Course Syllabus

Decolonizing the Soil Rhizosphere and Human Gut Microbiomes

UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON  |  Summer B Term (July 23-August 21, 2020)

Offered in Partnership with The Acequia Institute 

On Duwamish, Suquamish, Tulalip, and Muckleshoot lands and waters in Washington

On Nuche (Caputa Ute) - Dinè - Tewa - Genizarx lands in Colorado and New Mexico

Land and water acknowledgement without action on the ground is a cheap performative form of allyship.

What are you doing today to be a good ancestor?

Instructor of Record: Professor Devon G. Peña

Note on Fig.1 (above). One of the three Acequia Institute Seed Conservation and Rematriation Milpas in South Central Colorado's San Luis Valley in traditional Caputa Ute-Dine-Tewa-Genizaro territory at an elevation of 8100 ft/2468 meters.

This season we planted ten days late from average due to frost and delays in seed arrivals. We are producing to restock and rematriate seeds of rare heirloom and endangered land race varieties of corn, bean, squash, peas, orach ('wild' spinach), and hemp. In partnership with Northwest Indigenous Farmers, LLC, we are  producing seed from the heirloom hemp variety known as "Redd Kross" which is a 80-100 day auto-flower hemp and is used by practitioners of Native American ethnomedicine. This milpa is located in a sandy loam bench with an avg. 2-foot deep top soil horizon with scattered rocky patches from the alluvial remnants of late Pleistocene glacial outflow. Recent soil tests show some spots deficient in N and P but pH levels and potash residues are within normal range for these crops. We have such soil-building work to do.  For the past 40 years, this field had remained uncultivated. In the 1950s-60s, it was grazed by sheep, cattle, and horses. When we acquired the land in 1992 it was in a stable but hummocky condition as a remnant native dry land meadow consisting of Buffalo Grass (Buchloë dactyloides), Big Sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata),  Blue Grama (Bouteloua gracilis), and Rabbitbrush (Ericameria nauseosa). Photo taken during the second irrigation cycle by Professor Peña at Rancho Chiquito in San Francisco, CO. (June 23, 2020).

Note on Fig 1.a. above. The rematriation milpa on August 21, 2020 at the end of the Agroecology Seminar.

Class Meetings MTWTh 2:20-4:30. This is a 'hybrid' on-line and live-streamed field-based seminar.

NOTE: Due to the Novel Coronavirus/COVID-19 public health crisis, and the fact that your instructor is in a high risk category, we will be meeting on-line in both synchronous and asynchronous formats. Lectures (with PowerPoints as additional record) will occur as scheduled at 2:20 to 4:30pm Pacific Time and will be made available thereafter as Panopto recordings for students who cannot be present during the livestream lectures. Field-based sessions (visits with farmers, decolonial food activists, and ethno-scientists) will be live-streamed from location when possible and recorded for upload to course Panopto files. Weekly vignettes will also be posted to amplify the theme(s) addressed in lectures and readings.

Office Hours. F 12-4pm (Mountain)/11-3pm (Pacific).  Via  Zoom private meeting room; only by prior appointment. Message to Canvas inbox or email dpena@uw.edu with Subj: 488 appt.

Contact info dpena@uw.edu.

Catalog Course Description  Cross-cultural survey of agroecological research methods, theoretical problems, policy issues, and ethical debates. Local knowledge and ethnoscientific bases of alternative agriculture. Comparative political ecology of agroecosystems with a focus on indicators of social equity and ecological sustainability. (5 credits) I&S/NW.

Principles for Learning and Teaching in the Time of  the Novel Coronavirus/CoVid-19 Pandemic

1. Nobody signed up for this.

• Not for the sickness, not for the social distancing, not for the sudden end of our collective lives together on campus
• Not for an online class, not for teaching remotely, not for learning from home, not for mastering new technologies, not for varied access to learning materials

2. The humane option is the best option.

• We are going to prioritize supporting each other as humans
• We will cherish and respect the knowledge, views, and ethics each of us espouse
• We are going to prioritize simple solutions that make sense for the most
• We are going to prioritize sharing resources and communicating clearly

3. We cannot just do the same thing online.

• Some assignments are no longer possible
• Some expectations are no longer reasonable
• Some objectives are no longer valuable

