Screening, Studium event to spotlight food sovereignty

Studium Generale, ʔaʔk̓ʷustəƞáwt̓xʷ House of Learning, Peninsula College Longhouse and Magic of Cinema host a two-part event featuring a free film screening and panel discussion focused on indigenous food sovereignty, the ability of tribal nations and communities to steward their own food systems and resources.

Screenings of the 2020 film “Gather” — which follows the stories of Natives on the front lines of a growing movement to reconnect with spiritual and cultural identities that were devastated by genocide — are set for 1 p.m. Friday, Nov. 6; 11 a.m. Monday, Nov. 9; 9 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 10, and 10:30 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 12.

Go to us02web.zoom.us/j/86433933377 to join the Zoom presentation and screening.

In “Gather,” an indigenous chef embarks on a ambitious project to reclaim ancient food ways on the Apache reservation; in South Dakota, a gifted Lakota high school student raised on a buffalo ranch is proving her tribe’s native wisdom through her passion for science, and a group of young men of the Yurok tribe in Northern California struggle to keep their culture alive and rehabilitate the habitat of their sacred salmon.

The stories, program organizers say, combine to show how the reclaiming and recovery of ancient food ways is a way forward for Native Americans to bring back health and vitality to their people.

At 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 12, the community is invited to join in a discussion of the film. Join with the Zoom link zoom.us/j/95156136928 (meeting ID 951 5613 6928).

Discussion participants include Kendra Aguilar, who has learned from and worked with indigenous food revivalists, local tribes and native organizations about community food projects and teaches for Evergreen’s Native Pathways Program; Samantha Della-DeVoney, who grew up in Neah Bay on the Makah Reservation and was taught by her mother and other tribal members to gather and prepare traditional foods; Charlotte Penn, a member of the Quileute Tribal school board who works for the Quileute Tribe Victims of Crime Program and will share information about fishing rights, and Ryan Qualls, an enrolled member of the Tlingit Tribe and an activist who grew up with the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe.