Chaiti Seth

Lecturer

Education

• Masters’ of Community Development, Acadia University
• B.Sc. Geography and Environment, LSE, University of London

2023-2024 Courses

• Community Program Design (Fall 2023)

Scholarly Interests & Expertise

I learn, write, and teach about sustainable food systems and the inner work and community practice of healing for equity and social change. I work with children, youth and adults as part of communities in Mi’kma’ki and various parts of India on systems level change for social, environmental and personal transformation. My work focuses on:

• Sustainable Food Systems
• Equity & social justice
• Healing as a personal & community practice
• Transformative experiential education
• Systems thinking

Did You Know?

• I have 15 years of experience designing and facilitating experiential learning programs in diverse landscapes including the high Himalaya and the subtropical rainforests in southern India.
• I speak 6 languages and have worked as a linguistic and cultural interpreter.
• Born and raised in the dry central plains of India, I also have deep roots in the snow-capped northern mountains and the lush southern forests. As a teenager, I spent two years living in Yokohama, Japan, that stretched my horizons. Since 2013, I am an immigrant in the setter nation of Canada and a grateful guest in Mi’kma’ki figuring out my responsibilities to people and this land. I currently live, farm and parent two wild and incredible children on south mountain above Sikunme’katik (the Gaspereau river).

Highlights of Scholarly Work

• I recently co-authored a chapter on healing from the trauma of systemic oppression as a pathway for resilient, prosperous sustainable food futures in G. Donnelly and A. Montouri (Eds.) The International Handbook for Creative Futures.
• I co-wrote the chapter Integrity Economics: Business Supports for Plant-based Diets in K. Kevany (Ed.) Plant-based Diets for Succulence and Sustainability published in 2019 by Routledge with academic and practitioner co-conspirators Sarah Pittoello, Roberto Gueli and Dr. Av Singh.
• My graduate thesis, Growing Change: Identifying factors to effectively facilitate a shift towards healthy, sustainable and just institutional food systems synthesized insights from 6 years of research and practice in institutional food system change at Acadia to support other institutions in similar transitions.