8 4 grams per dose

Themes: 

Food/Nutrition/Health and social determinants, food sustainability incl. traditional/indigenous understandings; Body Image, Epigenetics (DNA/Genetics); Cultural Genocide and Intergenerational Trauma, Residential Schools, Reconciliation and Allyship; Privilege and Social Status; ‘Traditional’ Wellness practices

 

Disciplines: 

English, History, Sociology, ECCE, EA, HCA, HKIN, Counselling, Biology, Human Geography, Economics, (Tourism-Food sustainability), Acting for Stage and Screen, Performing Arts Degree, Legal Studies, Business

 

Guiding Questions: 

  1. Elliott opens the chapter with describing “proper dosage”. What does that mean to you? Do you have a relationship with a substance or behaviour in which you seek the perfect dose?

 

  1. What is your relationship between food, weight and worth?

 

  1. On page 93, Elliott returns to an experience of shame. She describes it as failing the test. Again. What are the reasons for this experience? How does this move you? What experience of shame do you return to at this point in the book?

 

  1. Elliott exposes the centrality of White Supremacy (the “standard”) in maintaining current economic models and violent systems of oppression (p. 98). What impact has this had on your understanding of racialized communities?

 

  1. Elliott writes, “Poor people can’t afford good health” (p. 96). What does this chapter expose about the economics of food and social status?

 

  1. How does Elliott describe health and the denial of access to traditional foods as tools of Indigenous destruction?

 

  1. What are the short- and long-term impacts of hunger on a child? Use any medium to express the images, feelings, relationships evoked for you as you reflect on policies and practices that result in starvation for children and families.

 

  1. In a letter to the author or someone else you would like to connect with, express what thoughts and feelings were evoked for you by this chapter?

 

  1. Elliott ends the chapter on page 116, “And if intergenerational trauma can alter DNA, why can’t intergenerational love?”. Respond and expand.

 

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Discussion Guide for A Mind Spread Out on the Ground Copyright © by Capilano University Centre for Teaching Excellence is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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