ABENA OFFEH-GYIMAH on Sacred Seed and Soil /337
Photo of a hand resting on millet seed from Beela’s Help Us Build A Seed Bank fundraiser page.
Engaging crucially with food as a cultural, spiritual, and generational experience, this week’s guest Abena Offeh-Gyimah highlights the connections between ancestral foods, and the soil, seeds, and people who play a part in sustaining ancestral foodways. Focusing on the ancestral foods of Africa, and specifically her home-country of Ghana, Abena shares stories of connection, trust, and community fostered by food.
Capitalism and colonialism have had drastic effects on the landscape of food within Africa, from the introduction of particular cash crops, to the devaluation of traditional African foods, to the marketing narrative that agrochemical solutions are “best.” Yet, as Abena points out, farmers are the archivists of the land, and farmers and communities have continued to preserve local foodways—saving seeds for future generations. If we recognized the true value of local foods, what capitalistic practices might we be able to evade?
Abena calls listeners to pay attention to the technical and spiritual aspects of seeds that connect them to past, present, and future landscapes. Through this deep connection, Abena points out the absurdity that certain companies claim to own seeds as if they could own life itself. Seeds carry with them the miracle of life and abundance, how might we shape our food and agricultural systems to honor this sacred reality?
“Farmers are literally archivists of the land.”
Photo of Abena Offeh-Gyimah by Lady Mensah Studios
Abena Offeh-Gyimah is the co-founder of Beela Center for Indigenous Foods in Ghana, a project that seeks to preserve indigenous African seeds, foods, and practices. Prior to this role, Abena worked as the Project Lead for the Jane Finch Community Research Partnership, with extensive experience in community engagement, ethical research, program development, partnerships & collaboration, and with previous organizations like North York Community House, Black Creek Community Farm, Jane Finch Center, and with Building Roots Toronto. Abena brings years of experience in conducting ethical community engaged research practice, work in local food systems, seed sovereignty, and collaboration in food sovereignty movements. Abena is a writer, a poet, a researcher, a naturalist, and a conservationist.
♫ The music in this episode is ‘The Cosmos and the Canyon’ by Buffalo Rose, ‘When Silence Turns To Sound’ by Eliza Edens, and ‘The Lake and Land’ by Marian McLaughlin.
Episode References
Africa’s Indigenous Foods Are Not Famine Foods — LivingTheAncestralWay
The Devaluing Of Native African Foods — LivingTheAncestralWay
Guest Recommendations
Peschard, K., & Randeria, S. (2020). “Keeping seeds in our hands’: the rise of seed activism.” The Journal of Peasant Studies, 47(4), 613-647
Redvers, Nicole et al. “Molecular Decolonization: An Indigenous Microcosm Perspective of Planetary Health.” International journal of environmental research and public health vol. 17,12 4586. 25 Jun. 2020
Redvers, Nicole et al. “The determinants of planetary health: an Indigenous consensus perspective.” The Lancet. Planetary health Vol. 6,2 (2022
Simard, S. (2021). Finding the Mother Tree: Uncovering the Wisdom and Intelligence of the Forest. Penguin UK
Maathai, W. (2010). Replenishing the Earth: Spiritual Values for Healing Ourselves and the World
Lost Crops of Africa: Grains, Fruits, and Vegetables
EVENT
Taste of Ghana
SUBSCRIBE & Listen
Subscribe to For The Wild RSS →
Listen on Apple, Spotify, or another platform →
For The Wild is a gathering place for ideas and solutions ensuring that the growing body of work that we steward remains accessible to the public. If you want to see us continue, or perhaps are especially moved by the episode you are listening to today, please become a monthly sustaining member through our Patreon or consider making a one-time donation directly to us through our website. To stay up-to-date on our work, sign up for our newsletter.
For The Wild Podcast is an anthology of the Anthropocene; focused on land-based protection, co-liberation and intersectional storytelling rooted in a paradigm shift away from human supremacy, endless growth and consumerism.