Evelyn Nimmo

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Community Research Associate, Voicing Change: Co-Creating Knowledge and Capacity for Sustainable Food Systems

Areas of Expertise

• Traditional ecological knowledge
• Historical ecology
• Community-based research
• Latin American History and Archaeology

Biography

I am a multidisciplinary researcher, professional editor and translator. I recently completed a Post-doctoral Fellowship (Programa Nacional de Pós-doutorado, CAPES) in the Department of History at the State University of Ponta Grossa (UEPG), Brazil. I received a PhD in Historical Archaeology from the University of Reading, UK, a Master’s degree in Archaeology from Simon Fraser University, and a Joint Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in Anthropology and Rhetoric and Professional Writing from the University of Waterloo. I am currently leading a non-governmental organization (CEDErva.org) focused on supporting research and development related to traditional agroforestry systems in Southern Brazil.

Research Interests

I am currently part of a multidisciplinary and international team developing a multi-year research and outreach project working with family farming communities in Southern Paraná, Brazil, to document knowledge related to traditional food systems and agroecological production of erva-mate (Yerba mate), a tea commonly consumed in southern South America. Through collaborative and community-based research, we are supporting the continuation of traditional production systems and valuing the important ecological, cultural, and economic contributions that family farming and traditional communities make to Brazilian society. Through our long-term community engagement, we have developed a proposal for traditional erva-mate production systems to be recognized as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System (GIAHS) from the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the UN.

Featured Publications

• Nimmo, Evelyn R. and João Francisco M.M. Nogueira. 2019. “Creating Hybrid Scientific Knowledge and Practice: The Jesuit and Guaraní Cultivation of Yerba Mate.” Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies 44 (3): 347–67. https://doi.org/10.1080/08263663.2019.1652018
• Nimmo, Evelyn Roberta, Alessandra Izabel de Carvalho, Robson Laverdi, and André Eduardo Biscaia Lacerda. 2020. “Oral History and Traditional Ecological Knowledge in Social Innovation and Smallholder Sovereignty: A Case Study of Erva-Mate in Southern Brazil.” Ecology and Society 25 (4): art17. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-11942-250417
• Lacerda, André Eduardo Biscaia, Ana Lúcia Hanisch, and Evelyn Roberta Nimmo. 2020. “Leveraging Traditional Agroforestry Practices to Support Sustainable and Agrobiodiverse Landscapes in Southern Brazil.” Land 9 (6): 176. https://doi.org/10.3390/land9060176