4. We will foster intellectual nourishment, social connection, and personal accommodation.

• We pledge to use accessible asynchronous content for diverse access, time zones, and contexts; this will come in the form of short 5-7 minute vignettes I will record from our farm and the surrounding bioregion in South-central Colorado and Northern New Mexico where I am currently weathering this public health crisis
• We will also offer synchronous (live-stream) lectures following the course calendar as outlined below and focused on evaluating course texts and related discourses and to augment the ideas and materials presented in the vignettes; these lectures will be recorded for those students unable to meet during our regularly scheduled class times; I will also offer optional synchronous discussion to learn together and overcome isolation, creating a sense of an intellectual community of learners.

5. We will remain flexible and adjust to the situation.

• Nobody knows where this is going and what we’ll need to adapt
• Everybody needs support and understanding in this unprecedented moment.

 

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Focus and Themes of the 2020 Seminar Our focus this year takes us beyond the more typical "farm to table" discourse and instead pursues critical investigations on the connections between soil and gut health. More precisely we will examine the relationship between the ecology of the soil rhizosphere and a healthy human gut microbiome. We will begin by learning about methods, theories, and ethics in agroecology, the ethnoscientific basis of sustainable agriculture. We will then examine how this agroecological framework can inform critical review of a vast set of scientific discourses on the impact of modern agricultural technologies on the rhizosphere and the human gut microbiomes. Each student will address the dirt-to-gut connection by developing a design proposal for an agroecological restoration project that draws connections between cultural and ecological integrity in our relations to land, water, and the entire 'web of life.' 

My approach to the complex and challenging theme of "dirt-to-gut" is grounded in my own experiences as a decolonial biodynamic farmer with training in collaborative interdisciplinary research methods that allow me to integrate methods and materials from agroecology, ethnoedaphology and ethnopedology, and conservation biology with related studies in fields as diverse as risk science, epigenetics, foodways, nutrigenomics, diet and nutrition, and the study of Indigenous heritage cuisines.

Considering a wide range of risk science studies is an important part of this approach. This involves engaging the evidence offered by studies of the health of the rhizosphere and human gut microbiomes.  This year we will focus on the effects of ubiquitous use of the herbicide glyphosate and its adjuvants and contrast conventional, organic, and biodynamic farming systems and their effects on the nutrient density of food and forage crops. We will engage a wide variety of scholarly and scientific discourses many of which are unfamiliar to us in the social sciences and humanities.

This approach is based on the principle that we do not have to be scientists to become scientifically literate but this also involves recognizing there are many pathways to practicing science including those based on Indigenous epistemologies. My ultimate aim is to introduce these varied epistemes and discourses to a new audience while also constantly working to "decolonize" the course texts by identifying Indigenous analogs, challenging binary constructs, and addressing erasures of Indigenous knowledge domains and other instances of epistemic violence. 

Note on Fig. 2 (above). Indigenous farmers have understood soil as a living organism for millennia and this knowledge is now confirmed by agroecological and related sciences. Evidence suggests soil health is the underpinning of environmental, community, and human health.

A decolonial approach to the dirt-gut problematic starts with the proposition that the land (soil) has suffered the same historical trauma and structural violence as Indigenous peoples displaced from ancestral homeland commons. Cultural genocide and soil erosion are by-products of the same processes unleashed by settler colonialism. This violence is currently encapsulated in modernist corporate projects to patent life and control seeds resulting in certifiably catastrophic consequences for public health especially in the most vulnerable communities. How do we critically marshal these scientific discourses to ally with Indigenous perspectives on healing the colonial wounds affecting the health of the soil and our bodies?

 

Note on Figure 4 (above). The decline of agro-biodiversity is a major threat to food sovereignty and global food security. The decimation of crop phytodiversity is associated with changes in the nutrient density of major  food crops. The decline is associated with settler colonial modernist projects involving agricultural biotechnologies and practices that degrade the rhizosphere (root zone) microbiome with possible effects on the human gut microbiome. Documented impacts of soil erosion, compaction, demineralization, and salinization as well as toxicity are affecting vital micro-organismic communities in the root zone. These changes also have profound and usually overlooked impacts on human health and wellbeing.

