Sustainability and Social Justice
Document Type
Article
Abstract
Indigenous food sovereignty relies on ecological knowledge of plants and animals, including knowledge related to their development and behavior through the seasons. In the context of anthropogenic climate change, ecological calendars based on Indigenous knowledge may enable communities to anticipate seasonal phenomena. We conducted research with communities in the Standing Rock Nation (North and South Dakota, USA) to develop ecological calendars based on their ecological knowledge. We present ecological calendars developed in seven communities through a series of workshops and interviews. These calendars are rich with knowledge about temporal relations within each community's ecosystem, including the use of plants and animals as seasonal indicators and cues for food system activities. However, the calendars also reveal the impacts of cultural genocide wrought by the United States government in its efforts to colonize the lands and minds of Indigenous communities. Given the diversity of knowledge among Standing Rock communities, we identify opportunities for knowledge exchange to revitalize ecological relations at the heart of food sovereignty. We highlight the potential for ecological calendars to facilitate climate adaptation by enabling communities to synchronize their food systems with an increasingly variable climate.
Publication Title
GeoHealth
Publication Date
12-2022
Volume
6
Issue
12
ISSN
2471-1403
DOI
10.1029/2022GH000621
Keywords
climate change, Dakota/Lakota, food systems, participatory action research, traditional foodways
Repository Citation
Ruelle, Morgan L.; Skye, Aubrey Joshua; Collins, Evan; and Kassam, Karim-Aly S., "Ecological Calendars, Food Sovereignty, and Climate Adaptation in Standing Rock" (2022). Sustainability and Social Justice. 551.
https://commons.clarku.edu/faculty_idce/551
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Copyright
© 2022 The Authors. GeoHealth published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Geophysical Union. Ruelle, Morgan L., et al. "Ecological calendars, food sovereignty, and climate adaptation in Standing Rock." GeoHealth (2022): e2022GH000621.