The Collective
Land in Our Names is a small collective made up of passionate people with experience in food growing and land work, as well as activism and community organising. Rather than a role-based and hierarchical organisational structure, we are experimenting with sociocratic models where we work across four different circles: operations, strategy, governance and projects. Roles are fluid and are shaped by the circles each member chooses to be a part of, with opportunities to share and learn skills across circles.
Currently, all members of the core collective work part-time freelance contractors. We are all paid the same day rate, however, our funding is not secure and in the future we may return to voluntary roles.
Dee Woods
she/they
Dee Woods, FRSA, is an award winning food system leader. A passionate knowledge broker, pollinator and weaver who advocates for good food for all and a just food system. Her work meets at the nexus of human rights, food sovereignty, agroecology, community, policy, decolonial research, culture, climate and social justice.
Josina Calliste
she/her
Josina Calliste, formerly a health professional, found her way to the land, through community organising & food growing. After burning out of academia, she began thinking more deeply about the climate, farming & land justice. Under an apple tree in June 2019, she co-founded Land in Our Names (LION) to address racial justice inequalities around farming and growing food in Britain. She is currently on paternal leave with our first LION cub. Josina was the lead researcher for the Rootz Into Food Growing Report.
Marcus MacDonald
he/him
Marcus is a mixed heritage (Jamaican, Indian, British) working class queer grower, community organiser, South Londoner, gardener by trade and a Tour manager for the bands Big Joanie and Divide and Dissolve. Marcus has been growing his own food and herbs since he was a young teenager. Marcus has been part of the DIY Punk music scene in London and has a deep interest in exploring the untold histories of black influence in alternative music particularly the unique intersection of growing and traditional folk music from the Caribbean and Africa. Marcus is part of many collectives including Decolonise fest and Black Obsidian Sound System. In LION, Marcus led on the Anne:Seed project at House of Annetta and supported the Growers Grants. He is also the author of the Gourds, Banjos and Callaloo zine.
Sumayyah Zannath
Sumayyah is a writer, researcher and community organiser. Sumayyah joined LION with a desire to learn about and reimagine what care and solidarity can look like between communities and land, particularly in urban cities. Sumayyah is also a researcher at Nejma Collective, an abolitionist group centred on Islamic principles. Sumayyah is also deeply rooted in food and land justice organising in Tower Hamlets, and is currently working alongside her community to nurture relationships with land and food that are built on reciprocity and care. Sumayyah had a strong start with developing our organising structure, organising our Palestine Solidarity work with Jamila, and our recent Winter Solstice Gathering, and is currently working on a podcast series on international solidarity and movement-building.
Jamila Versi
Jamila is a writer, filmmaker, community organiser and lover of land and water. Jamila grew up taking naps in the trees and by the ocean, and her work with LION is centred around reconnecting and prioritising our deep-rootedness with nature after our forced separation and displacement. Jamila’s community organising has been centred in Copenhagen, where they worked primarily in a housing justice organisation against the discriminatory ghetto-laws. Her filmmaking and writing centres on the Danish migrant experience and collectivising artistic practices. Now based in London, Jamila has been involved in organising events such as LION’s Open Eve, BPOC Caucus 2022, the Cultivating Justice Wrap Party and Workshop with Mirrored Fatality and has led on our Palestine Solidarity work.
she/they
Sam Siva
they/them
Sam is a Black and Mixed (Black Jamaican, Sri Lankan) writer, grower and organiser with LION. They are interested in liberation through healing and building resilient communities and how access to land and nature are key to this. Sam has coordinated and co-organised the BPOC Growers Grants, Resource Pack for BPOC Growers, the Anne:Seed project, and the Cultivating Justice Project. Sam often gives presentations, talks on podcasts and panels, facilitates workshops and writes or contributes to articles. They are also passionate about building resilient and transformative systems, centring care and reparative justice in their work.