 

 

 

Course Assignments

1. 1. Four Reflection papers. Weekly reflection papers (4) on course readings, lectures, and discussions. This involves submitting a 2-page reflection paper once per week.  Due each Wed morning by 10am; please upload to Canvas Assignment page. For details please consult Assignment Handout #1.
   2. Agroecological design project. Each student will outline an agroecological restoration project that addresses the "dirt-to-gut" connection in a place-based manner. For details please consult Assignment Handout #2. For a sample design proposal, consult Assignment Handout #3. Relevant appendices: Altieri et al on climate change farming. Companion Planting Chart.  
   3. Seminar participation. This includes contributions to seminar discussions during Zoom synchronous lectures or as posted to Canvas Discussion pages; participation includes summary statements on and questions to field-based co-teachers as arranged in the Course Field calendar below; or download here (tentative).

Assignment Grading (100 point scale; GPA rated)

1. 1. Four reflection papers. 10 points each. Total of 40 points.
   2. Agroecological design project.  Total of 40 points.
   3. Participation. Total of 20 points. 

Download and review GPA scale here. This scale describes the conversion from the 100 percent grading scale to the GPA (Grade Point Average) score of 4.0 to 0.0.

Course Texts There are no required textbooks to purchase and all Open-Access readings are embedded in the course calendar below and may also be downloaded from the Files Page.

Learning Goals

1. Become well grounded in the scholarly and activist discourses framing the field of agroecology especially with a focus on the transformative impact of Indigenous and Native studies.
2. Understand ‘race’ and ‘ethnicity’ as social categories loaded with political, cultural, and socioeconomic effects and consequences.
3. Therefore, understand how the "minoritization" of autonomous Indigenous communities and polities is a form of settler colonial domination and attempts at erasure of Indigenous and tribal self-determination.
4. Learn about the interdisciplinary range of methods and materials used in and produced for and by students of agroecology, permaculture, biodynamics, etc. but above all value the epistemic disobedience grounded in the knowledge, belief, practice ensembles of deeper Indigenous sources.
5. Understand the variety of recent theoretical developments including: decolonial; feminist; queer; Marxist; social movement; indigeneity; and alterity.
6. Develop critical awareness of the social, cultural, ecological, and political economic effects of white settler colonialism and capitalism. 
7. "There is no indigenizing capitalism." (Cliff Atleo, Jr.). Develop your capacity to critique capitalism in a manner that empowers existing and emerging alterNative solidarity economies.
8. Become literate in the perspectives and principles of Indigenous epistemology; embrace the practice of epistemic disobedience and delinking of your own work from institutions, norms, and relations of settler colonial and capitalist domination.
9. One does not have to be a "scientist" to become scientifically literate: This means learning to decode and understand peer reviewed scientific discourses.
10. We also must understand that "Western" science is only one among many paths/paradigms to the development of knowledge systems about the human relationship to the environment. Ethnoscience is a term that refers to the thousands of Indigenous knowledge systems that avoid the subject/object dichotomy and the positivist separation of "facts" from "values" resulting in knowledge and praxis ensembles that promote resilient co-habitation of Earth's ecosystems.

Policies and Expectations

Attendance.  Regular on-time attendance is encouraged. There is much that happens during class time that adds to your educational experience beyond what you can learn from just reading and writing. Students are to enter the classroom space with a positive mind and willingness to engage and be active participants with a community of learners. If an emergency arises which prevents you from attending, it is your responsibility to gather notes from your peers.

Assignments and late papers.  All assignments are to be turned in on time or penalties will be assessed. Each day an assignment is late will result in a reduction of 2/10s of a GPA point.

Technology. Cell phones are to be turned off or placed on quiet vibrate mode for EMERGENCY use only. Exception for students using smart phones for their Zoom interface. Texting, Facebooking, and Googling via smart phones, tablets, or any other wi-fi device is not permitted. The instructor will be notified by and encourages the use of technology recognized as meeting a need for reasonable accommodations from the Disability Resource Center. 

Class behaviors and civility.  Any form of harassment against other students—including racist, sexist, homophobic/transphobic, or threatening comments and behaviors that create a hostile and unpleasant environment will not be tolerated and is a violation of university harassment guidelines and respectable human behavior. We will strive to create a classroom where respect for all people and diversity of opinion is the standard and desired. These rules apply to on-line sessions.

