Healing Through Corn Rematriation w/ Lauren Sun Turtle Peters
Corn Sister Circle gathering. Lauren Sun Turtle Peters on far right.
Lauren “Sun Turtle” Peters is a Mashpee Wampanoag seed keeper carrying on in the traditions she learned from her clan mother Anita “Mother Bear“ Peters and other elders. In 2021 Lauren helped to return the King Phillips variety of corn, also known as Metacom corn, to be grown on her people’s land for the first time in 300 years. Soon after, she founded Corn Sister Circle, a project powered by her love for her community and desire to connect Wampanoag peoples across generations to heal from colonialism and racism through being in relationship with land and their traditional food ways.
King Philip or Metacom corn, returned to the Bear Clan of the Mashpee Wampanoag people in 2020, and grown on their land near Mashpee in what is now known as Cape Cod for the first time in 300 years.
“I believed that this corn could help heal.”
In addition to listening to this powerful conversation with Lauren, you can also read her article Corn Sister Circle: Honoring Our Ancestors, Grounded on Our Ancestral Homelands where she writes beautifully about the complexity of this work and journey. She speaks of the apology from the American Psychological Association to First Peoples in the US for the harms of forcing western medicine on indigenous peoples and stating that the best course of treatment is cultural preservation.
You can follow their work and see videos on their instagram @wampumcunsulting. To donate to support Corn Sister Circle and other work that Lauren is leading click here.
Much gratitude and love to Lauren Peters for sharing her story and for doing this vital work. All photos in this post are courtesy of Lauren Peters. Many thanks to the talented Meg Dalton for editing this episode. Our theme music is from the Passion Hifi. All episodes are produced and hosted by Tagan Engel. The Table Underground is available on any podcasting site, through our website and now airs on the first Tuesday of the month on WPKN community radio 89.5fm in Bridgeport, CT.
The Wampanoag Nation Singers and Dancers also work to carry on the music, dance, spirit and cultural heritage of their people. You can learn a bit about them in the video below.
