Bison Herds and Indian Corn: Interspecies Matriarchs and Revitalised Foodways in the Fort Peck Reservation

Abstract

For Turtle Island's Buffalo Nations – those sharing a common food system with bison at the centre – herds are a food source, as well as relatives and pillars of cultural continuity. Bison give life while exemplifying it to their tribal relatives who learned from the herds’ matriarchal organisation. Other matriarchs, including regional seeds, offer their own cultural teachings to help balance buffalo foodways. Colonial annihilation of these interspecies relatives was an attack on Indigenous People's relationships and lifeways. Re-centring these knowledge systems and ways of being is a priority in asserting tribal sovereignty and revitalising foodways. To do so, two initiatives in the Fort Peck Reservation are using contemporary tools, interlaced with cultural knowledge to increase access to Indigenous foods. First at the Fort Peck Bison Ranch where community members organise a hunt and oversee animal transfers to other communities re-establishing their own cultural herds. Further, Woicago Tipi, a Fort Peck gardening project, is working to rematriate Indigenous seed varieties so that they may continue to adapt to the regional climate and rebalance Buffalo Nation food systems.