When Clint Carroll moved into his Longmont home in 2015, the backyard was waist-deep in weeds. Today, he tends tall stalks of heirloom white corn, as well as raised beds seeded with beans, squash, potatoes, tomatoes, traditional tobacco and more, depending on the season.
Not all of these plants are native to Colorado, Cherokee lands, or even the lands we know as North America — but they all serve the same broader purpose: the cultivation and preservation of Indigenous culture at a time when climate change is affecting development and lingering clichés from the colonial era threaten them.
Carroll is an Associate Professor in the Department of Ethnic Studies, where he teaches Native American and Indigenous Studies, focusing on environmental issues such as access to wild plant collection, land use management and governance. He is also a citizen of the Cherokee Nation and serves on the board of directors of the Center for Native American and Indigenous Studies (CNAIS) at CU Boulder and on the board of directors of the Denver Botanic Gardens.
“The more people can see themselves in relation to the land, these plants and their food, the better off we’re all going to be,” Carroll said. “The act of growing your own food is a way to seal that connection to the land and develop a certain sense of connectedness with what we eat and where it comes from.”
Corn, in particular, is a sacred plant to the Cherokee Indians. Some refer to it as “Selutsi” or “mother corn,” demonstrating both its existence and spiritual importance. This staple of the Cherokee, as well as many Native American peoples, initially faltered in Carroll’s backyard in the face of Colorado’s high winds and persistent squirrels, but it has since taken root under the attentive care of him and his family.
Inspired by his own father’s concern for the country, Carroll and his wife, Angelica Lawson, who is a Northern Arapaho and an assistant professor of Ethnic and Cinema Studies at CU Boulder, now hope to spark that same interest in the next generation, including theirs own child .
“The act of tending the corn, tending the garden is a way of teaching these lessons of how to connect with the earth and be aware of your surroundings, be aware of weather patterns, and make sure these crops survive” he said Caroll.
cultural conversations
Many other families across the US will soon gather to share in a tradition that involves food. However, Thanksgiving has a complicated history — and the version many are taught as children is incomplete.
“It’s obviously part of the way most Americans feel about the founding of this country,” Carroll said. “Many indigenous people recognize it as a day of mourning or a day of mourning because of the genocide that took place in this country against the indigenous people.”
Still, Carroll sees Thanksgiving as an educational moment in terms of this country’s history and appreciation of food—both of which can span just one day of the year.
“How do we take those lessons and have critical discussions as a family or as a nation around Thanksgiving that lead us to better understand what it means to be related to the land and to the indigenous people that are still here?” said Caroll. “We can have conversations that make us all reconsider some of what we were taught as children.”
Whether you’re taking the time to learn Thanksgiving history from a Native American perspective, learning whose land you’re on, or “decolonizing” your dinner table by taking a closer look at the ingredients, there’s a wide variety of ways to learn more about Thanksgiving Effects of colonialism on Native American history, culture, and diet.
For Carroll, the next week won’t be much different than usual for his family: They gather for dinner and give thanks for the food they grow in their own garden while honoring family, community and tradition.
Clint Carroll, Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies at CU Boulder, addresses the crowd during the 2022 Chancellor’s Year Summit. (Image credit: Patrick Campbell / CU Boulder)
The challenge of climate change
Cherokee Indians were forcibly expelled from their homelands in the southeastern United States by the US government in 1838–1839. Growing their traditional crops and foods in the area we now know as Oklahoma was not easy, as the soil and rainfall are very different from those of the country known by the US as Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, and North Carolina referred to as.
When Oklahoma later became a state in 1907, the US government effectively dissolved the government of the Cherokee Nation, Carroll said. The tribal land dropped drastically from 4.48 million acres to just 100,000 acres in 1971, again threatening their ability to grow food and gather medicine and cultural materials.
Now that global weather patterns are changing due to climate change, indigenous peoples around the world face numerous barriers to maintaining access to traditional foods, plants and practices because when plant species move, property boundaries remain the same.
Working with youth, elders, and Cherokee Nation government, Carroll is exploring how Indigenous communities can retain the ability to collect and use wild plant species, including those on land claimed by the National Park Service.
“Climate change is even further impacting the ability to continue these types of land-based traditions,” Carroll said. “It can be seen as another move, but this time we’re standing still.”
Initiatives such as the Canadian government-funded Ărramăt project, launched earlier this year and in which Carroll is a co-applicant, aim to address some of the major challenges climate change poses to indigenous people and their lands.
Carroll was able to combine this multi-million dollar, multi-year project with the work he has led over the past five years to educate youth in his Oklahoma community on important issues and challenges related to nutrition, natural resource management, and nutrition and to train land use decisions.
“The beauty of this project is that it funds these local, place-based initiatives. It also connects indigenous peoples around the world, allows us to learn from one another, and guides our efforts within the Cherokee Nation to ensure future generations can continue these plant-based traditions.”
As a world leader in climate, environmental, and energy research, the University of Colorado Boulder is working with the United Nations Human Rights Council to… Right here, now Global Climate Summit in autumn 2022.
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