Julie Davis: Indigenous Food Wisdom Repository

Hi all, I’m Julie Davis, a public historian and digital project manager currently working as a Project Coordinator for the Research for Indigenous Community Health (RICH) Center at the University of Minnesota. In this position, I’m directing the development of an open-access, multimedia, online repository for Indigenous “food wisdom” — knowledge and expertise that foster health and well-being in Indigenous communities through relationships to food. The repository will integrate multidisciplinary, multimodal forms of knowledge and expertise, including academic scholarship, applied research, clinical practice, community-based knowledge, and grassroots projects. Its purpose is to share information and cultivate connections among those engaged in Indigenous food research and health practice, the revitalization of Native food systems, and the practice of Indigenous food sovereignty.

The repository likely will be built as a content management system (CMS); we haven’t chosen a platform yet, though Drupal currently is the strongest contender. The tagged, searchable content will include text, photographs, artwork, and audio and video files. We’ll also develop maps and other visualizations to help users see patterns and discover connections within the content. The repository will be designed for maximum flexibility, accessibility, and relevance for those working in and with Indigenous communities.