| Food Sovereignty & Indigenous Ontologies of Connection in South and Southeast Asia |
Sarah Wright is a geographer with an interest in critical development studies and Indigenous and post-colonial geographies. My research focuses on two interconnected themes. The first theme explores geographies of food and intellectual property with a focus on food security and food sovereignty. My work, based largely in the Philippines, is concerned with how small-scale, locally based food networks are implicated in a respatialisation of food systems and a reconfiguration of the power relations associated with the production and distribution of food. Farmer-led sustainable agriculture and the related diverse, beyond-capitalist economic practices are addressing poverty in multiple, interconnected ways. The second theme draws on collaborative work with Indigenous communities in the north of Australia to explore Indigenous ontologies of connection and the indivisable link between people (and their health) and country (and its sustainability). Using a transdisciplinary methodology, our aim is to enable more effective cross-cultural collaborations with Indigenous knowledge authorities for crucial public and policy settings. I have a strong interest in collaborative work and praxis. In the Philippines I work with networks of small-scale organic farmers and in Australia I work collaboratively with academics and Indigenous Yolngu co-researchers from Northeast Arnhem Land. Links & Articles: Intellectual property and a politics of knowledge |