Seeds of Our Ancestors, Seeds of our Lives TedTalk
by Winona Laduke
Description:
In this video, Laduke discusses the importance of diversity of plant species in environmental sustainability and diets. She shares the story of the Pawnee’s peoples corn being taken from settlers out of its traditional land and not being able to grow until it was placed back in its traditional land of Nebraska where it flourished. She explains the importance of the concept of space in relation to traditional foods, and discusses the important of Indigenous relation to traditional foods. Finally, Ladyke explains the Hawaiian's and Maori’s fights to protect their Indigenous foods of Taro and Peruperu.
Speaker Biography (TEDx Talks):
Winona is an internationally renowned activist working on issues of sustainable development, renewable energy and food systems. She lives and works on the White Earth reservation in northern Minnesota. As Program Director of Honor the Earth, she works nationally and internationally on the issues of climate change, renewable energy, and environmental justice with Indigenous communities. In her own community, she is the founder of the White Earth Land Recovery Project, where she works to protect Indigenous plants and heritage foods from patenting and genetic engineering. A graduate of Harvard and Antioch Universities, LaDuke has written extensively on Native American and environmental issues. She is the author of five books, including Recovering the Sacred, All our Relations and a novel, Last Standing Woman
Resource format: Video
Age recommendation: Grades 10-12
Keywords: plant species diversity, sustainability, nutrition, Hawaii, Maori, traditional food, farming, TedTalk, environmental activism, Indigenous traditional foods, food sovereignty, Pawnee Nation, video, more-than-human relations, wild rice, genetic engineering, corn, squash, three sisters, sugarbush
Year of publication: 2012
Publisher information: TEDxTC
Teaching and Learning Ideas
Our team collaborated with new teachers, alumni of the Werklund School of Education’s Bachelor of Education program, to create teaching and learning plans for texts in this website. With audiences ranging from Pre-Kindergarten to Post-Secondary, lesson plans across this resource address a wide range of school subject areas, inclusive approaches, and Indigenous education topics, such as the revitalization of Indigenous languages. As this website was designed with Undergraduate Programs in Education instructors, as well as teachers in mind, connections to UPE courses have been flagged on each lesson plan. These lessons are intended as a starting place for educators, to help you envision ways in which you might bring Indigenous literatures, as well as ways of knowing, being, and doing, into your teaching contexts. Please adapt, use, and share these lessons in ways that are generative for your teaching practice. We offer our sincere thanks to the dozens of new teachers who gifted us with these creative ideas!
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