Academic honesty.  Please adhere to the university’s academic standards including those governing academic dishonesty, including cheating, plagiarism (submitting the language, ideas, thoughts or work of another as one’s own), or fraud. The university considers plagiarism a serious academic offense, which subjects those engaging in the practice to severe disciplinary and grading consequences.

Disability statement. Students with special needs who need assistance should contact the Disability Resource Center immediately (http://www.washington.edu/students/drs/ (Links to an external site.)). Please meet with me early in the quarter if you require accommodations. I will make reasonable efforts to accommodate your special needs.

Religious accommodations. Washington state law requires that UW develop a policy for accommodation of student absences or significant hardship due to reasons of faith or conscience, or for organized religious activities. The UW’s policy, including more information about how to request an accommodation, is available at Religious Accommodations Policy (https://registrar.washington.edu/staffandfaculty/religious-accommodations-policy/) (Links to an external site.). Accommodations must be requested within the first two weeks of this course using the Religious Accommodations Request form (https://registrar.washington.edu/students/religious-accommodations-request/).

 

COURSE CALENDAR

JULY

REQUIRED READING: Before our first seminar meeting on July 23, I am asking all students to read and reflect on the text by Linda T. Smith from her book, Decolonizing methodologies. Chapter 8 presents "25 Indigenous projects" that will guide our critical readings of the course texts and also provide a framework for the development of the students' agroecology restoration design projects. The PDF may be downloaded here: Linda T. Smith, 1999. 25 Indigenous projects.

NOTE: It is also recommended that each student take time to watch this video before we meet for the first session of the seminar on July 23. The World According to Monsanto is a 2004 documentary film which makes an in-depth investigation into unlabelled, patented, genetically engineered foods that have quietly made their way onto grocery stores in the United States for the past decade. It voices the opinions of farmers in disagreement with the food industry and details the impacts on their lives and livelihoods from this new technology, and shines a light on the market and political forces that are changing what we eat.

The World According To Monsanto (Full Length)

I. AGROECOLOGY: SEED AND SOIL EPISTEMES

Th-23 Introductions. Overview of seminar: Learning objectives; texts; requirements; logistics. Seminar topics and themes.

• Our home and work at The Acequia Institute.
• Decolonial methods and epistemologies.
• Roots of ethnoecology.

Two video clips to watch over before our first seminar session.

Recommended Video: Get to know our work at The Acequia Institute. 10 minute clip on the "Wildness" project.

Devon Pena - Wildness

Recommended Video: Prof. Peña Interviewed by host Alan Wartes of Think Radio. We spoke about advocacy of the “decolonization of identity” among Indigenous peoples and how everyone can benefit from this concept.   The title  was  fashioned  by  Mr.  Wartes."Decolonizing Everything."

M-27 Agroecology: Indigenous knowledges and practices of sustainable/regenerative agriculture. Centers of origin and diversification of landraces. Hopi agroecology of landrace maize. San Luis Concho. Seed rematriation and food sovereignty.

• Altieri, Miguel. 1995a. The agroecosystem. In: Agroecology: The science of sustainable agriculture. Boulder: Westview Press, pp. 41-68.
• Altieri, Miguel. 1995b. Traditional agriculture. In: Agroecology: The science of sustainable agriculture. Boulder: Westview Press, pp. 105-45.
• Levin, Aaron. 2019. The heart of the Hopi. American Indian: Magazine of the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian 20:3 (Fall).

Required Video: Rowen White, Seed Keeper from Akwesasne. In this 2018 NOFA Summer Conference keynote address Rowen shares stories of the rematriation of seeds, where seeds come back to their communities of origin, and encourages people of all backgrounds to reconnect with their ancient food ways.  Rowen White - Rematriation of Seeds

• Recommended Video: Miguel Altieri. Earth Talk: Agroecology: Who will feed us in a planet in crisis? Lecture delivered to Schumacher College, UK. 

