Project description
The Indigenous Foodways project is an initiative that began in 2018. The project’s broad goals are to:
- Recognize Indigenous traditions and innovations in foodways
- Respect Indigenous knowledge and ways of knowing
- Reflect Indigenous knowledge, traditions, and innovations in exhibitions and programming
This initiative began with a collaborative research project with an Indigenous researcher to develop a respectful research methodology for working with Indigenous communities. We have now engaged with several First Nations communities, collaborating to tell their stories in their voices. These stories have been shared with our audiences, allowing them to recognize, respect, and reflect on Indigenous ways of knowing. These projects have all been research and community-based with direct benefits to communities.
The ongoing outcomes of this initiative can be found below.
Project outcomes
exhibitions
Bákvḷá
This collaborative project with Frank Brown, Hereditary Chief ëáëíya̓ sila of the Heiltsuk Nation in BC, documents the seasonal cycle of food gathering known as Bákvḷá. Bákvḷá means to harvest and prepare food for the winter, and to do so in a good way, honouring ancestral Heiltsuk laws. This project shares this knowledge and Heiltsuk traditions of sustainability, focusing on the annual roe-on-kelp fishery. This fishery harvests eggs, or roe, that have been deposited on kelp and hemlock branches.
Blog Posts on the Ingenium Channel
Research Publications
Project lead
Dr. William Knight
Curator, Agriculture and Fisheries
wknight@ingeniumcanada.org
I am a historian of fisheries, food, and museums, subjects that were the focus of my 2014 doctoral dissertation, "Modeling Authority at the Canadian Fisheries Museum, 1884-1918.”