Transformations in Innu Foodways and Identity Relations
The high prevalence rate of the type 2 diabetes (T2D) among the Innus is inseparable from the foodways transformations that have emerged in their communities since the middle of the 20th century. In this article, we propose that these transformations are part of their collective identity frame, shaped in the context of globalization and exclusion via the social relations that prevail in their communities. These transformations have allowed the inclusion of some new foods into the identity frame of the Innus. Though initially associated with the dominant culture, these foods have rapidly become elements of the local culture. In this article, we first set the beginning of the transformations of the Innu diet in the political and socioeconomic relations of the mid-20th century to better comprehend certain rules of inclusion and exclusion that characterize their contemporary foodways. We then discuss the development of their food codes as markers of « Innu identity ». To conclude, we suggest that transformations in Innu foodways reflect, at the micro-social level, a more global development of the sociopolitical dynamics between indigenous and non-indigenous peoples as well as a hardening of the identity discourses in response to social exclusion.