Planting Life 2025: Corn And Culture (Part 4B)

This is the 2nd half of the session on Planting Life, where participants explore indigenous food ways and decolonization through cultivated ancient wisdoms. Artist and cultural preservationist Roxanne Swentzell shares her year of projects—from building retreat centers with pumice construction to revitalizing traditional coming-of-age ceremonies and creating seed banks for her community. Her son Porter Swentzell, anthropologist and educator, traces 9,000 years of agricultural history, explaining how corn “domesticated human beings” by transforming entire worldviews and ways of life. The session reveals how colonization systematically disrupted these ancient relationships, yet celebrates resilience through Roxanne’s work helping her community return to ancestral foods that reversed conditions like diabetes and other health issues within months. Porter emphasizes that traditional agriculture was never just about growing food but about entering sacred relationship: “you almost have to become adherent to an entirely different worldview.” The session demonstrates practical skills like pumice construction and mycelium cultivation while exploring deeper teachings about land-based practices as foundations for tribal sovereignty. In reflecting on her ancestors, Roxanne observes, “we are here because they figured out how to survive”. Now we must re-learn as contemporary communities how to thrive through honoring indigenous wisdom and fostering right relationship with the land. To access the resources page for this program, please sign up by clicking here.