We are pleased to announce that Dr. Tammara Soma has received a SSHRC Insight Grant for a new project in collaboration with Aga Khan University titled Countering Collective Forgetting: The Role of Land-based Learning in Canada and Tanzania for Intergenerational Food Literacy and Resiliency.
Land-based learning is a way of passing on knowledge and skills around food and culture that is used by many communities by immersing learners in the environment where they can acquire and practice using the knowledge and skills. The overall goal of this study is to explore both formal and informal, paid and unpaid, as well as youth and adult-based land-based learning efforts to improve food systems knowledge.
Over the next five years, we will work with two communities in Canada and two communities in Tanzania to explore the following research questions:
- How do food-related land-based learning initiatives in Canada and Tanzania contribute to intergenerational food literacy and resiliency be it social or ecological?
- a) What types of food-related activities are covered and how are they covered?
- b) What does land-based learning mean/what motivates people who teach and those who take part in the learning? How do meanings/motivations differ in Canada and Tanzania?
- c) What are the materials and tools used for land-based learning and how do they differ?
- d) What skills, competencies and knowledges are taught via land-based learning and how do they contribute to food literacy and resiliency? What knowledges/ skills are needed to teach?
- How do land-based learning integrate cultural and climate education?
- a) What are examples of cultural and climate-related education and activities covered and why?
- b) How are climate-related education and activities covered and why?
- c) Who are represented in cultural education in land-based learning and how is culture valued?
- d) How is climate change portrayed and what types of solutions are integrated?
- e) What forms of culturally appropriate compensation (monetary or otherwise) sustain land-based learning educators and efforts and how are they structured?
- What barriers and opportunities exist to scale up, scale out, and scale deep land-based learning initiatives?
- a) How do policies (agriculture, food, trade, land use etc) impact land-based learning opportunities?
- b) How can land-based learning opportunities be sustained and expanded?
- c) What types of skills and knowledges can academic institutions integrate that would contribute to land-based learning?
