Brief Research Commentary: The US Indigenous Food Sovereignty Movement’s Impact on Understandings of COVID-19 in Indian Country
This research commentary provides an overview of contemporary anthropological research regarding the US Indigenous food sovereignty movement and demonstrates how it informs the impacts of COVID-19 on Indian Country. Past anthropological research on US Indigenous foodways, while useful, has lacked US Indigenous voices and in-depth political context. Alternatively, many current Indigenous scholars prioritize integration of this crucial political landscape, thus increasing the relevancy and application of this work. For this review, I begin by coalescing a selection of these recent research developments, primarily focusing on research undertaken by Indigenous scholars currently in, and affiliated with, anthropology. I then connect the ways in which their ethnographic and community-based findings shed insight into challenges that arose during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. Finally, I critique anthropology’s lack of support for these research projects and offer suggestions regarding future US Indigenous food sovereignty research directions.
