Indigenous Land, Finance, and Racialized Political Ecologies

In the article “Naturalising Finance, Financialising Natives: Indigeneity, Race, and “Responsible” Agricultural Investment in Canada” by Melanie Sommerville, she explores the impact of financial investments in a large-scale corporate farm that involves Indigenous communities in the Canadian prairies. The farm, known as One Earth Farms (OEF), gained prominence by leasing farmland from First Nations and positioning agriculture as a more stable financial option compared to traditional assets. At the same time, OEF claimed to facilitate Indigenous participation in agriculture while incorporating their land and labor into financial frameworks, essentially treating Indigenous peoples as financial entities. The article delves into the specific opportunities for capital accumulation and valuation created by the project, which aimed to address historical injustices while also exploiting Indigenous histories and subjectivities within contemporary political and ecological contexts. Read Full Article