Earth Talk: Agroecology: Who will feed us in a planet in crisis with Miguel A. Altieri

T-28 Traditional polycultures and sustainability. A close look at the landscape ecology of contemporary Mayan milpas: Shifting mosaics in long-duration rotation islands. Remaking the soils of culture: Indigenous ethnopedology and ethnoedaphology,

• WinklerPrins, Antoinette and Narciso Barrera Bassols. 2004. Latin American ethnopedology: A vision of its past, present, and future. Agriculture and Human Values 21:2-3:139-56.
• Jenkins, Matt. 2017. Maya gold: Mixing ancient farming practices with modern science. Nature Conservancy (Fall). 
• Daley, Jason. 2018. The corn of the future is hundreds of years old and makes its own mucus. Smithsonian (August 10).

W-29 The environmental history of soil degradation.  Myths of modern agriculture.

• Montgomery, David R. 2017. Fertile ruins (pp. 17-31); Myths of modern agriculture (32-40). In: Growing a revolution: Bringing soil back to life. New York: W. W. Norton.

Th-30 Field-based and Zoom session. "Seed Rematriation and Regenerative Farming at The Acequia Institute." Noah Schlager (Mvskoke) and Bill Nesbit (Ho Chunk, Irish) with Devon G. Peña (Xicanx). Viejo San Acacio; San Francisco, CO. Please view posted vignettes before class.

AUGUST

M-3 Rise of soil restorationist movements.  Settler colonial regenerative agriculture. Deep seeds and First foods: Indigenous food autonomy and self-determination(sovereignty).

• Montgomery, David R 2017. Ditching the plow (66-89); The fifth revolution (266-84). In: Growing a revolution: Bringing soil back to life. New York: W. W. Norton.
• Required Video: Valerie Segrest, Muckleshoot Food Sovereignty. At the core of tribal sovereignty is food sovereignty. (2014, 13:11 mins.)

Segrest on Muckleshoot Food Sovereignty

• Skim: Peña, Devon G. 2017. Autonomia and food sovereignty: Decolonization across the food chain. In: Mexican-origin foods, foodways, and social movements: Decolonial perspectives, Eds. Devon G. Peña, Luz Calvo, Pancho McFarland, and Gabriel R. valle. Tucson: U. Arizona Press.

T-4 Indigenous knowledge, survivance, and the struggle against soil 'governmentalities.' 

• Peña, Devon G. 2017. Sodbusters and the native gaze. In: Mexican-origin foods, foodways, and social movements: Decolonial perspectives, Ed. Devon G. Peña, Luz Calvo, Pancho McFarland, and Gabriel Valle. Fayetteville: U. Arkansas Press, pp. 343-64.

W-5 Indigenous knowledge and soil biodynamics: The deeper Indigenous roots of permaculture, biodynamics, and regenerative agroecosystems. Decolonizing the science and politics of soil conservation. The gut/spirit/place connection: Decolonizing Indigenous cuisine and foodways.

• Peña, Devon G. 2019a. On intimacy with soils: Indigenous agroecology and biodynamics. In: Indigenous food sovereignty in the United States: Restoring cultural knowledge, protecting environments, and regaining health, Ed. Devon A. Mihesuah and Elizabeth Hoover. Norman: U. Oklahoma Press, pp. 276-99.
• Recommended: Grey, Sam  and Lenore Newman. 2018. Beyond culinary colonialism: indigenous food sovereignty, liberal multiculturalism, and the control of gastronomic capital.  Agriculture and Human Values 35:717–730.

Note on Figure 5 (above). Mycorrhizal bacterial colonies forming nodules in the roots of a crop plant.

II. Into the Root Zone: Rhizosphere Ecology and Human Health

Th-6 Field-based session: "Frontline Farms: Food Sovereignty in the City." Zoom session with Fatuma Emmad, head farmer, executive director, and co-founder of Frontline Farming in Denver and president of Mile High Farmers. Denver-Boulder] and Damien Thompson,  Co-founder and Director of Center for Healthy Communities and Food Justice and Front Line Farming and Professor at Regis University in Denver.

• Fatuma Emmad and Devon G. Peña. 2020. Feeding our autonomy: resilience in the face of the CoVid‐19 and future pandemics. Agriculture and Human Values. Published online: May 20, 2020.

M-10 Conceptualizing the rhizosphere. 

