Senior Honors Project 2026

You are what You eat:

The Welfare of Agroscience

Jesse Chinana

Jemez Pueblo

Pueblo of Jemez. www.jemezpueblo.org.

Pueblo of Jemez.

https://www.jemezpueblo.org/

Chinana, Jesse Senior Video.mp4

Identity

"Sharing One Skin"

In the article "Sharing One Skin," the concept of how we are part of the earth is explored. All that was given to us, the land, language, and culture, is getting destroyed by leaving the foundations that built them up for so long. We're going to lose who we are and what we live for, because when our land gets destroyed, we do too.

Armstrong Jeanette, "Sharing One Skin", https://feministfuturesea.wordpress.com//2020/1/09/jeanette-armstrong-sharing-one-skin/ 09 January 2020

"And then I went to school."

In the story "And then I went to school" it described a kid who loved his culture, He enjoyed every part to his grandma to the adobe walls. In every kids life they had to go to school and he got bullied for his culture. Making him resent and not like who he is and starts to redefine himself (assimilation). He came back home one day from thanksgiving and didn't like the house he lived in no more because he got so use to straight walls and how he thought he should live. After being there for awhile he forgot how much he loved who he is. So he enjoyed his time at his house and he had to go to school again.

Toastie B. , " How place names impact the way we see landscape", https://www.hen.org/issues/54-5/people-places-how-place-names-impact-the-way-we-see-landscape/, High Country News, 24 January 2024

How places and names impact the way we see landscape

In this article B. Toastie talks about how the name of a place or a rang will affect how we see them. She talked about the sacredness of places and how people lose that when it isn't labeled sacredness people tend to treat it differently. Also how a lot of sacred places aren't seen as that from colonizers because they name it the person that "found" it which does not carry the same meaning.

Suina Joe, "And then I went to school" , https://rethinkingschools.org/articles/and-then-i-went-to-school/ Rethinking Schools, 22 June 2024

History

"Back to the Roots"

This article was mostly about Native American Agriculture food programs. It helps show that not everything has to be big. There are programs across the country in rural Native American environments. That is helping hold a pillar for a community. Also, sharing and expanding the knowledge of seeds helps improve the well-being of Mother Earth.

Idlebrook, Craig, Back to the roots: Native American communities reconnect with farming culture as a means of battling food shortage and health issues, Grit vol.133, no.6, Nov_Dec.2015

"Native American tribes Pandemic"

This article talked about how the pandemic affected how we lived on our reservation and what we dealt with. By the rule area and the lack of fresh food that was accessible to our elders. To the relying on a store 50 miles away from where we live to buy something we can afford with a long shelf life, but it doesn't help you. The worst part is that a community asked for masks but instead got body bags.

"Schneider/Shicca/Malio, Lindsey/Joshua/Stephanie."Native American tribes' pandemic response is hamstrung by many inequities. "Gale Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection, Gale, 2025.

Roxanne Swentzell speaks about the New Pueblo Diet

This video talks a lot about dietary health. Roxanne started by introducing her non profit program and the diet they did. Got 14 volunteers different ages and various diseases. After this diet that lasted 3 months diseases that doctors said that wont able to be cured were suddenly cured. Also she explained how the diet they were on you could only find 2 items on a list of 50 in a supermarket.

Museum of Indian Arts and Culture. “Roxanne Swentzell Speaks About the New Pueblo Diet at FUZE.SW.” YouTube, 20 Sept. 2014, www.youtube.com/watch?v=347J17BdkA0.

Current State of the World

“Strengthening Health Care Access For Native American Elders.”

This website, Social Science & Medicine, is a journal for learning about the welfare of people worldwide. This article is about when professors went out and studied the access to health care for Native Americans. Also showing the disparities we had as Native people. This gives the ability for people to see the bureaucratic complexities and instabilities form a hard for elders to reach out for help. By the year 2030, the number of Native Americans aged 65 and older is projected to increase by 139%, driving the urgent need for care solutions that address aging-related health care challenges.

“Strengthening Health Care Access for Native American Elders.” UNM HSC Newsroom, hscnews.unm.edu/news/hsc-newsroom-post-strengthening-health-care-access.

