Indigeneity is intrinsically linked to land, representing a sacred connection to ancestral territories that have sustained Indigenous peoples for millennia. The land is more than just physical space; it is a living entity intertwined with cultural identity, spirituality, and sustenance. Traditional food practices, rooted in deep ecological knowledge, reflect a harmonious relationship with the environment, embodying principles of sustainability and respect. This profound understanding of place fosters creative engagement, inspiring art, storytelling, and ceremonies that celebrate and protect biodiversity. Indigenous culinary traditions, often passed down through generations, are acts of resilience and resistance against the erasure of culture. They illustrate an ongoing dialogue with the land, manifesting in unique flavours and methods that are inextricable from their natural surroundings. Creative engagement with place honours these traditions, seeking to preserve and revitalize the rich tapestry of Indigenous knowledge and its crucial role in fostering a sustainable future.

Leading the discussion will be :

Nicholas Galanin is a Sitka Tribe of Alaska multi-disciplinary artist and musician of Tlingit and Unangax̂ descent. His work often explores a dialogue of change and identity between Native and non-Native communities. @nicholasgalanin

Cass Gardiner is an Anishinaabe Algonquin filmmaker, curator, and writer from Kebaowek First Nation. She directed the short film JANELLE NILES: INCONVENIENT, part of Citizen Minutes Season 2, which premiered at Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Film Festival in 2023 and is streaming on CBC Gem and Crave in Canada. She produced the documentary film JEWELS HUNT, which was supported by ITVS and TFI, and broadcast on PBS Independent Lens in 2020. Her documentary film THE EDIBLE INDIAN has met critical acclaim in classrooms and theatres internationally and was nominated for Best Documentary Short at the American Indian Film Festival. Her writing on Indigenous art, film, and food has been published in Inuit Art Quarterly, Cherry Bombe, and Compound Butter Magazine, and her work was accepted to the Oxford Food Symposium. Cass is an independent contractor and film curator for the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in New York City, curating the annual Native Cinema Showcase in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She holds a BA from NYU Gallatin and an MFA in Documentary Film from Toronto Metropolitan University.

Hanika Nakagawa a PhD student at Dalhousie University. She is of Indigenous Amami heritage and grew up with one foot on the island of Tokunoshima. Her research addresses Indigenous food sovereignty and pre-capitalist foodways in the Amami Archipelago, relating these to ideas of colonial dispossession, slow violence, and empire building. Hanika has presented papers at the 2023 and 2024 Oxford Food Symposia @hanika.honeycup

Moderated by Scott Alves Barton