• Berendsen, Roeland L., et al. 2012. Rhizosphere microbiome and plant health. Trends in Plant Science 17: 8: 478-86.
• McNear, David H. 2013. The Rhizosphere - Roots, Soil and Everything in Between. Nature Education Knowledge 4:3:1-15.
• Mikkelsen, Robert. 2015. Soil microorganisms contribute to plant nutrition and root health. Better Crops 99:1:18-20.

Note on Figure 6 (above). A list of 30+ diseases that have dramatically increased in incidence since 1990 with the red line plotted and indicating increased use of the herbicide glyphosate in conjunction with GMO herbicide-resistant crops.

T-11 Environmental and heath implications of rhizosphere ecology.

W-12 The "nutrigenome" and the gut microbiome. Plant genetic diversity, nutrition, and health.  Glyphosate and cancer (Samsel and Seneff PowerPoint).

• Daniell and Ryan 2015. The Nutrigenome and Gut Microbiome: Chronic Disease Prevention with Crop Phytochemical Diversity. In: The molecular basis of plant genetic diversity, Ed. Mahmut Caliskan. IntechOpen Books, pp. 357-74. 
• Samsel, A. and S. Seneff 2015. Glyphosate, pathways to modern diseases IV: cancer and related pathologies. Journal of Biological Physics and Chemistry 15:121–159.

Th-13  Are biodynamic and organic soils healthier than conventional farmland soils? (Ryan) Field-based session: "Indigenous Permaculture: Composting, Biodynamics, the Nutrient Quality of Crops, and Our Health.  Michael Alcazar, Indigenous Eco-social Designer. 

• Reeve, Jennifer R. , et al. 2010. Influence of biodynamic preparations on compost development and resultant compost extracts on wheat seedling growth. Bioresource Technology 101 (2010) 5658–5666.
• Ryan, Megan . 1999. Is an enhanced soil biological community, relative to conventional neighbours, a consistent feature of alternative (organic and biodynamic) agricultural systems? Biological Agriculture & Horticulture 17: 131-144.

M-17 The 'glyphosate files.' The risk science and politics of environmental, biocultural, and public health impacts of agro-biotechnology. 

Zoom session: "Ayurvedic cookery and the gut microbiome." Beth Gurupriya Sanchez, Yoga Teacher; Ayurvedic Cuisine. Denver, CO. Handout on Ayurveda.

• Borinsky, Laura 2020. Improving Gut Health with the Ayurvedic Diet.  Institute for Integrative Nurition. (Link).
• Required: Peterson, Christine Tara 2017. Therapeutic Uses of Triphala in Ayurvedic Medicine. THE JOURNAL OF ALTERNATIVE AND COMPLEMENTARY MEDICINE. 23: 8: 607–614.
  
• Recommended: Shondelmyer, Kaitlyn et al.  2018.  Ancient Thali Diet: Gut Microbiota, Immunity, and Health. Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine 91: 177-84.

• Recommended: Beecham and Seneff 2016. Is there a link between autism and glyphosate-formulated herbicides?  Journal of Autism 3:1-13.
• Recommended: Aitbali, et al. 2018. Glyphosate based-herbicide exposure affects gut microbiota, anxiety and depression-like behaviors in mice. Neurotoxicology and Teratology 67:44–49.

YouTube clip: Dr. Kulreet Chaudhary discussing "The Health of Your Microbiome." If we look at the body as a planet, the microbiome are the citizens that inhabit that planet. They’re micro organisms that are intricately involved in the health of your body. When you have the right balance, you are functioning properly, and when you have the wrong balance — that seems to be associated with a variety of different imbalances.  This webinar focuses on: 1. The relationship of the microbiome and ayurveda; 2. the variety of different areas linked to the health of your gut; 3. the common imbalances of the microbiome; and 4. how the balance of your microbiome can influence your eating choices.

The Health of Your Microbiome Webinar featuring Dr. Kulreet Chaudhary

III. Decolonizing and Indigenizing the Rhizosphere and Human Gut Microbiomes

T-18 Neurodecolonization: Indigenous mindfulness and body-spirit healing. The science of the rhizosphere through Diné traditional knowledge. The "microbial sponge" as "biotic pump." The place of soil in reviving Indigenous place-based knowledge, belief and practice ensembles. 

