Full Name
Dr Rebecca Webster (Oneida Nation, United States)
Job Title
Executive Director
Organisation
Ukwakhwa
Speaker Bio
Dr. Rebecca M. Webster is an enrolled citizen of the Oneida Nation in Wisconsin, United States. She is also an Associate Professor in the Department of American Indian at the University of Minnesota Duluth. Her research interests focus on tribal governance and food sovereignty. Her philosophy is that every time an indigenous person plants a seed, that is an act of resistance, an assertion of sovereignty, and a reclamation of identity. With these goals in mind, an Oneida faithkeeper named their 10 acre homestead Ukwakhwa: Tsinu Niyukwayayʌthoslu (Our foods: Where we plant things). Based on their farming practices, they started a YouTube Channel called Ukwakhwa (Our Foods) where they share what they learned about planting, growing, harvesting, seed keeping, food preparation, food storage, as well as making traditional tools and crafts. In 2021, her family formed a 501(c)(3) non profit organization, Ukwakhwa, Inc., to advance their goals of helping share knowledge. Dr. Webster is also a founding member of Ohe∙láku (among the cornstalks) a co-op of 15 Oneida families that grow several acres of traditional, heirloom corn together and a founding member of Yukwasaheʔtahshyus (we are selecting beans) an informal co-op of Oneida community members growing and sharing heirloom varieties of Haudenosaunee beans.
Dr Rebecca Webster (Oneida Nation, United States)