Summary

In 2021, HFE affiliates at ASU launched a new food-focused project at the North American Observatory, building on their 2013 initiative, Dinner 2040, which envisioned a sustainable future food system for Arizona. The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 prompted them to reassess food systems, climate, and food insecurity through the lens of syndemic. (meaning ‘synchronous pandemics’), a concept highlighting interconnected crises such as disease, racism, climate injustices, and biodiversity loss. The project took an Indigenous-focused approach, integrating arts and humanities to explore these links. In its first year, the team engaged in reading groups, lectures, and workshops with Indigenous chefs and knowledge keepers from the Southwest and New Zealand. Funded by ASU’s Humanities for the Environment, GFL’s Indigenous Knowledges Focal Area, the Institute for Humanities Research, and the Global Futures Laboratory, these activities examined the intersections of health, food, and environmental justice.

Contributors:

Joni Adamson

Rimjhim Aggarwal

Alycia de Mesa

Hallie Eakin

Sara Aly El Sayed

Mauricio Mejía

Arina Melkozernova

Christy Spackman

Rebecca Tsosie

Juliann Vitullo