DeepSummary
The podcast episode features an interview with Dr. Enrique Salmón, who discusses the concept of 'eating the landscape' and its significance in indigenous cultures. He explains that 'eating the landscape' is not just about food and nutrition but represents a larger interconnected matrix of relationship with the land. Salmón introduces the idea of 'kincentric ecology,' which recognizes humans as keystone species responsible for maintaining ecosystems through sustainable practices like pruning, fire management, and diverse agriculture.
Salmón emphasizes the importance of preserving indigenous knowledge through oral tradition rather than 'pickling' or preserving it in written form. He argues that indigenous knowledge is inherently local and constantly evolving, unlike the universality and objectivity valued in Western science. He critiques the concept of 'regenerative agriculture' as an appropriation of indigenous practices without fully understanding their unique cultural and ecological contexts.
Throughout the interview, Salmón highlights the interconnectedness of food, identity, ceremony, language, and responsibility in indigenous cultures. He encourages listeners to engage with nature-based communities, expand their definition of community to include the natural world, and recognize the importance of human stewardship in maintaining the ongoing creation.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- The concept of 'eating the landscape' represents a holistic and interconnected relationship between indigenous cultures and the land, encompassing food, identity, ceremony, language, and responsibility.
- Indigenous knowledge is inherently local, constantly evolving, and rooted in oral tradition, challenging the Western scientific paradigm of objectivity and universality.
- Humans, particularly indigenous communities, have played a crucial role as 'keystone species' in maintaining and shaping ecosystems through sustainable practices like pruning, fire management, and diverse agriculture.
- The concept of 'regenerative agriculture' often appropriates and commodifies indigenous practices without fully understanding or acknowledging their unique cultural and ecological contexts.
- Modern society's obsession with technology and social media disconnects people from their relationship with the natural world and perpetuates the ignorance of indigenous ways of understanding and relating to the land.
- Preserving and revitalizing indigenous knowledge, languages, and practices is crucial for healing and mending our relationships with the land and ecosystems.
- Expanding our definition of 'community' to include the natural world and engaging in nature-based communities is essential for recognizing our responsibility and role in maintaining the ongoing creation.
- Indigenous perspectives offer valuable insights and alternatives to the reductionist and profit-driven approaches of Western science and industry in understanding and relating to the natural world.
Top Episodes Quotes
- “Eating the landscape is about this large, interconnected matrix of our relationship to place.“ by Enrique Salman
- “I came up with the idea of eating the landscape because when I was thinking about our indigenous ancestral foodways, and they are not, it's not just about food, it's not just about nutrition.“ by Enrique Salman
- “Modern technology is rapidly causing this to happen even within societies where we have so many people right now are thinking that when they're doing their whatever you want to call it their tick snap insta tweets and that sort of thing. Looking at their little phones, you know, thinking they're engaging in digital communities, they're actually disengaging from the real world, from the real natural.“ by Enrique Salman
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Episode Information
Green Dreamer: Seeding change towards collective healing, sustainability, regeneration
Kamea Chayne
3/16/23
"I came up with the idea of ‘Eating the Landscape’ because I was thinking about our Indigenous ancestral foodways. It’s not just about food. It’s not just about nutrition. ‘Eating the Landscape’ is about this large, interconnected matrix of our relationship to place."
In this episode, Enrique Salmón, Ph.D. guides us to see Indigenous foodways as parts of an interconnected matrix of our relationship to place. Introducing the concept of “kincentric ecology,” Enrique problematizes one-size-fits-all approaches to caring for the land. He also elaborates on why many Native peoples are opposed to memory banking as a way to preserve Indigenous knowledge.
Having completed his dissertation on how the bioregion of his Rarámuri people of the Sierra Madres of Chihuahua, Mexico influences their language and thought, Enrique invites us to understand the layered meanings behind the phrase “Eating the Landscape”—looking at food not just as sources of nourishment but as avenues of growing one’s kinship. Ultimately, as opposed to the doom and gloom perspectives prevalent in mainstream environmentalism in regards to the role of humankind, Enrique leaves us with a calling of recognizing humans as a keystone species—where creation is not only a matter of what came before but an act of relational responsibility.
About the guest:Enrique Salmón is the author of Iwígara: The Kinship of Plants and People and Eating The Landscape, a book focused on small-scale Native farmers of the Greater Southwest and their role in maintaining biocultural diversity. With a PhD. in anthropology from Arizona State University, he has been a Scholar in Residence at the Heard Museum and on the Board of Directors of the Society of Ethnobiology. Enrique has published several articles and chapters on Indigenous ethnobotany, agriculture, nutrition, and traditional ecological knowledge, and he teaches American Indian Studies in the Department of Ethnic Studies at Cal State University East Bay. also serving as their Tribal Liaison.
The musical offering featured in this episode is Flute Dance by Enrique Salmón. The episode-inspired artwork is by Cherie Kwok.
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