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"I came up with the idea of \u2018Eating the Landscape\u2019 because I was thinking about our Indigenous ancestral foodways. It\u2019s not just about food. It\u2019s not just about nutrition. \u2018Eating the Landscape\u2019 is about this large, interconnected matrix of our relationship to place."

In this episode, Enrique Salm\xf3n, Ph.D. guides us to see Indigenous foodways as parts of an interconnected matrix of our relationship to place. Introducing the concept of \u201ckincentric ecology,\u201d Enrique problematizes one-size-fits-all approaches to caring for the land. He also elaborates on why many Native peoples are opposed to memory banking as a way to preserve Indigenous knowledge.

Having completed his dissertation on how the bioregion of his Rar\xe1muri people of the Sierra Madres of Chihuahua, Mexico influences their language and thought, Enrique invites us to understand the layered meanings behind the phrase \u201cEating the Landscape\u201d\u2014looking at food not just as sources of nourishment but as avenues of growing one\u2019s kinship. Ultimately, as opposed to the doom and gloom perspectives prevalent in mainstream environmentalism in regards to the role of humankind, Enrique leaves us with a calling of recognizing humans as a keystone species\u2014where creation is not only a matter of what came before but an act of relational responsibility.

Enrique Salm\xf3n is the author of Iw\xedgara: The Kinship of Plants and People and Eating The Landscape, a book focused on small-scale Native farmers of the Greater Southwest and their role in maintaining biocultural diversity. With a PhD. in anthropology from Arizona State University, he has been a Scholar in Residence at the Heard Museum and on the Board of Directors of the Society of Ethnobiology. Enrique has published several articles and chapters on Indigenous ethnobotany, agriculture, nutrition, and traditional ecological knowledge, and he teaches American Indian Studies in the Department of Ethnic Studies at Cal State University East Bay. also serving as their Tribal Liaison.

The musical offering featured in this episode is Flute Dance by Enrique Salm\xf3n. The episode-inspired artwork is by Cherie Kwok.

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