Notes from Food With A Side of Community 3

Questions

1. What does reproductive justice mean to you?

2. How has food helped you develop a better relationship with your body?

3. What does food mean to you in relation to reproductive justice?

Discussion

1. People talked about access to reproductive health services, sterilization of indigenous women, which is ongoing although the media constructs a narrative that makes it seem it is a thing of the past. Indigenous women have been coerced by doctors assuring them that sterilization is reversible. The importance of reproductive technology and making alternative ways of conceiving more affordable. 

2. Food is revitalizing, nourishing and helps build community. Caring about what you put in your body is one of the first steps towards caring for your body. When you eat good food, your body feels good. 

Folks shared that experiences with the push to return to traditional indigenous foods although that is not accessible to everyone. The loss of traditional lands for harvesting foods is also a problem. 

3. Women have a large role in harvesting in many indigenous matrilineal societies. Food can empower people and is a wonderful way of building community. There were conversations about traditional protocols along hunting and respect. We talked about how the caribou was hunted and the protocols that followed such as offering prayer and tobacco. 

Plants and animals are important to consider in conversations about justice, as they are part of the cycle. As such, our relationship with them should be one of reciprocation. Additionally, traditional hunting rights are always challenged.