Zoom session: "Neurodecolonization: Indigenous mindfulness and body-spirit healing." Dr. Michael YellowBird ((Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara).

• Redvers, YellowBird, et al. 2020. Molecular Decolonization: An Indigenous Microcosm Perspective of Planetary Health. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 17: 4586.
• Recommended: Househam, et al. 2017. The effects of stress and meditation on the immune system, human microbiota, and epigenetics. Advances in Mind - Body Medicine 31: 4: 10-25.
• Recommended: Briet, et al. 2018. Vagus nerve as modulator of the brain–gut axis in psychiatric and inflammatory disorders. Frontiers in Psychiatry 9:44: 1-16.

Recommended: YouTube Video. Michael Yellowbird; Neuro-Decolonization Interview. Michael Yellowbird, formerly Professor of Sociology N. Dakota U, . Director, Indigenous Tribal Studies. Currently Dean of the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Manitoba. Co-author, For Indigenous Minds Only: An indigenous Handbook, discusses the history of colonization from an indigenous point of view and describes what "neuro-decolonization" looks like. We discuss the reality that missionaries attempting to convert indigenous, uncontacted peoples are basing declaring war on them, attempting to rape and destroy their cultures.

Michael Yellowbird; Neuro-Decolonization

• Required Podcast (27 mins):  James Skeet (Diné, Naabeehó). Mr. Skeet discusses in English and Navajo languages the science of the rhizosphere as seen through Indigenous ways of knowing and being in the world.  Link here: scroll down to the podcast, NAVAJO FARMING: HEALING THE SOIL PODCAST.
• Recommended podcast: YouTube clip (55 mins). Online gathering, convened by the NM Healthy Soil Working Group. Watch a short presentation by James Skeet, followed by conversation with participants. James Skeet (Navajo) and his wife Joyce founded the Native-led educational non-profit Covenant Pathways and established Spirit Farm on Navajo Nation as a demonstration farm focused on healing the high desert southwestern soil with the intentional use of microbiology and composting. Their goal is to reclaim traditional farming and spiritual practices and pair them with regenerative methods to achieve resiliency and food sovereignty in the local Navajo and Zuni communities. To learn more about Covenant Pathways and Sprit Farm visit https://www.covenantpathways.org/

Diné Regenerating Soil and Soul. 

W-19 Indigenous health and healing: Beyond intergenerational historical trauma through healing foodways. Spiritual and material practices. First foods are deep place-based foods. A culinary spiritual ecology: More than the sum of the ingredients. Methods, tools, utensils, and processes of first food production.

 

 

Zoom session: White Clay-Wolfberry. Wild Potatoes. Forage-to-Table/Dirt-to-Gut Demonstration. M. Karlos Baca (Nuche-Dinè-Tewa). Fourth World Farm; I-Collective Co-Founder.

Th-20 Zoom session: "First Foods are Medicine." Linda Black Elk (Dukha Mongolian/Korean).

• Black Elk, Linda. 2020. Hope in the Time of Stress. Last Real Indians  (March 19).

• Black Elk, Linda and Janelle Marie Baker. 2020. From Traplines to Pipelines: Oil Sands and the Pollution of Berries and Sacred Lands from Northern Alberta to North Dakota. In: Plants, People, and Places: The Roles of Ethnobotany and Ethnoecology in Indigenous Peoples' Land Rights in Canada and Beyond, edited by Nancy J. Turner, McGill-Queen's University Press, pp. 173-87.

  Recommended: Baker, Janelle Marie 2020. Do Berries Listen? Berries as Indicators, Ancestors, and Agents in Canada's Oil Sands Region. Ethnos: Journal of Anthropology. DOI: 10.1080/00141844.2020.1765829

• Required Video: "Food is Medicine." Linda Black Elk presentation at the Second Annual Conference on Native American Nutrition, September 18, 2017, Prior Lake, Minnesota. The conference series brings together tribal officials, researchers, practitioners, and others to discuss the current state of Indigenous and academic scientific knowledge about Native nutrition and food science, and identify new areas of work. 

2017 Native American Nutrition Conference - Linda Black Elk