Ama’s research on Black Indigenous food justice
After many years working at Black Creek Community Farm, and more than a decade of dedicated community organizing work in Jane Finch, Ama is taking a well deserved break to pursue her Master's of Environmental Studies program at York University. Using this time as both a recharge and an opportunity to pursue her research interests in food justice, Ama has mapped out a plan of study that will share the stories of Black Indigenous women in our food system.
Ama, also known to many of you as Leticia, is also an organizer with Jane Finch Action Against Poverty, Board Chair with SeedChange, former member of the Toronto Food Policy Council, and an incredible mom to two brilliant children. Ama is also the driving force behind a team of people who have been leading the Emergency Food Response work at BCCF, getting 14,000+ Emergency Good Food Boxes out to Black families living in Jane Finch. This is over 230,000+ lbs of produce and $50,000 in grocery gift cards distributed!
This Go Fund Me will support the costs associated with her research, and Ama is also pursuing scholarship and bursary applications to help fund this work.
More on Ama’s plan of study: My work will focus on Black Indigenous women and their work within our global food system, who are largely erased. I was inspired by my grandmother to highlight the role of women, specifically Black Indigenous elders in small-scale agriculture within the broader context of patriarchy, climate change, colonization, and capitalism.
Key questions include: What role do women play in community building, how do they use agriculture to support not just their families but their community? What role does patriarchy play? How do they struggle against agribusiness, and environmentally degrading, corporately controlled agriculture?
I am particularly interested in telling the stories of Indigenous elders, their relationship to the land, their community and how patriarchy, colonization, and climate impacted their relations to the land and their food systems.
Ama's leave starts February 1, 2021 and funds raised will support costs associated with the research (travel, participant honorariums, laptop computer & software, etc).
Ama is a visionary leader that has put her community first for years. It’s time for us - her community - to show Ama a bit of the support she has given so freely to us. We have learned from her, benefited from her labour, her teaching and organizing, let’s show Ama some love and appreciation! Please pitch in what you can, share the campaign, and forward any scholarship opportunities that you know of.
