Craig Hassel
Department of Food Science & Nutrition, CFANS
Center for Spirituality & Healing
University of Minnesota Twin Cities

IAS Short-Term Fellow, The Mission of the Land Grant/Land Grab University

Craig A. Hassel, Ph.D. is Associate Professor & Extension Specialist, Food and Nutrition and Graduate Faculty, Center for Spirituality & Healing at the University of Minnesota. He is also a Fellow and Elder with the Cultural Wellness Center and Elder with Healing Roots Community. His work is grounded in long-term relationships with cultural communities experiencing the most severe diet-related health inequities. He attempts to fill a void within food and nutrition sciences by interfacing with systems of thought carried by older, non-EuroAmerican cultures. Interfacing attempts not to impose or intervene but rather to learn through reciprocal understanding built upon trust and mutual respect. His cross-cultural engagement methodology creates paths to more open and informed inter-cultural sharing, interaction and knowledge production. He teaches through experiential micro-immersion, critical thinking and cultural self-reflection. The goal is to disrupt colonizing patterns deeply embedded within academic thought and behavior; to better recognize and protect the integrity of all forms of human knowledge amidst institutional power asymmetry.