Through an Indigenous Lens Food Security is Food Sovereignty: Case studies of Maori of Aotearoa New Zealand and Andeans people of Peru

Abstract

This dissertation reports on a cross-cultural study and analysis of two Indigenous1 knowledge systems: Andean/Quechua2 people of Peru and Māori3 of Aotearoa - New Zealand. This study takes a novel approach by using the Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) theory to examine the good-living philosophies of Allin Kawsay in Peru and Mauri Ora in Aotearoa in relation to food security. The aim is to understand food security through an indigenous lens, and potential contributions to food policy. This study contributes to food security by outlining an Indigenous ‘Food security policy framework’. Such framework resonates with conceptions of food sovereignty, while the dominant food security approaches do not. An innovative Indigenous research framework referred to as the ‘Khipu’ model was used as a source of knowledge production and sovereignty guiding the development of an Indigenous research-based framework. To complement the Khipu model, the Yupana, an Indigenous analysis tool, was developed to aid the data analysis. The Khipu and Yupana offer distinctive contributions to research methods and analysis. Case studies in both countries included semi-structured interviews, participatory action research, workshops, and talking circle sessions with elders, community leaders, and influential people engaged in traditional food production in Peru and Aotearoa. The substantive literature review on food security, food systems, and Indigenous worldviews, facilitated the crystallisation of results and analysis. Based on the findings, this study highlights how TEK embedded in Indigenous peoples’ worldviews/cosmovisions influences their approaches to food security, and reveals that underpinning Quechua and Māori food security systems rest a core set of cultural and environmental indicators of food security. For Quechua communities; Ayni: reciprocity; Ayllu: community/collectiveness, Yanantin: equilibrium, and Chaninchay: solidarity. For Māori communities; Tikanga: a customary system of values and practices, Kaitakitanga: guardianship, Koha: reciprocity, and Wairuatanga: spirituality. In doing so, this study demonstrates how Indigenous worldviews/cosmovisions constitute the basis of paradigms that guide Māori and Andean peoples’ ways of knowing, being, and doing enacting a ‘Food security/sovereignty policy framework’ that warrants consideration in policy making. This comprehensive research argues that new and innovative approaches to food security that value the contribution of Indigenous peoples’ TEKs, cultural and environmental indicators of well-being in agricultural systems are needed to democratically reform agriculture and food systems. Importantly, a major contribution of this study is the Quechua and Māori food security framework that affirms that, from an Indigenous perspective, food security is food sovereignty.