Healing Through Food and Culture

Eva Dawn Burke’s project titled “Healing Through Food and Culture” explores the strength, resilience, survival and adaptation of rural communities in Alaska in regards to food sovereignty and security. Specifically, how have these communities used these factors to revitalize their food systems, relying on both traditional foods and agricultural adaptations? How has food, community and culture impacted their health?

The limited research focused on increasing healthy and traditional foods in Alaska Native communities using cultural resilience demonstrates significant potential to improve food security and health. Her research furthers efforts to shape a framework for incorporating sustainable agriculture into rural Alaska food systems and involves both advocacy and adaptation to protect traditional foods as well as embrace new concepts like Arctic agriculture. She developed case studies for several rural communities in Alaska that are successfully revitalizing their local food systems with traditional foods and agricultural adaptations. Using traditional talking circles, interviews, and analysis of public meetings, this research explores strength, resilience, survival and adaptation to encourage one another, build capacity and develop networks.