Narissa Ribera plants seeds in the ground and in the minds of many, from the climate-conscious to Indigenous individuals like herself. She is Diné, a member of the Navajo Nation who was raised in Denver — although her urban being was augmented by time in Page, Arizona, where her mother’s side has reservation land.
When Ribera visited recently, her mother admitted that she felt distanced from traditional ways, more so than those family members who grew up on the rez. But the other relatives affirmed that they, too, are reclaiming pieces of their cultural patchwork. “No one person can give it all to us because of what colonization has done to my people,” says Ribera.
But elders hold fast to Diné stories and traditions. As Ribera’s grandmother made meals using traditional plants and techniques, she noticed how certain foods would take her grandmother back in time. That inspired her own journey into Indigenous cooking and food activism. “This is important for us to save. This is important for us to have access to,” she says…