As an Indigenous community-engaged scholar of food sovereignty and environmental justice for almost a decade, I have worked with Indigenous communities, grassroots organisations, and civil society globally to revitalise the devastated food systems of Indigenous and local communities. I am an Assistant Professor of Environmental Humanities and Native and Indigenous Studies at Syracuse University.
As part of my international work in sustainable development, food security, and environmental justice, I am a lead author in the global report on the ‘values’ assessment of Nature of the Intergovernmental Panel of Biodiversity and Ecosystems Services (IPBES) and the Project Team Leader of the High-Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (UN FAO).
I am currently working on my book manuscript entitled "Recovering Our Ancestral Foodways: Indigenous traditions as a recipe for living well" based on my work with Maori of Aotearoa New Zealand and Quechua communities of Peru. The book touches upon issues of food and environmental injustices, land dispossession, health and well-being of Indigenous peoples, and the creative ways to resist these injustices, preserve their traditional ecological knowledge, foodways, and improve their well-being.
New Zealand