Amy Juan on Food and Seed Sovereignty and Why the Knowledge Embedded in the Tiny Tepary Bean Is More than "Data"

Amy Juan sometimes tells a story about a little bean that grows on the Tohono O’odham Nation’s San Xavier Co-op Farm called the Tepary bean. Juan is the admin manager of that farm, which is close to Tucson, Arizona. And, through her work with the International Indian Treaty Council, an indigenous peoples human rights organization, Juan has traveled the world as a knowledge holder in food and seed sovereignty for the southwest and desert region. But Juan’s story of that ancient, drought-resistant bean and the knowledge embedded inside it tells even more about what she really does and why it matters. In this episode of Privacy on the Ground, Juan tells her story of the Tepary and how it connects to food sovereignty, data sovereignty, and Indigenous communities around the world.