Like many socially and economically disadvantaged farming communities around the world, the Anchetty region of Tamil Nadu, India, has been experiencing serious food security challenges mainly due to the loss of traditional foods such as small millets and associated crops (SMAC) and associated indigenous agricultural knowledge (IAK). Drawing on communitybased participatory research conducted in Anchetty's Pandurangdoddy village, this paper explores the local understanding of IAK related to SMAC through young learners (school-going students) and their mentors (local farmers and community members), using a case study of school-based competition. Follow-up interviews with participating students, mentors and teachers were organised to explore the potential of a school competition as a pedagogical strategy to promote learning of IAK in formal school settings in order to safeguard the existing and future food security of local communities. There was a general consensus among the teachers, participating students, mentors (community members) and NGOs anout the potential for a school competition to create an alternative pedagogical space where IAK and curriculum-based knowledge could be intertwined and exchanged. Pedagogical spaces that weave IAK into schools, however, bring together the different and contested perspectives of the participants to understandings of the potential values of IAK.

Food insecurity in Indigenous communities in Canada continue to gain increasing attention among scholars, community practitioners, and policy makers. Meanwhile, the role and importance of Indigenous foods, associated knowledges, and perspectives of Indigenous peoples (Council of Canadian Academies, 2014) that highlight community voices in food security still remain under-represented and under-studied in this discourse. University of Winnipeg (UW) researchers and Fisher River Cree Nation (FRCN) representatives began an action research partnership to explore Indigenous knowledges associated with food cultivation, production, and consumption practices within the community since 2012. The participatory, place-based, and collaborative case study involved 17 oral history interviews with knowledge keepers of FRCN. The goal was to understand their perspectives of and challenges to community food security, and to explore the potential role of Indigenous food knowledges in meeting community food security needs. In particular, the role of land-based Indigenous foods in meeting community food security through restoration of health, cultural values, identity, and self-determination were emphasized by the knowledge keepers—a vision that supports Indigenous food sovereignty. The restorative potential of Indigenous food sovereignty in empowering individuals and communities is well-acknowledged. It can nurture sacred relationships and actions to renew and strengthen relationships to the community’s own Indigenous land-based foods, previously weakened by colonialism, globalization, and neoliberal policies.

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