A Drum in One Hand, a Sockeye in the Other: Stories of Indigenous Food Sovereignty from the Northwest Coast (Indigenous Confluences)

$27.91
by Charlotte Coté

Shop Now
Winner of the 2023 Donald L. Fixico Award for most innovative book on American Indian and Canadian First Nations History from the Western History Association Honorable Mention for the 15th Annual Labriola Center American Indian National Book Award Foregrounds the importance of Indigenous food in cultural revitalization and healing In the dense rainforest of the west coast of Vancouver Island, the Somass River (uumaas) brings sockeye salmon (miaat) into the Nuu-chah-nulth community of Tseshaht. uumaas 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 Sockeye in the Other, Charlotte Coté shares contemporary Nuu-chah-nulth practices of traditional food revitalization in the context of broader efforts to re-Indigenize contemporary diets on the Northwest Coast. Coté offers evocative stories of her Tseshaht community’s and her own work to revitalize relationships to haʔum (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 concerned about the major role food plays in physical, emotional, and spiritual wellness. "I am so grateful for Charlotte Cote’s A Drum in One Hand, a Sockeye in the Other , which creates a path into the living foodways and thoughtways of her people. Her warm, storytelling voice and sharing of collective knowledge embody the generous spirit of a feast, and this book itself, is a feast."―Robin Wall Kimmerer (Potawatomi), SUNY Environmental Science and Forestry "A powerful philosophy of food sovereignty. Coté successfully navigates myriad scholarly and nonscholarly voices, telling a compelling comprehensive story that helps us understand the practices and policies needed to make change in our food systems."―Kyle Whyte, Michigan State University "Adeptly uses a deep storytelling method, including both lived experience and critical analysis of history and theory, to examine experiences and transformations of Indigenous foodways."―Hannah Wittman, University of British Columbia "The most recent book by Charlotte Coté (Tseshaht/Nuu-chah-nulth) continues her trend of exceptional scholarship that draws from her academic and personal expertise on the politics of food sovereignty for Indigenous Peoples in the Pacific Northwest."―Courtney Lewis, Native American and Indigenous Studies Journal "This book is based in, and within , Indigenous knowledges; specifically, Tseshaht philosophy and ontology. To be privy to such information feels like an incredible gift: Coté's stories are generous and insightful."―Tabitha Robin, University of British Columbia, Pacific Northwest Quarterly (PNQ) "This is an innovative work that tells living histories not just through people, but also through rivers, gardens, berry patches, and more. This dynamic and engaging book pursues an Indigenous-centered methodology that speaks to health and healing, ecology and environment, community and sovereignty, past, present, and future, and beyond."―Western History Association Donald L. Fixico award committee Foregrounds the importance of Indigenous food in cultural revitalization and healing ― University of Washington Press Charlotte Coté is associate professor in American Indian studies at the University of Washington and author of Spirits of Our Whaling Ancestors: Revitalizing Makah and Nuu-chah-nulth Traditions .

Customer Reviews

No ratings. Be the first to rate

 customer ratings


How are ratings calculated?
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzes reviews to verify trustworthiness.

Review This Product

Share your thoughts with other customers