Cintia Regina Cruz Pereira – Whitten Research Fund 2024-25
Cintia Regina Cruz Pereira
University of Helsinki
Winner of the Norm and Sibby Whitten Research Fund 2024-2025
Bridging Indigenous Knowledge and Global Food Policies: Indigenous Food Systems in Sustainability and Resilience
Grounded in Indigenous epistemologies and decolonising methodologies, the study will focus on how Indigenous food systems contribute to the resilience and sustainability of global food practices and policies. Guided by FAO’s Indigenous Food Systems Wheel, which characterises these systems as holistic, circular, and intrinsically linked to community and environmental well-being, the research will employ qualitative methods, including interviews with Indigenous scholars, community leaders, governance representatives, and international organization oicials, alongside a comprehensive policy review to explore how global food policies are implemented in Brazil and how they integrate or fail to integrate, local perspectives on what “food” means and its importance for social lives. This approach aims to identify gaps where Indigenous knowledge remains underrepresented and propose pathways to address these deficiencies in global discussions on food systems. By fostering a dialogue between Indigenous knowledge and Western food sustainability models, it aims to bridge dierent paradigms, contributing to an inclusive, equitable, and culturally sensitive understanding of food systems. Finally, it seeks to provide valuable insights into international frameworks on sustainability, food security, and Indigenous rights, with practical benefits to policymakers and Indigenous communities.
