Embracing Indigenous Values in Gardens and In Our Communities
Tracy Qiu - Concordia University
Tallie Segel – Concordia University
Mike De Motta – Curator of Living Collections National Tropical Botanical Garden
Michael Opgenorth – Kahanu Garden and Preserve, National Tropical Botanical Garden
Elder Punkin Shananaquet- Ziibiwing Center for Anishinabe Nations Embracing Indigenous Values within Public Gardens and In Our Communities: Laying a Framework
Who are we? Why are we here in this talk? Tracy and Tallie - Concordia University Plant / Plant People / Plant Learning nerds
Tracy Qiu Tallie Segel
How are gardens contending with What are the knowledge politics in colonial histories? science/ conservation education institutions and the communities they serve?
Stories Gardens Tell - Making Visible Dominant Values Embracing Values: Listening beyond dominant values Thinking with the idea of polyculture
Why is it necessary to ask questions about which values are embraced?
What becomes possible in embracing values when we think with concepts like polyculture?
These concepts add to concepts of diversity the notion that people live “culturally dynamic lives made up of a host of lineages” and reflects the “multiple and collective origins of knowledges”1
1. Prashad, V. 2001. Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting. Boston: Beacon Press. Eia o Hawaii Hoomaka ia I ka po. Aia I ka po, ua hanau ia ka honua No kealoha ame ka pilina o Papa laua O Wakea.
Eia na kanaka. Na ke kuaana O Haloa e malama mai ia makou na pokii.
By Hobe / Holger Behr Hokulea
He waa, he moku Image by Polynesian Voyaging Society Hawaiian Name Scientific Name ˊApe Alocasia macrorrhizos ˊAuhuhu Tephrosia purpurea ˊAwa Piper methysticum ˊAwapuhi Zingiber zerumbet Hala Pandanus tectorius Hau Hibiscus tiliaceus Hoi Dioscorea bulbifera The Hawaiian botanical Ipu Lagenaria siceraria Kalo Colocasia esculenta Kamani Calophyllum inophyllum tool kit. Plants that Kī Cordyline fruticosa Kō Saccharum officinarum came on the canoes Kou Cordia subcordata Kukui Aleurites moluccana Maiˊa Musa acuminata with our ancestors. Milo Thespesia populnea Niu Cocos nucifera Noni Morinda citrifolia ˊOhe Schizostachyum glaucifolium ˊŌhiˊaˊai Syzygium malaccense ˊŌlena Curcuma longa Pia Tacca leontopetaloides Piˊa Dioscorea pentaphylla ˊUala Ipomoea batatas Uhi Dioscorea alata ˊUlu Artocarpus altilis Wauke Broussonetia papyrifera Kalo Colocasia esculenta
Haloa Ulu
Artocarpus altilis Uala
Ipomoea batatas Awa Piper methysticum
Ko Saccharum officinarum Ti Cordyline fruticosa Noni Morinda citrifolia Olena Curcuma longa Wauke Broussonetia papyrifera Awapuhi Zingiber zerumbet Ipu Lagenaria siceraria Maia Musa sp. Ohia ai Syzygium malaccense The Mission of the National Tropical Botanical Garden is to enrich life through discovery, scientific research, conservation, and education by perpetuating the survival of plants, ecosystems, and cultural knowledge of tropical regions. McBryde Garden Lawai, Kauai Limahuli Garden Haena, Kauai Kahanu Garden Hana, Maui Limahuli Garden & Preserve
Elepaio Uahi a Pele
Mahalo! ‘Āina O Ka Ua Kea
Mike Opgenorth Director of Kahanu Garden and Preserve
Stories from Hāna, Maui
• How the garden started, its sense of place with Pi’ilanihale Heiau at the foundation
• Putting together a comprehensive master plan for this sacred site
• Relationships with community members and care for a large garden with small staff How the Garden Started: 1960s 2015 Heiau Restoration
Laulima (many hands) Kuleana (responsibility) 1999 Restoration Complete
Heiau Restoration Team
North Face of Pi’ilanihale Master Planning Ho’i Hou I ke Kuamo’o O Pi’ilani Conference
• Founded on council from practitioners throughout the Hawaiian islands • Access zones for appropriate actions • Roadmap regardless of regime change Community Coming Together Mahele Farm • Lit: to divide, or to share • Reviving heirloom indigenous varieties and farming them
Ma Ka Hana Ka ‘Ike – In doing, one learns
Lōkahi- Unity Mana’o - Thoughts and Ideas
• How do we integrate • Encourage cultural perspectives from the practice, create local community? conversations with practitioners.
• How would they approach stewarding this cultural • Take time to involve as landscape? many families as possible. Mahalo nui Embracing Indigenous Values in Public Gardens Rematriation through the Indigenous Collaborative Garden – Heritage Seeds Elder Punkin Shananaquet University of Michigan was Established with
Tribal Action in 1817
links/ -
Treaty at the Foot of the Rapids – 1817 https://www.cmich.edu/library/clarke/ResearchResources/Native_American_Material/Treaty_Rights/Pages
/default.aspx http://unitingthreefiresagainstviolence.org/tribal The UM stewards one of the largest collections of heritage Tribally-affiliated seeds in North America
Listening process established an evolving Working Group Additional First Nations Representatives and Faculty from: • Grand River Band of Ottawa River • Wasauksing First Nation • Brown University • Michigan State University • SUNY – Syracuse 12 U Michigan units in the Listening • Trent University • University of Massachusetts
Pending donors Listening has involved over a dozen meetings state-wide: physically at 4 Nations & U. Michigan 2018 showed the site is raccoon and theft resistant and productive The 2019 Garden: all aspects continue under Tribal guidance What knowledge is shared, recorded, or publicized ? When are Communities of Origin ready for the Seeds – which have not been grown for generations?
* Ceremonies? * Sites * Etc.? How are cultural, ethical, spiritual and legal contexts mutually revolved at the highest levels of the University and Tribes ?
• AGREEMENT BETWEEN • THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AND • [INSERT TRIBE NAME] • I. Purpose of the Agreement. This agreement (“Agreement”) between the Regents of the University of Michigan, a Michigan Constitutional Corporation (the “University”), and [Insert Tribe Name] (hereinafter the “Tribe”) sets forth the terms by which certain heritage seeds originating in the Tribe’s community and currently curated by the University’s Museum of Anthropological Archaeology (“UMMAA”) will be planted in the Indigenous Communities Heritage Garden (the “ICH Garden”) at the University’s Matthaei Botanical Gardens (“UMMBG”). • Tracy Qiu - Concordia University [email protected]
• Tallie Segel – Concordia University [email protected]
• Mike De Motta – Curator of Living Collections, National Tropical Botanical Garden [email protected]
• Michael Opgenorth – Kahanu Garden and Preserve, National Tropical Botanical Garden [email protected]
• Elder Punkin Shananaquet- Ziibiwing Center for Anishinabe Nations via David Michener [email protected]