Record Details
Book cover

A drum in one hand, a sockeye in the other : stories of indigenous food sovereignty from the Northwest Coast

Coté, Charlotte, (author.).

In the dense rainforest of the west coast of Vancouver Island, the Somass River (c̓uumaas) brings sockeye salmon (miaat) into the Nuu-chah-nulth community of Tseshaht. C̓uumaas and miaat are central to the sacred food practices that have been a crucial part of the Indigenous community's efforts to enact food sovereignty, decolonize their diet, and preserve their ancestral knowledge. In A Drum in One Hand, a Salmon in the Other, Charlotte Coté shares contemporary Nuu-chah-nulth practices of traditional food revitalization in the context of broader efforts to re-Indigenize their diets. Coté shares evocative stories of her Tseshaht community's and her own work to revitalize relationships to haum (traditional food) as a way to nurture health and wellness. As Indigenous peoples continue to face food insecurity due to ongoing inequality, environmental degradation and the Westernization of traditional diets, Coté foregrounds healing and cultural sustenance via everyday enactments of food sovereignty: berry picking, salmon fishing, and building a community garden on reclaimed residential school grounds. This book is for everyone with concerns about their health and shows how food plays a major role in physical, emotional, and spiritual wellness

Book  - 2022
  • ISBN: 9780295749525
  • Physical Description xxi, 184 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm.
  • Publisher Seattle : University of Washington Press, [2022]

Content descriptions

General Note:
NFPL Indigenous Collection.
Bibliography, etc. Note:
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Formatted Contents Note:
Preface: haʔum Acknowledgments: &̓#x019b;eekoo -- Phonetic Key -- Introduction ḥačatakma c̓awaak Chapter One tiičʕaqƛ Chapter two c̓uumaʕas Chapter Three tuuk̓ʷasiił Chapter four quuʔičiƛ Epilogue-- Indigenous health and wellness and living during a time of uncertainty -- Glossary by Adam Werle -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index.