Below is a collection of readings, curated by the UBC Dietetics Team’s consultant, Taq Bhandal, for personal and professional development related to decolonization and dietetics. This list is integrated as part of the core coursework for dietetics students. Preceptors, students, community members, and anyone interested are invited to learn and unlearn by engaging with the content below. There is a certificate of completion that can be obtained by completing this open-access work.
What is the Decolonizing Dietetics Reading List?
An invitation to take action towards decolonization for members of the UBC Dietetics community and beyond. The Decolonizing Dietetics Reading List is available at the bottom of this page.
What is Decolonization?
Definition of Decolonization: Re-matriation of Indigenous land and life.
Tuck, E., & Yang, K. W. (2012). Decolonization is not a metaphor. Decolonization: Indigeneity, education & society, 1(1), 1-40.
Who are the Authors?
The main author of the Decolonizing Dietetics Reading List is Taq Kaur Bhandal, with endorsement and review by Gordon Ly, and Kara Vogt from the UBC Dietetics Team. We are compiling the Reading List through the University of British Columbia Dietetics Program and The Mahwari Research Institute. UBC is a settler-colonial university located on unceded Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh territories. On the Coast Salish lands, members of Indigenous nations have made homes on the waterways of the Stó:lō river delta since time immemorial. As newcomers and settlers, we start with deep gratitude and acknowledgment for the land on which we are engaged in our work and life. We recognize that the work burden of unlearning and unbraiding settler-colonialism should not fall on people racialized as Indigenous. Instead, decolonization is a collective effort, a practice of “emergent strategy”.
Emergent strategy: Brown, A. M. (2017). Emergent strategy. Edinburgh, SC: AK Press.
Who are we learning from and listening to?
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Xwi7xwa library team: https://guides.library.ubc.ca/distance-research-xwi7xwa/landacknowledgements
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Gesturing Towards Decolonial Futures Collective (partially funded by UBC):
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Tuck, E., & Yang, K. W. (2012). Decolonization is not a metaphor. Decolonization: Indigeneity, education & society, 1(1), 1-40.
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Byrd, J. A. (2011). The transit of empire: Indigenous critiques of colonialism: U of Minnesota Press.
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Battiste, M. (2013). Decolonizing education: Nourishing the learning spirit: UBC Press.
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Battiste, M. (Ed.) (2016). Living Treaties: Narrating mi’kmaw treaty relations. Sydney: Cape Breton University Press.
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Adefarakan, T. (2018). Integrating body, mind, and spirit through the Yoruba concept of Ori: Critical contributions to a decolonizing pedagogy. In S. Batacharya & Y.-L. R. Wong (Eds.), Embodied learning and decolonization. Calgary, CA: AU Press.
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Brown, A. M. (2017). Emergent strategy. Edinburgh, SC: AK Press.
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Truth and Reconciliation Commission Canada Calls to Action: https://nctr.ca/about/history-of-the-trc/trc-website/
How did we group the readings?
The Reading List below on Decolonizing Dietetics is grouped loosely according to the 6 major regions of human life across the Earth, labeled as the 6 elements: Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Metal, and Ether.
The readings are placed in each of the 6 regions based on: the topic of the paper and the ancestral positionalities of the authors. We recognize that they are written and presented in English, and based in particular “worldsenses” (Oyewumi in Adefarakan, 2018). Moreover, that ancestral lineage is not binary and our lives cross borders and oceans. Nonetheless, the 6 regions provide a helpful organizational tool to ensure the representation of multiple ways of knowing.
We welcome suggestions for readings in multiple languages. At present, up to 80% of Indigenous, settler, and/or ‘arrivant’ (Byrd, 2011) diasporas across the planet communicate with each other in English (including the authors of this text!). As such, we’ve started with an English version and are setting intentions to revitalize knowledges on Decolonizing Dietetics across many languages.
Do you have a suggestion for readings or regional names to include on the list above?
Email: Gordon Ly (gordon.ly [at] ubc [dot] ca) or Kara Vogt (kara.vogt [at] ubc [dot] ca).
We would love to receive a note from you!
How to engage with the readings:
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Thoroughly read 6 - 10 resources from the list.
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Read until you feel that you have received it at a cellular level. Use highlighters, sticky notes, and jottings in the margins. Take note of any aha moments for your work, learning, and everyday life.
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Complete the Reflection Activities detailed at the very bottom of this page.
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Download a copy of Decolonizing Dietetics Certificate of Commitment to add to your resume/CV, grant applications, and more.
- Thoroughly read 6 - 10 resources from the list (at least one from each region).
- Read them with great care and attention, note down any aha moments for teaching, research, learning, and everyday life.
- Read until you feel that you have received it at a cellular level. Use highlighters, sticky notes, and jottings in the margins. Take note of any aha moments for your work, learning, and everyday life.
- For Faculty/Instructors, meaningfully integrate them into your next syllabus or research paper for the upcoming term.
- Complete the Reflection Activities detailed at the very bottom of this page.
- Download a Decolonizing Dietetics Certificate of Commitment to add to your resume/CV, grant applications, and more.
READING LIST
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Meyers, G. P. (2015). Decolonizing a Food System: Freedom Farmers' Market as a Place for Resistance and Analysis. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, 5(4), 149-152.
