How can a deeper understanding of literature on BIPOC land knowledge help to promote a more sustainable, ethical, and inclusive future? The strong relationship to the land, centered within Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities, can be understood through writings that discuss the cultural knowledge and social systems of these communities. The resources listed below highlight how communities of color can rely on their connection to the land to challenge colonial social systems, connect with ancestral and indigenous knowledge, and empower those whose existence is challenged.
Below is the full list of books, articles, and resources highlighted for building on themes and discussions raised throughout Deconstructing the Boundaries.
Books
- Gonna Trouble the Water: Ecojustice, Water, and Environmental Racism by Miguel A de la Torre
- Water Wars: Privatization, Pollution, and Profit by Vandana Shiva
- Bottlemania: Big Business, Local Springs, and the Battle Over America’s Drinking Water by Elizabeth Royte
- Contested Water: The Struggle Against Water Privatization in the United States and Canada (Urban and Industrial Environments) by Joanna L. Robinson
- Cochabamba!: Water War In Bolivia by Oscar Olivera
- Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water by Marc Reisner
- The Price of Thirst: Global Water Inequality and the Coming Chaos by Karen Piper
- Ecofeminism by Vandana Shiva and Maria Mies
- Becoming Kin: An Indigenous Call to Unforgetting the Past and Reimagining Our Future by Patty Krawec
- From Ground Water to Grass Roots: Two Small Maine Towns – One Large Corporation by Walter Hampton Baily
- Indigenous Food Sovereignty in the United States: Restoring Cultural Knowledge, Protecting Environments, and Regaining Health by Devon A. Mihesuah & Elizabeth Hoover
- Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoor by Carolyn Finney
- 20th Century PowWow Playland by Mihku Paul
- West Africans: Create Cultivate Cook Photography by Sarah Khan
- From Root to Seed: Black, Brown. And Indigenous Poets Write the Northeast by Samaa Abdurraqib
- Maroon Comix: Origins and Destinies by Quincy Saul
- Black, White, and Green: Farmers Markets, Race, and the Green Economy by Alison Hope Alkon
- We Are Each Other’s Harvest: Celebrating African American Farmers, Land, and Legacy by Natalie Baszile
- The Color of Food: Stories of Race, Resilience and Farming by Natasha Bowens
- Better Living Through Birding: Notes from a Black Man in the Natural World by Christian Cooper
- Soil: The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden by Camille T Dungy
- The First Migrants: How Black Homesteaders’ Quest for Land and Freedom Heralded America’s Great Migration by Richard Edwards
- As Long as Grass Grows: The Indigenous Fight for Environmental Justice, from Colonization to Standing Rock by Dina Gilio-Whitaker
- Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto by Tricia Hersey
- Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
- Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses by Robin Wall Kimmerer
- Working The Roots: Over 400 Years of Traditional African American Healing by Michele Elizabeth Lee
- African American Folk Healing by Stephanie Mitchem
- Notes from a Young Black Chef: A Memoir by Kwame Onwuachi
- Black Earth Wisdom: Soulful Conversations with Black Environmentalists by Leah Penniman
- Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land by Leah Penniman
- Black Food Geographies: Race, Self-Reliance, and Food Access in Washington, D.C. by Ashanté M Reese
- IwÃgara: American Indian Ethnobotanical Traditions and Science by Enrique Salmón
- Antiracism in Animal Advocacy: Igniting Cultural Transformation by Jasmin Singer
- Black Flora: Profiles of Inspiring Black Flower Farmers + Florists by Teresa J Speight with foreward by Abra Lee
- The Intersectional Environmentalist: How to Dismantle Systems of Oppression to Protect People + Planet by Leah Thomas
- African American Herbalism: A Practical Guide to Healing Plants and Folk Traditions by Lucretia Vandyke
- A Terrible Thing to Waste: Environmental Racism and Its Assault on the American Mind by Harriet A. Washington
- Culinary Colonialism, Caribbean Cookbooks and Recipes for National Independence by Keja L. Valens
- The Land in our Bones by Layla F. Feghali
- Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts: Stories and Recipes from Five Generations of Black Country Cooks by Crystal Wilkinson
Thank you to our partners at Print: A Bookstore for co-curating this booklist. Their advocacy and services is what makes this list possible to the public. You can purchase any of the books on this list by visiting Print: A Bookstore, located at 273 Congress St, Portland, ME 04101 or visiting their website.
Articles
- Cultural Anthropologist of African Diaspora Foodways – Dept of Africana Studies, Notre Dame
- Radical Moves from the Margins: ‘Enslaved Entertainments’ and Harvest Celebrations in Northeastern Brazil by Scott Alves Barton, Notre Dame
- The Mitchell Family and Abnaki History on and around Squirrel Island, Maine. A Discussion with Sadie Mitchell
Films
Short films that explore issues and discussions about resources such as food and water, their cultural importance, and sustainability.
- Sunlight Media Collective: Indigenous Centered Storytelling in Wababaki (Maine)
- Bottled Life: The Truth About Nestle’s Business With Water (2012): Directed by Urs Schnell
- Tapped (2009): Directed by Stephanie Soechtig and Jason Lindsey
- Why We Eat the Food We Eat: Mothers with Scott Alves Barton