{"id":19236,"date":"2019-04-17T14:35:29","date_gmt":"2019-04-17T18:35:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/community.macmillan.com\/community\/the-english-community\/bedford-bits\/blog\/2019\/04\/17\/land-acknowledgment-statements"},"modified":"2019-04-17T14:35:29","modified_gmt":"2019-04-17T18:35:29","slug":"land-acknowledgment-statements","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tengrrl.com\/blog\/2019\/04\/17\/land-acknowledgment-statements\/","title":{"rendered":"Land Acknowledgment Statements"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you attended CCCC last month, you probably heard a land acknowledgment statement, which offered respect to the indigenous peoples upon whose lands the conference took place. For example, Asao B. Inoue began his #4C19 Keynote<\/a> (video<\/a>) with this statement:<\/p>\n

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To open, I humbly make a land acknowledgment I would like to recognize and acknowledge the indigenous people of this land: the Lenni Lenape, Shawnee, and Hodino\u00cc\u02c6hs\u00cc\u0152o\u00cc\u02c6nih (hoe-den-ah-show-nee)\u2013the six Nations, that is, the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Seneca, Cayuga and Tuscarora (tus-ka-roar-ah). We are gathered today on Jo\u00cc\u02c6:deoge\u00cc\u02c6\u2019 (joan-day-o-gan\u2019t), an On\u00c3\u00b6dowa’ga (ono-do-wah-gah) or Senaca word for Pittsburgh or \u201cbetween two rivers\u201d: the welhik hane (well-ick hah-neh) and M\u00c3\u00abnaonkih\u00c3\u00abla (men-aw-n-gee-ah-luh). These are the Lenape words for the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, which translate to the \u201cbest flowing river of the hills\u201d and \u201cwhere the banks cave in and erode.\u201d While a land acknowledgment is not enough, it is an important social justice and decolonial practice that promotes indigenous visibility and a reminder that we are on settled indigenous land. Let this land acknowledgment be an opening for all of us to contemplate a way to join in decolonial and indigenous movements for sovereignty and self-determination.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"Virginia<\/a>I recently added a similar land acknowledgment statement to my course materials, thanking the Tutelo\/Monacan people upon whose land Virginia Tech stands. Inspired by a graphic from Northwestern University<\/a>, I also created the draft image (shown on the right), which I intend to add as a poster on my office door after I receive feedback on whether it is appropriate. I admit it has taken me too long to add these statements to my course materials.<\/p>\n

Angela Haas, from Illinois State University, shared the first land acknowledgment statement I ever heard at a Computers and Writing Conference session several years ago. I was impressed by the statement and wished I could add one to my own work. At the time however, I wasn\u2019t sure how to construct a land acknowledgment statement, so I didn\u2019t try. I was and am ashamed of my behavior. I let my privilege as a non-indigenous person serve as an excuse, telling myself it was better to say nothing than to piece together an acknowledgment I wasn\u2019t sure was appropriate.<\/p>\n

I want to share some resources readers can use to add a land acknowledgment statement to their publications, events, and course materials.<\/p>\n