, planting, cultivation and harvesting experiences that decenter colonial frameworks, while thinking through labour and power relations related to food justice in urban and rural communities.

The fall segment of this series features conversations on Indigenous food sovereignty; Black and Indigenous food relations; Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee food systems; learning from Manoomin; and art and migrant worker justice. Conversations will continue into the winter semester turning to art related themes including animal-plant-human relations; food and gardens as remediation; gardens as art as relations; and community food stories.

The series will continue on Oct. 20 from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. with a conversation on “Black and Indigenous Foods in Relation.” This conversation opens up the decades of work by Cree scholar ​Priscilla Settee​ on Indigenous food sovereignty with​ Leticia Ama Deawuo’s work at ​Black Creek Community Farm​ and her personal research on food history connecting with her grandmother and African/Indigenous foods.

The conversation will be held on Zoom and live-streamed through Facebook. Register on Eventbrite for the Zoom link: https://miijimfoodasrelations.eventbrite.com.

Upcoming fall 2020 events in this series include:

  • Oct. 27: Learning from Manoomin (Wild Rice)
  • Nov. 10: Haudenosaunee & Anishinaabe Food Systems
  • Nov. 24: Migrant Workers and Food Justice

For any questions contact Finding Flowers research associate Dana Prieto at prietoda@yorku.ca.

The Finding Flowers project is part of Lisa Myers’ EUC graduate class “Food, Land and Culture.”