Paja Faudree, a professor and interim chair of Brown University’s Department of Anthropology, highlights the routine erasure of Indigenous history and role in propagating many of the lucrative plants used by the drug industry today. Through first-hand accounts of the strength and ingenuity of Indigenous cultivation, she questions the exclusion of Indigenous people from the benefits of commercialization. Paja Faudree is an award-winning scholar, literary author, and activist. She currently chairs the Department of Anthropology at Brown University, where she is a professor of linguistic anthropology; she is also a founding member of the leadership team for Brown’s Native American and Indigenous Studies Initiative. Her book Magic Mint: A Biography of One of the World’s Newest “Drugs” will be published next year by Duke University Press. Her work has appeared in leading scholarly and literary journals, and she has been interviewed about her work by such media outlets as National Public Radio, The Atlantic, and Al Jazeera. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at www.ted.com/tedx