Seeds of Change: Women Cultivating Food Sovereignty in Hawaiʻi and Aotearoa

Abstract

Seeds of Change: Women Cultivating Food Sovereignty in Hawai‘i and Aotearoa is organized thematically, weaving together research from both locations to explore and compare women’s roles and leadership in alternative food networks (AFNs). At the heart of this inquiry is how women’s leadership functions as a form of resistance to industrial agro-food systems within settler colonial contexts. The book asks: How do Indigenous and marginalized women shape these resistances? How do Indigenous ecological worldviews inform both ancestral and contemporary food and agricultural practices as forms of decolonial praxis? While AFNs are often framed as solutions to the failures of industrial food systems, they have also been critiqued for reinforcing elitism and exclusion. This study foregrounds how Indigenous women confront not only the violence of industrial agriculture but also inequities within AFNs themselves. Though situated in distinct political, social, and ecological contexts, the strategies of women in Hawai‘i and Aotearoa offer transferable insights and best practices for other island communities and beyond. The book is structured around three central themes: women’s leadership in AFNs; the amplification of Indigenous and marginalized voices; and a solution-oriented approach that shares lessons across Oceania. Based on interviews with 48 women—including farmers, union leaders, composters, market organizers, and educators—the research reflects a wide spectrum of food system actors embedded in nonprofit and grassroots networks. A core aim of the book is to generate an actionable toolkit and to ensure that the knowledge shared through these stories supports broader movements for food sovereignty and ecological justice.