Maize, or corn, has always been more than a staple food—it is the heart of a sophisticated agricultural system developed by Indigenous cultures over thousands of years. Anthropologist Dr. Duncan Earle draws on decades of research in Mexico, Central America, and Native North America to show how traditional practices such as companion planting, micro-fallowing, and the Milpa method foster biodiversity, soil regeneration, and resilience. Unlike modern monocropping, these ancestral methods treat corn as part of a living ecosystem, where beans, squash, useful weeds, and even spacing patterns all play a role in healthier harvests.
But the wisdom of maize extends beyond how it is grown—it’s also about how it is prepared. Dr. Earle will highlight the process of nixtamalization, an Indigenous technique of cooking corn with lime that unlocks its full nutritional potential. When this knowledge was lost during the Spanish conquest, so too was the key to corn’s health benefits. Through story, history, and anthropology, this talk reveals why ancestral ways of growing and preparing maize remain essential today—and how reconnecting with them can nourish both our bodies and the land.
Dr. Duncan Earle
Dr. Duncan Earle is an anthropologist whose career has taken him deep into Indigenous communities across the U.S., Mexico, and Central America. His research and teaching explore the connections between culture, ecology, and spirituality, especially how traditional wisdom shapes the way people live with their land. He has written and taught widely on shamanic practices, Indigenous resistance, and ways of knowing that don’t always fit into Western science.
In his talks, Dr. Earle draws on both scholarship and lived experience to show how old knowledge can shed light on today’s questions—from the intuitive art of dowsing to the sustainable farming systems that have kept maize thriving for thousands of years. He reminds us that there is no single way of understanding the world, and that ancestral practices often hold keys to healthier landscapes, communities, and futures.
