Shalen Prado

Project Summary: As a Living Skies Postdoctoral Fellow, I research First Nations human-plant relationships using archaeological, archived ethnographic, and community knowledge to create a cohesive narrative of human-plant relationships across time. Long-term narratives containing Indigenous and Western lines of knowing have been useful in other regions such as British Columbia for communicating the interconnectedness of Indigenous relationships to lands, waters, and nonhuman communities and can be used for legal processes and food sovereignty efforts. Through collaborations and conversations with Mistawasis Nêhiyawak First Nation, Muskeg Lake Cree First Nation, and urban First Nations community members, this research will recognize how historic and ongoing colonialism disrupts Indigenous relationships with plant communities and assess how aspects of past human-plant relationships may be re-integrated into First Nations foodways.

Internal Mentor: Dr. Melissa Arcand and Dr. David Natcher

External Mentors: Katherine Finn, Bridge to Land Water Sky Living Lab and Steve Wiig, Muskeg Lake Cree Nation