Tohono O'odham Food System

Overview of The Topic 

The video is based on the analysis of a song where a traditional man sings and touches the themes of rain and agricultural cycles, the gift of god in the food to keep the community healthy and strong for ages ( TOCA webmaster, 2012) . This video provides a traditional set up that has very little western dilution; it is largely pure as seen in the community’s dependence on agricultural foods for sustenance such as O’odham squash, watermelon, and beans. The imagery displays traditional grinding mill, utensils, traditionally prepared bread, grains, vegetables, and other cultural aspects ( TOCA Webmaster, 2012: Portman, & Garrett, 2006: Toupal et al., 2015: Arizona Daily Star, 2015) . The sun, rain, and god are closely related since the people believe them to be supporting the life system of the community ( TOCA Webmaster, 2012: Arizona Experience, n.d.) . There is a series of traditional ceremonies around rain, planting, and harvest, which serve to strengthen the impression of these events on the minds of every generation ( Allen, 2012: Nalewicki, 2016) . 

Holistic analysis 

According to the video presentation, the community is nourished entirely on vegetative crops both cultivated domestically and growing in the wild filed. The society has to gather the available food based on the cycle, which is an indication of their observative nature. Finally, the community established on their religion due to their consideration of all they eat as the gift from god ( Rakotoarivelo et al., 2015: Plotkin, 2014). 

Participant Observation 

Participant observation is a research technique. The procedure involves the researcher participating with the group that he is researching on to draw observations (Nelson, 2017). In this study, I would get involved in cooking, harvesting the food and this will provide information on the process of gathering food, and the time required. It can be enlightening to know what average time one would take preparing flour for bread in this culture compared to one's culture. In case the two cultures of the researcher and the tribe have different technologies, one would look into the contribution of technology in this process ( Petrovska, 2012: Luizza, et al., 2013).) . Thus, participation in the harvesting to food preparation activity will generate information on the contributions of technology to simplifying processes, food preparation technique, the value attached to the particular food, eating habits of the group and preservation techniques among other lessons ( Weingarten, 2015) . 

Question and Its Significance 

What are some of the traditional foods that are becoming extinct? 

This question will enable me to deduce some of the modern practices and conditions that are causing a culture to lose some of its essential elements such as food. Factors such as climate and technology could be contributing factors to such a development. 

Ethical issue: cultural appropriation 

Cultural appropriation is contested practice and one that is central to ethical handling of traditional information. Some of the major concerns include imitation, observation, analysis, and reporting among others (Heintz, 2011). In this study, some of the issues include whether the group would permit the above-mentioned activities. 

Reference

Allen, (2012). Arizona’s Best-Known Saguaro Fruit Harvester. Indian Country Today. Retrieved 25 Jan. 2019 from https://newsmaven.io/indiancountrytoday/archive/arizona-s-best-known-saguaro-fruit-harvester-LsboxJlUS0qCNVtbs8f2sA/ 

Arizona Daily Star (2015). Take a foodie tour of the Tohono O'Odham Swapmeet. YouTube. Retrieved 25 Jan. 2019 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chrCeESE7Qc 

Arizona Experience (n.d.). Traditional Foods and Medicine: Desert Harvest of the Tohono O’odham Nation. Arizona Experience. Retrieved 25 Jan. 2019 http://arizonaexperience.org/land/traditional-foods-and-medicines-desert-harvest-tohono-oodham-nation 

Heintz, M. (2011). The ethics of cultural appropriation–Edited by James O. Young & Conrad G. Brunk. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 17(3), 661-662.

Luizza, M. W., et al. (2013). Local Knowledge of Plants and their uses among Women in the Bale Mountains, Ethiopia. Ethnobotany Research & Applications: 215-340. Retrieved 25 Jan. 2019 https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/10125/33985/1/Ethnobotany2013_19.pdf 

Nalewicki, J. (2016). What Makes Tucson Deserving of the Title of the United States’ First Capital of Gastronomy. SmithsonianMag. Retrieved 25 Jan. 2019 https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/introducing-americas-first-capital-gastronomy-180957793/#p4xsG1hfmFelJVoP.99 

Petrovska, B. B. (2012). Historical review of medicinal plants’ usage. Pharmacogn Rev. 6 (11): 1–5. Retrieved 25 Jan. 2019 from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3358962/ 

Plotkin, M. (2014). What the People of the Amazon Know that you Don’t. TED . Retrieved 25 Jan. 2019 https://www.ted.com/talks/mark_plotkin_what_the_people_of_the_amazon_know_that_you_don_t

Portman, T. A. A & Garrett, M. T. (2006). Native American Healing Traditions. International Journal of Disability Development and Education 53 (4):453-469. Retrieved 25 Jan. 2019 from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/240532277_Native_American_Healing_Traditions 

Rakotoarivelo, N. H., et al. (2015). Medicinal plants used to treat the most frequent diseases encountered in Ambalabe rural community, Eastern Madagascar. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine . 11: 68. Retrieved 25 Jan. 2019 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4570514/ 

TOCA Webmaster (2012). Tohono O'odham Food System . Retrieved 25 Jan. 2019 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLIXQHzlrFs&feature=youtu.be 

Toupal, R. S. et al. (2015). Saguaro Fruit: A Traditional Harvest . from Traditional Saguaro Harvest in the Tucson Mountain District, Saguaro National Park, Final Report . Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology, University of Arizona: 1-2. Retrieved 25 Jan. 2019 https://www.nps.gov/sagu/learn/historyculture/upload/Saguaro-Fruit-A-Traditional-Harvest-Brief.pdf 

Weingarten, D. (2015). Community Spotlight: Native Seeds/SEARCH. Retrieved 25 Jan. 2019 http://ediblebajaarizona.com/community-spotlight-native-seeds-search