FOOD JUSTICE SYMPOSIUM,
APRIL 27, 28, 29, 2018
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Friday evening and Saturday evening will each feature a keynote speaker. M. Karlos Baca on Friday night, and Rowen White on Saturday night. These will be open to the public on a first come, first serve basis. Tickets are $25 at the door. Please RSVP to if you plan to come. Doors open each night at 6pm.
(The Food Justice Symposium will take place April 27, 28, 29 near Dolores, Colorado. There are two ways to attend this event: you can join us Friday or Saturday night to hear keynote speakers M. Karlos Baca and Rowen White, or register to attend the Weekend Intensive for an in depth opportunity address racial inequity in the food system. More info can be found here, at the iCollective’s website).
M. Karlos Baca
M. Karlos Baca (Tewa/Diné/Nuche) is an Indigenous Foods Activist and the founder of Taste of Native Cuisine, an Indigenous food cooperative based out of Southern Ute in Southwestern Colorado, and focusing on pre-colonial Indigenous Foodways. His work has been featured in the Zagat Foodways series , AJ+ and most recently in Edible Southwest Colorado. Although cooking is his passion, the majority of his time is spent teaching traditional foraging methods, Indigenous agriculture, seed saving, and cooking technologies to youth groups, teaching in schools, and working to help decolonize the food systems within those communities, while pushing forward with Indigenous Food Sovereignty initiatives on the tribal level, and is currently engaging in creating racial and food justice frameworks in the Four Corners region. He is foremost a son, a brother, father to six amazing children, and a grandfather.
Register here!
Rowen White
Rowen White is a Seed Keeper and farmer from the Mohawk community of Akwesasne and a passionate activist for indigenous seed and food sovereignty. She is the director and founder of theSierra Seeds, an innovative organic seed stewardship organization focusing on local seed and education, based in Nevada City CA. Rowen is the current National Project Coordinator and advisor for the Indigenous Seed Keeper Network, which is an initiative of the Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance, a non-profit organization aimed at leveraging resources to support tribal food sovereignty projects. The mission of the Indigenous Seed Keepers Network is to nourish and assist the growing Seed Sovereignty Movement across Turtle Island. Rowen’s passion is in teaching and mentoring, and has developed many curricula which focus on holistic, indigenous permaculture based approach to seed stewardship which honors the many layers of seed culture; from practical hands on skills, cultural context and memory with guiding principles that are rooted in an indigenous ecology of relations. She teaches and facilitates creative seed stewardship immersions around the country within tribal and small farming communities, as well as offering an online distance learning seasonal mentorship called Seed Seva. She weaves stories of seeds, food, culture and sacred Earth stewardship on her blog, Seed Songs. Follow her seed journeys at www.sierraseeds.org
WEEKEND INTENSIVE
The Weekend Intensive will begin Friday evening and take place from 9am-8pm on Saturday and 9am-3pm on Sunday. The Intensive will be dedicated to addressing inequities and racial injustice in the food system and developing strategies for change. Topics that will be addressed include:
• History of Food Warfare
• Immigration
• Environmental Justice: Soil, Water, Air
• Plant Kinship: human and plant relations
• Seed Keeping
• Labor in the food system
• Developing regional connections and collaborations
• Visioning and committing to action for justice
• Self-Care
You must pre-register to attend the Weekend Intensive here. We will be accommodating people on a first come, first serve basis. We have a limited number of places for people to stay, as well as support with gas expenses and childcare. All meals will be provided for participants in the Weekend Intensive by the iCollective. Translation into Diné and Spanish will be provided. Please let us know if you have any other needs that we can support with in the registration form.
Janene Yazzie will be the lead facilitator for the Weekend Intensive.
Janene is born for Tsi’naajinii and To’dich’ii’nii. Her maternal grandparents areNaalani Dine’e and her paternal grandparents are Dzilghai. She lives in GallupNew Mexico, and was born and raised on the Navajo Nation. She’s an indigenous rights advocate with a particular focus on sustainable economic development. Her business, Sixth World Solutions, works with Dine’(Navajo) communities to develop projects, programs and policies that promote sustainability, environmental justice, and self-governance. Sheco-founded the first Navajo Nation community-led watershed planning program which serves to exercise local control in the sustainable management, restoration, and protection of natural resources. She also has worked throughout the Southwest and Four Corners Region for water and food security, and has fought against uranium contamination, pollution from fracking and the effects of the Gold King Mine Spill. Janene has earned international recognition for her advocacy of indigenous rights. She was chosen by both local and international indigenous leaders as the North America Focal Point to the United Nations High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development.
THIS EVENT IS MADE POSSIBLE BY
iCollective
San Juan Collaborative for Health Equity
Taste of Native Cuisine
Pine River Shares
Growing Partners of Southwest Colorado
LiveWell Colorado