Recipes for Resilience: Engaging Caribbean Youth in Climate Action and Food Heritage through Stories and Song

Abstract

This paper presents findings from the Recipes for Resilience project, an international, interdisciplinary collaboration between Caribbean and UK scholars of history, geography, anthropology, cultural studies, development studies, ethnobotany, and climate-risk studies, and the research partners, the Caribbean Youth Environment Network. The purpose of the project was to investigate how agrifood heritage may be mobilized in creative ways to engage Caribbean youth in climate action and justice. The project utilized arts and humanities methods, such as storytelling, songwriting, online games, and brief research-led talks, culminating in the co-created song: “Food and Resistance for Climate Resilience”. The results of the project provide evidence that climate action requires arts and humanities methods to appeal to youth, as opposed to purely fact-based or scientific forms of climate communication. We conclude that co-creative methods such as music and storytelling can inspire youth to engage in climate action, in this case through a (re)valuation culinary and agricultural heritage.