Sogorea Te' Land Trust and Indigenous Food Sovereignty in the San Francisco Bay Area

K Nicole Wires,Johnella Larose

doi:10.5304/jafscd.2019.09b.003

K Nicole Wires, Johnella Larose

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2019.09b.003

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Abstract

Indigenous food sovereignty is about much more than consumption choices, food access, and traditional knowledge; it is fundamentally about access to land for sacred ceremony and traditional practice. This article will highlight an innovative case study in indigenous land “rematriation” (returning the land to its original stewards and inhabitants) on the occupied lands of the Chochenyo and Karkin Ohlone peoples, also known as Oakland or the East San Francisco Bay Area of California, through a partnership with Sogorea Te Land Trust, an urban indigenous women-led land trust, and Planting Justice, a food-justice nonprofit based in Oakland. See the press release for this article.

Highlights

History of the Ohlone People The Ohlone people are the native people of the San Francisco Bay Area
In addition to Chochenyo and Karkin Ohlone people, the Bay Area is home to a diverse global Indigenous community as a result of the Indigenous diaspora that resulted from the U.S government’s Indian termination policies, as well as more contemporary diasporas resulting from global capitalism and empire through Latin America, the Pacific Islands, and across the globe ( Sogorea Te’ Land Trust, n.d.-b)
Part of the Indian termination policy of that era, which terminated the tribal status of numerous groups, the act played a significant role in increasing the population of urban Indians in succeeding decades. Stemming from this diverse population of indigenous people in the East Bay Area who have been systematically dispossessed from their land, an innovative solution to urban indigenous land access was envisioned: Sogorea Te’ Land Trust

Summary

Introduction

The benefits that the Ohlone are excluded from, in addition to reservations and land bases, include Indian Health Care services, federal scholarships, housing grants, and protections for cultural, burial, and sacred sites ( Sogorea Te’ Land Trust, n.d.-a). In addition to Chochenyo and Karkin Ohlone people, the Bay Area is home to a diverse global Indigenous community as a result of the Indigenous diaspora that resulted from the U.S government’s Indian termination policies, as well as more contemporary diasporas resulting from global capitalism and empire through Latin America, the Pacific Islands, and across the globe ( Sogorea Te’ Land Trust, n.d.-b).

Results

Conclusion