Our cluster aims to rethink common sense understandings of the term radical, not in terms of extreme or peripheral perspectives, but to recuperate its revolutionary potential in alignment with its Latin derivation radix, meaning “root.” Since scientific knowledge production is shaped by prevailing norms of dominant cultures, other equally-valid perspectives are frequently excluded. This point is particularly important to consider in scientific research, where facts are shaped by sub/conscious biases and hold concrete implications for how nation states legislate the fate of Indigenous Peoples, lands, and waters.

Our cluster aims to focus on relational rather than isolated outputs. Within scientific research on food fermentation and the human microbiome, researchers use various techniques to isolate specific microbes as potential therapeutics. As a consequence of this research, Indigenous communities have become sites for extraction of so-called ancestral microbes. This research reaffirms negative tropes within scientific literature of Indigenous people as “windows to the past” rather than communities thriving in the present. By foregrounding Indigenous perspectives on foods and microorganisms, this cluster will bridge microbiology with critical work in Indigenous Studies and Science and Technology Studies to lay the groundwork for a more equitable study of the relations between bodies, foods, and microbes – and away from the extractive practices of modern technoscience.