Land Acknowledgements

Here I collect land acknowledgements for places where I have conducted work and which are the ancestral lands of living Native communities. The institutions I have worked in are woven into the fabric of a society that was founded on the displacement and dispossession of Native peoples as well as the labor of enslaved Africans and their descendants. I also recognize that ultimately, these statements are insufficient to reverse the effects of colonialism, genocide, chattel slavery, and harms that are ongoing. My purpose is to lay history out in the open so that I may honor the past and ongoing ties of Native people to the land on which I now live and work, and to express my openness for continuing conversations about restorative action.

I acknowledge the research and care that institutions have put into writing their land acknowledgements in recent years, often with input from Native communities, and so paste them directly here. I will return to update these statements periodically as these living land acknowledgements may evolve over time and as my own footprint expands.

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI

The University of Michigan, named after Michigamaa (“Great Water” in Ojibwe), occupies the traditional territory stewarded by the Anishinaabe. This land was ceded through the Treaty of Fort Meigs by the Anishinaabeg—the Three Fires People—Ojibwe (Chippewa), Odawa (Ottawa) and Bodewadimi (Potawatomi). Through these words, their current and ancestral ties to the land and to the University are acknowledged.

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C.

the District of Columbia borders the confluence of the Anacostia and Potomac Rivers, a historic center of trade and cultural exchange between several tribal nations. For generations, the Piscataway and Anacostian Peoples have resided in this region and served as stewards of the local land and waterways. Following European genocide and other harms that continue today, the Piscataway people continue to call this region home, honoring and celebrating their culture and relationship with the land.

-Land acknowledgement of George Washington University

Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA

Dickinson College is on the unceded lands of the Susquehannock nation. We acknowledge the many Indigenous peoples that lived with these lands, as well as the thousands of Indigenous children forced into the reprogramming camp established as the Carlisle Indian Industrial School (CIIS) in 1879. The College bears responsibility for the support and recognition it provided CIIS, a federal effort to culturally assimilate and eradicate Indigenous peoples. Accordingly, this living land acknowledgement is deliberately unfinished work. It will continue as a project dedicated to helping our entire community better understand our shared past, present, and future.

Alexandra Fiord, Nunavut, Canada

Ellesmere Island lies in the Territory of Nunavut, established in the 1999 Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act and self-governed by the Inuit people. Ellesmere Island and Cornwallis Island were destinations of the High Arctic Relocation Program of 1953-1955, a forced migration of Inuit people that imposed extreme hardship on Inuit communities while strengthening Canada’s claims to sovereignty in the High Arctic. Alexandra Fiord was intended for settlement under this program, although this never ultimately occurred. From 1953-1963 it served as a Royal Canadian Mounted Police post and is now primarily used as a seasonal scientific research base.

University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ

We respectfully acknowledge the University of Arizona is on the land and territories of Indigenous peoples. Today, Arizona is home to 22 federally-recognized tribes, with Tucson being home to the O’odham and the Yaqui. Committed to diversity and inclusion, the University strives to build sustainable relationships with sovereign Native Nations and Indigenous communities through education offerings, partnerships, and community service.