Noah Schlager

"Carrying Our Seeds Home: Rematriation and Growing Resilient Indigenous Seed Keeping Networks"

Advisor: Dr. Tristan Reader

Indigenous food sovereignty relies upon healthy, accessible, and culturally stewarded seed populations. While important backups, seed banks can become sites of genetic and cultural loss when not actively stewarded by Indigenous farmers. From 2019–2021, I served as Conservation Program Manager at Native Seed/SEARCH, where I led efforts to rematriate seeds to Indigenous farmers across the Southwest. This project evaluates the long-term outcomes of that work five years later. In partnership with the International Indian Treaty Council and San Xavier Cooperative Farm, I will interview participating farmers and document the population status of rematriated corn, bean, squash, and watermelon varieties. Funding will support on-farm fieldwork, a Seed Keeper gathering, and the production of a community-facing zine on Indigenous seed rematriation and agroecological resilience. A dissertation chapter will also be produced to be presented at the American Association of Geographers conference in 2027.