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Wu, L. (2021). Food activist and dietitian Rosie Mensah looks at nutrition through a social justice lens. Retrieved from: https://www.foodnetwork.ca/food-network-insider/blog/activist-dietitian-rosie-mensah-tackles-nutrition-social-justice/
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Maldonado-Torres, N. (2017). Frantz Fanon and the decolonial turn in psychology: From modern/colonial methods to the decolonial attitude. South African Journal of Psychology, 47(4), 432-441.
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All Our Relations Chapter in Batacharya, S., & Wong, Y.-L. R. (Eds.). (2018). Sharing Breath: Embodied Learning and Decolonization. Edmonton, AB: Athabasca University Press.
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Elwood, J., Andreotti, V., Stein, S. (2019). Towards Braiding: https://decolonialfutures.net/towardsbraiding/
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Tuck, E., & Yang, K. W. (2012). Decolonization is not a metaphor. Decolonization: Indigeneity, education & society, 1(1), 1-40.
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Future Ecologies Podcast. (2018). Transcript: Decolonize this podcast with T’uy’t’tanat Cease Wyss: https://www.futureecologies.net/listen/fe1-1-decolonize-this-podcast
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Hassel, C. A., Tamang, A. L., Foushee, L., & Bull, R. B. H. (2019). Decolonizing Nutrition Science. Current Developments in Nutrition, 3(Supplement_2), 3-11. doi:10.1093/cdn/nzy095
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Norgaard, K. M., Reed, R., & Bacon, J. M. (2018). How Environmental Decline Restructures Indigenous Gender Practices: What Happens to Karuk Masculinity When There Are No Fish? Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, 4(1), 98–113. https://doi.org/10.1177/2332649217706518
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Pictou, S. M. (2017). Decolonizing Mi’kmaw memory of treaty: L’situk’s learning with allies in struggle for food and lifeways (Doctoral dissertation). https://dalspace.library.dal.ca/handle/10222/72811
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Mailer, G., & Hale, N. (2018). Decolonizing the Diet: Nutrition, Immunity, and the Warning from Early America. London, UK; New York, NY, USA: Anthem Press. doi:10.2307/j.ctt2204p9g
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Smith, L. T. (2021). Decolonizing methodologies: Research and Indigenous peoples. Zed Books Ltd.
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Balla, P. (2018). Across Australia artists are disrupting colonial mindset: https://www.frieze.com/article/across-australia-artists-are-disrupting-colonial-mindset
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Mayes, C. (2018). Food Justice and Indigenous Sovereignty: https://www.abc.net.au/religion/food-justice-and-indigenous-sovereignty/10419756
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Wilson, A., Wilson, R., Delbridge, R., Tonkin, E., Palermo, C., Coveney, J., ... & Mackean, T. (2020). Resetting the narrative in Australian aboriginal and Torres Strait islander nutrition research. Current Developments in Nutrition, 4(5), nzaa080.
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Anantharajah, K. (2021). “But our lights were still on”: Decolonizing energy futures emerging from climate finance regulation in Fiji. Energy Research & Social Science, 72, 101847.
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Ramirez, T. (2016). Meet the woman who is decolonizing body positivity for women of color. Retrieved from: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/meet-the-woman-whos-decolonizing-body-positivity-for-women-of-color_n_57101b91e4b06f35cb6f1c9f
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Calva, L & C.R. Esquibel. (2015). Decolonize your diet: Plant-based Mexican-american recipes for health and healing. https://arsenalpulp.com/Books/D/Decolonize-Your-Diet
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LISTEN TO: Brown, A. M., Brown, A., & Mascarenhas-Swan, M. (2019). What time is it, with Movement Generation. How to survive the end of the world podcast.
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Nalgona Positivity Pride: https://www.nalgonapositivitypride.com/post/the-interconnectedness-of-sexuality-trauma-and-eating-disorders-in-the-latinx-community
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Peña, D., Calvo, L., McFarland, P., & Valle, G. R. (Eds.). (2017). Mexican-origin foods, foodways, and social movements: Decolonial perspectives. University of Arkansas Press.
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Dhami, G. (2019). Nourishing the mind, body & profession: A reflection on food, health care, and reconciliation. Retrieved from: https://www.ohea.on.ca/blog/nourishing-the-mind-body-profession-a-reflection-on-food-health-care-and-reconciliation
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Chiu, S. W., Ko, L. S., & Lee, R. P. (2005). Decolonization and the movement for institutionalization of Chinese medicine in Hong Kong: a political process perspective. Social Science & Medicine, 61(5), 1045-1058.
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Yuk-Lin Renita Wong chapter in: Batacharya, S., & Wong, Y.-L. R. (Eds.). (2018). Sharing Breath: Embodied Learning and Decolonization. Edmonton, AB: Athabasca University Press.
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Chaudhary, K., & Adamson, E. (2016). The Prime: Prepare and repair your body for spontaneous weight loss. New York, US: Harmony Books.
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Chang, Rhonda. Chinese Medicine Masquerading as Yi: https://rhondachang.com/books-2
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Front Matter and Introduction to: Gladstar, R. (1993). Herbal healing for women. New York, US: Simon and Schuster
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Simek, N. (2021). Introduction: decolonizing French food. Modern & Contemporary France, 1-9: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09639489.2021.1945563
REFLECTION ACTIVITIES
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Answer the following question: What are 3 new ideas, concepts, and/or pieces of information about decolonizing dietetics that you learned?
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What 3 small action steps can you take towards decolonizing your dietetics practice?
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Complete all 3 small action steps you listed above.