American Indian Health and Diet Project - Assignment Example

American Indian Health and Diet Project Proposed Fieldwork: The value of wild rice (Manoomin) to the Anishinabe People Introduction The focus of this assignment is on a folklore in which a fieldwork was to be carried out. Specifically, it will focus on foodways from a specific community. Foodways are social, economic, and cultural practices that accompany distribution, production, and consumption of food. They include how people gather, serve, and prepare food, their eating habits, and the food sources. Different communities have their own unique traditional foodways. One such community is that of the Anishinabe People. Anishinabe people have a unique connection to their Manoomin rice (Naramore, 2011). This fieldwork will be carried out from the 27th of March, along the lakes of Northern Minnesota and Wisconsin, where the members of the community are expected to still live. Participants are the Anishinabe people; Ojibwe and Chippewa. Interview Interviewer: Hi, I am …………… a student from ………….. Thank you for the giving me the chance to interview you. I am here to ask you about Manoomin, you remember me asking if you could assist? Interviewee: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please tell me, which community do you belong to; Ojibwe or Chippewa? Interviewee: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Interviewer: Thank you, do you know Manoomin? Interviewee:----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Interviewer: Please tell me all about it and how your community values it. What cultural values do your people give to it? Are there any cultural practices associated with it? Interviewee: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Interviewer: There was a community hero who is said to have been the one who found out about this wild rice. His name was Nanaboozhoo, have ever heard of him? Interviewee: Interviewer: If yes, please tell me about him. Any stories you have heard about this community hero. Interviewee: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Interviewer: Any other thing you would like to tell me about this food? When do you people take it? Interviewee: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Interviewer: Are there any special recipes in which Manoomin is used? Please tell me about them. Interviewee: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Interviewer: Thank you very much. I hope to share with you my findings. Thank you. This is a guiding structure of the interview, and so any questions that the interviewer may ask in relation to the interviewee’s response will be included. The field research plan is as follows 1. Goals a) To find out if Manoomin is still a valued food among Anishinabe people To find out if the people still know of Nanaboozhoo as the cultural hero 2. Preliminary Research Anishinabe people have a history of Manoomin as a staple food introduced to them by their gods. It is believed that a thousand years back, when the Anishinabe people lived along the Turtle Island Atlantic coastline, eight prophets visited them and gave them seven prophecies. One of the prophecies was for the people to travel towards the west until they could find a place where food grew on water. They eventually reached the great lakes region where they found Wild rice. These people were hunters, and as it is told, this wild rice was discovered by Nanaboozhoo, who remains the community’s cultural hero. Nanaboozhoo came to know of the wild rice by fortune. One time when he came home, he found a duck sitting on the edge of his kettle. After the duck left, Nanaboozhoo found wild rice floating in the water. He ate from his kettle, and his soup was the best he had ever tasted. This made him follow the direction of the duck, which led him to a lake full of wild rice. From then on, Nanaboozhoo would take rice if he did not kill any a deer. This explains the relationship and the value of the Manoomin rice to the Anishinabe people (Native Wild Rice Coalition, 2014). 3. Personnel The field research will require a total of three research assistants, two of whom will help with interviews in the area. Each research assistant will be assigned one portion of the selected area of research which will be divided into three. 4. Project Scope This is a research focused on a specific community; the Anishinabe people. These people previously lived along the great lakes region, and so it will be important to identify people of this origin. Preliminary field research will be conducted to indentify the relevant community members with the right information. This will take one week or two going round Northern Minnesota and Wisconsin to identify people with the right kind of information, and booking appointments for an interview. Research will focus on finding out if Manoomin is still valued, and if there are any improvements to the Anishinabe cuisine that uses this wild rice. This fieldwork will also take photos of examples of foods made from this rice, collect data about how such foods are prepared; find out the cultural values attached to such foods, and find out any ceremonies associated with various foods. If Manoomin is no longer given value in the community, the research will seek to find out the reasons why it has lost value. 5. Boundaries of the project This project will be carried out along the lakes of Northern Minnesota and Wisconsin, where the members of the community are expected to still live. 6. Documentation Methods Since data collection will be through interviews, documentation will be in the form of sound recording. In cases where some community members offer to show how the foods are prepared, or performances associated with specific foods, videotaping of the processes will be most appropriate. Photos of Manoomin will be taken to show proof of its existence in the community, and how it is currently being incorporated in the community’s eating habits. Since it is expected that the foods will be different, and occasions will be different, photography will involve colour slide. 7. Processing and Preserving materials Interviews will be conducted based on already prepared questionnaire. This will provide a format for compiling information from the respondents. Data compilation, transcribing and storage will all be done by me. All compiled data will be stored in different forms, in a computer. Videos and audios will be stored in original formats, while information from interviews will be stored in form of a word document 8. Equipment and Supplies i. Equipment Cameras (3) Video recorders (3) Transcribing machine Computer Tape recorder ii. Supplies Archiving supplies Video tapes Audio tapes Memory cards 9. Timetable The first two weeks will involve identification of the right and willing individuals to participate in the study. The actual research will take three weeks. The whole region will be divided into three and just a section selected for conducting the field research. Each place will be assigned one week to collect information. After data collection, there will be data compilation, transcribing, and report writing. Each will take four days. It is expected that this will take six weeks five days. 10. Funding In order to get funds, I will present this proposal to the school to be given funds I will also get additional funds from parents, friends and relatives. References Naramore, R. (2011). Anishinabe. American Indian Health and Diet Project. Retrieved from; http://www.aihd.ku.edu/foods/Anishinabe.html Native Wild Rice Coalition. (2014). Cultural Importance of Wild Rice. Retrieved from; http://www.nativewildricecoalition.com/cultural-importance.html Read More