“Diabetes Still highest Among AI/IA”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) predicts that two American Indian/Alaska Native children born in 2000 will have type 2 diabetes in their lifetime unless the current trend is halted. According to the CDC and the Indian Health Service, some Native and Alaska Natives have a diabetes prevalence among adults as much as 60%. We also have higher incidences of long-term complications from diabetes and develop it earlier. Kidney failure is also the highest among Native Americans.

Ramirez, Alan. “Diabetes Still Highest Among AI/AN.” NICOA - National Indian Council on Aging, 27 June 2022, www.nicoa.org/diabetes-still-highest-among-ai-an.

Global Connections

The Food of The Native Brazilians

This article, it talked about the native food that tribes ate throughout Brazil. It showed their dietary customs and the food that grew, and they fought for. This article showed how many native tribes to there land always thrived off it. By hunting, agriculture, or even perserving there culture through stories.

Jacome, Valentina. The food of the Native Brazilians-AIPIM.aipim.co.uk/the-food-of-the-nature-Brazilians

The Culinary Traditions of Northern Europe's Only Indigenous People

This article discusses the Sami People in Europe. It talked about how the Sami People have gone through the same amount of suppression and assimilation as we. By being put into boarding schools and limiting their access to their culture. A family of the Sami people is trying to teach and preserve the culture. Through culinary food and storytelling.

Indigenous Community in Brazil Promotes Traditional Foods in school

This article talked about how schools in Brazil are adopting traditional food education environments. By using international programs to help increase the amount of food being introduced to these kids. Even if there are legal barriers that prevent some food from entering. That won't stop us from trying to preserve culture through food.

Indigenous Community in Brazil Promotes Traditional Foods in School Meals | School Meals Coalition. 14 May 2024, schoolmealscoalition.org/indigenous-community-in-brazil-promotes-school-meals.

Identity

My family has had a difficult history with type 2 diabetes, and seeing how it has limited what my relatives can do has made a deep impact on me. I’ve watched family members struggle with their health, miss out on activities, and have to be careful about everything they eat. Because of this, I’ve become much more aware of the choices I make around food. I believe that the food we grow ourselves in our fields is much better for us than what we get from supermarkets and fast food chains. When we plant, tend, and harvest our own food, we know where it comes from and how it was grown, and we stay connected to our traditions and our land. For me, watching my family’s experience with diabetes has been a wake-up call, and it’s pushed me to take my health seriously and to value the foods that truly nourish us.

Action Plans

"Feast Day"

On November 12 at 6 pm, during Feast Day, my dad and I danced while my mom set the tables at my house and at the plaza. I compared the tables that were set in both locations for my presentation. My goal was to help people become more aware of what they are eating, even when it comes to customary traditional foods like soda or cake, because these food items are unhealthy for you.

"The Arcives"

As part of my Spring Action Plan at the Indian Art Research Center, I visited an archive of pottery and Native art on March 2nd. I researched historical agricultural tools and talked about their purposes. I also ate entirely pre-colonial food, advocating for healthy eating. The result was encouraging, because everyone saw that it isn’t that big of a step to return to the way we used to eat.

Citations

“Dawes Act (1887).” National Archives, 8 Feb. 2022, www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/dawes-act.
Historical Timeline: First Contact in the Americas. education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/first-contact-americas.
Jacome, Valentina. The food of the Native Brazilians-AIPIM.aipim.co.uk/the-food-of-the-nature-Brazilians
Mineo, Liz, and Liz Mineo. “For Native Americans, COVID-19 Is ‘The Worst of Both Worlds at the Same Time.’” Harvard Gazette, 9 Nov. 2023, news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/05/the-impact-of-covid-19-on-native-american-communities.
The Pueblo Revolt | Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/essays/pueblo-revolt.
What Happened to the Bison? (U.S. National Park Service). www.nps.gov/articles/000/what-happened-to-the-bison.htm.
HUSL Library: A Brief History of Civil Rights in the United States: The Allotment and Assimilation Era (1887 - 1934). library.law.howard.edu/civilrightshistory/indigenous/allotment.
Indigenous Community in Brazil Promotes Traditional Foods in School Meals | School Meals Coalition. 14 May 2024, schoolmealscoalition.org/indigenous-community-in-brazil-promotes-school-meals