Working with all nations and all relatives in feeding the future

Pathways to decolonial food governance and sustainable planetary health

Authors

  • Shaileshkumar Shukla University of Winnipeg

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15353/cfs-rcea.v11i3.717

Keywords:

decolonial food governance, Indigenous food systems, sustainable planetary health, traditional land-based practices

Abstract

Most unprecedented changes and challenges to planetary health that include earth and human health, are attributed to short-sighted policies and systemic barriers. Standardized and top-down approaches of development that often dominate through limited, persuasive, and extractive euro-centric perspectives often dominate in Turtle Island and most colonial regions of the world. Food and food-sustaining relatives (land, water, plants, animals, micro-habitats) which are central to planetary health, are negatively impacted and threatened by these human pressures, which have severe implications for our ability to feed current and future generations (FAO et al., 2023; Planetary Health Alliance, n.d.). Many international agencies (including those affiliated with the United Nations), food systems scholars, grassroots organizations, and community members are grappling with the very imminent challenges of addressing the alarmingly high level of food insecurity in Turtle Island (Council of Canadian Academics, 2014; Fieldhouse & Thompson, 2012) and the global South (Kuhnlein et al., 2013).

Author Biography

Shaileshkumar Shukla, University of Winnipeg

As a settler person of colour and first-generation immigrant to Treaty-1 Territory, Shailesh’s connection to sustainable food systems and planetary health are rooted in the East Indian Sanatana spiritual traditions and his lifelong passion for Indigenous knowledge systems. For more than two decades, he has worked with Indigenous communities, including his doctoral and postdoctoral work on Indigenous knowledge systems and sustainability, this completed in close collaboration with First Nations and Indigenous communities from Turtle Island and South Asia. He co-edited Indigenous Food Systems: Concepts, Cases and Conversations with Dr. Priscilla Settee and is currently working with both Settee and Dr. Noa Lincoln as lead co-editor of Indigenous Insights for Planetary Health and Sustainable Food Systems: Learning from International Case Studies, (forthcoming, summer 2025).

A closeup of lemons and oranges on a blue and white platter

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Published

2024-12-17

How to Cite

Shukla, S. (2024). Working with all nations and all relatives in feeding the future: Pathways to decolonial food governance and sustainable planetary health. Canadian Food Studies La Revue Canadienne Des études Sur l’alimentation, 11(3), 1–4. https://doi.org/10.15353/cfs-rcea.v11i3.717

Issue

Vol. 11 No. 3 (2024): Pathways to decolonial governance and planetary health

Section

Editorial

License

Copyright (c) 2024 Shaileshkumar Shukla

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