Braiding Together Indigenous Story-work and Relational Interviewing

• In Event: Refiguring Presences in Garden-Based Education

Abstract

Objectives. This paper draws from a master’s research thesis based on an interview study with Indigenous food growers in Toronto, Ontario. In this paper, the author will share findings from the study, including themes identified from the interviews in relation to a comprehensive literature review of Indigenous food sovereignty. The paper will discuss applying and using the Indigenous story-work (Archibald, 2008) approach to inform a practice of relational interviewing.

This study theorizes with urban Indigenous community members what Indigenous food sovereignty means. Food sovereignty is often discussed through the lens of food security and food policy (Grey & Patel, 2014; Coté, 2016) rather than the perspective of Indigenous sovereignty and Indigenous relations to land (Daigle, 2019). This paper brings together the perspectives and experiences of urban Indigenous gardeners with the literature and scholarly work of Indigenous food sovereignty thinkers.

Perspectives: This paper will explore ideas theorized by participants in the study, while working with Potowatami scholar, Robin Wall Kimmerer’s conception of relational responsibility in her work (Kimmerer, 2013) “Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teaching of Plants.” Kimmerer’s conception of relational responsibility is an important theoretical grounding for this paper and situates the ontological, and epistemological underpinnings of the project. This paper also draws from Indigenous theory (Wilson, 2008) and perspectives about land, food sovereignty and self-determination (Simpson, 2017).

Methods: This paper uses qualitative methodologies including Sto:lo scholar Joanne Archibald’s “Indigenous story-work” approach (Archibald, 2008) which holds reverence and deep respect for Indigenous stories as knowledge. This paper also draws from Kvale and Brinkmann’s “lifeworld” approach which recognizes that people are experts in their own experiences (Brinkmann & Kvale, 2015).

Data Sources: This paper draws from data generated from the semi-structured interviews conducted by the author. The interviews were conducted via zoom during the Covid-19 pandemic in the Spring and Summer of 2021. Participants included 11 Indigenous food growers in Toronto between the ages of 22-38 who identified as urban farmers and growers, and who maintained their gardens as individuals and not as part of formal organizations.

Results: This work contributes to the evolving scholarship of food sovereignty in critical Indigenous Studies through theorizing and making space for urban Indigenous perspectives about food sovereignty. This paper adds to the literature that gardens are both sites of resistance and learning.

Significance: This paper adds to the further theorization of decolonization in Indigenous Studies and Education. This project draws from decolonizing methodologies (Smith, 2012) to affirm and highlight the stories and story-ing of Indigenous perspectives in resistance to settler colonialism and continued violence on the land.

Author

• Diane Hill, New York University