Native American Studies Research Guide

Land acknowledgements have become a powerful introduction to convocations, graduations, and conferences in higher education. As defined
by The Guide to Indigenous Land and Territorial Acknowledgements for Cultural Institutions “an Indigenous Land or Territorial Acknowledgement
is a statement that recognizes the Indigenous peoples who have been dispossessed from the homelands and territories upon which an institution
was built and currently occupies and operates in. The key word in the definition of a land acknowledgement is dispossession. Settler colonialism is an ongoing process and system of power that perpetuates the loss of land by Indigenous people. The settler colonial educational institution built on Indigenous lands revolves around the denial of Indigenous rights and the erasure of Native people. The truth is – if it were not for the loss of land by Indigenous peoples, American colleges and universities would not exist.Institutions must challenge themselves to move away from encouraging acts that are performative, into commitments of transformative change.

LANDBACK is a movement that has existed for generations with a long legacy of organizing and sacrifice to get Indigenous Lands back into Indigenous hands. Currently, there are LANDBACK battles being fought all across Turtle Island, to the north and the South.

Building on the ten themes of the National Council for the Social Studies' national curriculum standards, the NMAI's Essential Understandings reveal key concepts about the rich and diverse cultures, histories, and contemporary lives of Native Peoples. These concepts reflect a multitude of untold stories about American Indians that can deepen and expand your teaching of history, geography, civics, economics, science, engineering, and other subject areas. (Via National Museum of the American Indian)

Native Land Digital strives to create and foster conversations about the history of colonialism, Indigenous ways of knowing, and settler-Indigenous relations, through educational resources such as our map and Territory Acknowledgement Guide. We strive to go beyond old ways of talking about Indigenous people and to develop a platform where Indigenous communities can represent themselves and their histories on their own terms. In doing so, Native Land Digital creates spaces where non-Indigenous people can be invited and challenged to learn more about the lands they inhabit, the history of those lands, and how to actively be part of a better future going forward together. (Via native-land.ca)

Check out the answers to some of the questions that educators frequently ask about Native Americans. (Via National Museum of the American Indian)

Created and curated as one settler’s labor of love and resistance, Unsettling America aspires towards a decentralized network of autonomous groups and individuals dedicated to mental and territorial decolonization throughout Turtle Island and the “Americas.”