Highlight
Co-sponsorship of GM Wild Rice Symposium and authorship of whitepaper
Trainees learn to harvest wild rice at White Earth Reservation
Achievement/Results
IGERT trainees and faculty wrote a whitepaper, in partnership with the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, entitled Preserving the Integrity of Manoomin in Minnesota. Whitepapers typically state a policy position, the rationale for it and a means of accomplishing the policy. This whitepaper will be used by several American Indian Bands and Tribes in their efforts to protect wild rice from genetic modification. The team documented the need to refocus research efforts on wild rice toward conservation and away from genetic modification for scientific, cultural and spiritual reasons. The interdisciplinary nature of the ISG-IGERT allowed for the whitepaper to include economic, historical, and policy, as well as the ecological aspects of protecting wild rice. This broad range of expertise makes for a strong, convincing and highly useful whitepaper.
The whitepaper stemmed from a symposium entitled People Protecting Manoomin: Manoomin Protecting People held on the White Earth Indian Reservation in Mahnomen, Minnesota August 25-27, 2009. The symposium was co-hosted by the ISG-IGERT program and the White Earth Band of Ojibwe. It assembled university researchers, IGERT trainees, members of many Ojibwe Bands, Minnesota politicians and agency workers. Trainees facilitated discussions and helped record important themes. Researchers and the Bands have a long history of conflict over wild rice that stems partly from disagreement and partly from misunderstanding. The conflict, and accompanying infrequent communication and distrust, has led to a loss of learning and research opportunities for both the University of Minnesota and the Ojibwe. By exchanging information, listening to each other and spending time together on the Reservation, we built bridges that will provide the support for ongoing educational and research endeavors.
The participants in the symposium recognized that there is little scientific call for the genetic engineering of wild rice and yet a substantial need for conservation and ecological research to prevent the decline of wild populations. At the same time, participants acknowledged that the act of genetically engineering wild rice would be experienced as cultural and spiritual oppression by American Indians. Despite this rationale against the genetic engineering of wild rice, no policy in Minnesota (or any other state) exists to prohibit it. A committee of trainees, faculty and tribal members was formed to write a whitepaper that would serve as a tool to identify the appropriate means of implementing such a policy.
Address Goals
Through the symposium, the scientific and cultural literacy of all participants was expanded through discussions about a variety of topics including, the definition of genetic engineering and the cultural importance of manoomin.
The participants in the symposium recognized that there is little scientific call for the genetic engineering of wild rice. Rather, the greatest opportunity and potential benefit lies in conservation and ecological research to prevent the decline of wild populations.
