Dublin, Ireland – The International Society for Hunter-Gatherer Research (ISHGR) invited the FAO Indigenous Peoples Unit to present its work on “Education for Contemporary Hunter-Gatherers” during the 13^th session of the Conference on Hunting and Gathering Societies (CHAGS13).

The Conference, hosted at the School of Archaeology of the University College of Dublin, brought together around 300 researchers and experts working with hunting and gathering societies, in the fields of social sciences, anthropology, ecology, archaeology, and geography, to name a few.

Sharing knowledge on the theme of “Living well together”, the Conference offered a wide range of lectures, reflecting on the notion of the well-being of Hunter-gatherers, highlighting the many challenges that these societies face today, and suggesting ways forwards to manage interactions with a growing number of actors and threats in their territories.   

During the “Education for Contemporary Hunter-Gatherers” session, Anne Brunel, Co-Coordinator of the Global-Hub on Indigenous Peoples Food Systems, and FAO expert on Indigenous Peoples’ food systems, presented the work of FAO with hunting and gathering societies. In particular, she shared opportunities for education for Indigenous children and youth, based on recommendations that Indigenous Peoples made in the context of the 2018 High-Level Expert Seminar on Indigenous Food Systems, the 2021 FAO and Bioversity International and CIAT publication on “Indigenous Peoples’ food systems: Insights of sustainability and resilience from the front line of climate change”, and the 2021 White/Wiphala paper on Indigenous Peoples’ food systems. 

Prior to the conference, members of the Global-Hub had the opportunity to meet and to agree on opening a stream of work on Hunting and Gathering societies and food systems. In this context, the Session was also the occasion to present the work of the Global-Hub on Indigenous Peoples’ Food Systems and to seek for collaboration with the International Society for Hunter-Gatherer Research, and its Hunter Gatherer Education Research and Advocacy Group (HG-EDU) in particular.

As Jennifer Hays, board member of the ISHGR and co-founder of the HG-EDU, presented in her presentation based on collaborative research, lot is to be done to address the challenges Indigenous hunter and gatherers kids and youth face today.

"The encounters of hunter-gatherer children with formal education almost always occur in a foreign language and are defined by the norms, values and knowledge systems of the state and society’s more dominant groups. Everywhere that they live, hunter-gatherers enrol in schools at rates far lower than children from other groups and drop out at rates disproportionally higher than others, and in lower school grades," she explained.

"Almost universally, hunter-gatherer children have been alienated and stigmatized in schools, and their self-esteem and knowledge systems devalued and rejected. Although some individuals have succeeded, these are only a few, and often at significant cost." She added.

The Global-Hub is excited to continue the discussion with the ISHGR and its HD-EDU in the frame of its mandate, and in the context of the discussions post-UN Food Systems Summit and work with the Coalition on Indigenous Peoples’ Food Systems.  

Read more: 

• Conference on Hunting and Gathering Societies 13
• Hunter Gatherer Education – Research and Advocacy Group (HG-EDU)
• Hays, J., Ninkova, V., Dounias, E. 2022. Hunter-gatherers and education. Towards a recognition of extreme local diversity and common global challenges. Hunter Gatherer Research 5.1-2 (2022 [for 2019]). Available at this link
• Ninkova, V., Hays, J., Lavi, N., Ali, A., da Silva Macedo, S. L., Davis, H. E., & Lew-Levy, S. (2022, January 18). Hunter-gatherer children at school: A view from the Global South. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/zxq98