PROVISIONAL LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We collectively acknowledge that Michigan State University occupies the ancestral, traditional, and contemporary Lands of the Anishinaabeg – Three Fires Confederacy of Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi peoples. In particular, the University resides on Land ceded in the 1819 Treaty of Saginaw. We recognize, support, and advocate for the sovereignty of Michigan’s twelve federally-recognized Indian nations, for historic Indigenous communities in Michigan, for Indigenous individuals and communities who live here now, and for those who were forcibly removed from their Homelands. By offering this Land Acknowledgement, we affirm Indigenous sovereignty and will work to hold Michigan State University more accountable to the needs of American Indian and Indigenous peoples.
- The previous paragraph is intended to be read at the beginning of formal events or published in printed material.
LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ARE A RESPONSIBILITY
We respect the desire to recognize the ancestral, traditional, and contemporary stewards of the Land. However, we ask that when offering a Land Acknowledgement, remember that these Acknowledgements must be preceded by relationships with living Indigenous people, communities, and nations. This declaration must then be followed with ongoing commitments to these same communities. Land Acknowledgements are a responsibility
WHAT ARE LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS?
A Land Acknowledgement or Land Recognition is a formal statement, often given orally at the beginning of organized events, celebrations, or activities. It recognizes, respects, and affirms that there is an irreducible and ongoing relationship between Indigenous people and the Land. Land Acknowledgements are especially important in contemporary nation-states, like the US and Canada, in which the political structures are based on settler-colonialism and the expropriation of Lands from Indigenous peoples. Land Acknowledgements or Land Recognitions serve to illuminate ongoing Indigenous presence, as well as recognize and counter settler-colonial legacies of violence and Land expropriation.
EXTENDED LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We acknowledge that Michigan State University occupies the ancestral, traditional, and contemporary Lands of the Anishinaabeg – the Three Fires Confederacy of Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi peoples. The University resides on Land ceded in the 1819 Treaty of Saginaw. We recognize that settler and Indigenous signatories understood the terms of the treaties in starkly different terms. According to a map within the University archive, Anishinaabeg maintained an ‘Indian Encampment’ south of the Red Cedar River when classes were first held at the University (then known as Michigan Agricultural College) on May 13, 1857.
As one of the first Land Grant colleges, Michigan State University is a beneficiary of Land allotted through the passing of the Morrill Act in 1862. The University finds pride in calling itself ‘The Nation’s Pioneer Land Grant College,’ a term we find highly problematic and recommend that it no longer be used. The Morrill Act, which enabled the Land Grant system, was passed in the same year as both the Homestead Act–granting 160 acres to individual settlers who ‘improved’ and farmed land in the West–and the largest mass hanging in the history of the United States, the state-sanctioned murder of thirty-eight Dakota. We understand that there is an indelible relationship between the creation of Land Grant institutions, the simultaneous and ongoing expropriation of Indigenous Lands, and the governmentally-coordinated genocide against Indigenous peoples. By recognizing the ways that settler-colonial institutions benefit from these interconnected histories, we work to hold the University accountable.
In American Indian and Indigenous Studies, we recognize, support, and advocate for the sovereignty of Michigan’s twelve federally-recognized Indian nations (Bay Mills Indian Community, Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, Hannahville Indian Community, Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, Match-e-be-nash-she-wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians, Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi, Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe, and Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians), as well as other Indigenous people and historic tribes in Michigan (Burt Lake Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, Grand River Bands of Ottawa Indians, Mackinac Band of Chippewa and Ottawa Indians, and Swan Creek Black River Confederated Ojibwa Tribes), across Turtle Island, and throughout the Fourth World.
We acknowledge the real ways that the State of Michigan, Michigan State University, and residents of this Land have benefitted from the forced and systematic removal of Anishinaabeg and other Indigenous peoples from Michigan, particularly during the Indian Removal period of the nineteenth century. We affirm and acknowledge the Burt Lake Band, who were literally burned from their houses in 1900. We also acknowledge the Métis community who were forced from their community on Bootaaganini-minis (Drummond Island), when the border was drawn between the US and Canada. Likewise, we recognize that parts of what is now Michigan includes Land within the traditional Homelands of the Miami, Meskwaki, Sauk, Kickapoo, Menominee, and other Indigenous nations.
We collectively understand that offering Land Acknowledgements or Land Recognitions do not absolve settler-colonial privilege or diminish colonial structures of violence, at either the individual or institutional level. We recognize that Land Acknowledgements must be preceded and followed with ongoing and unwavering commitments to American Indian and Indigenous communities. In AIIS, we push Michigan State University to recruit, retain, and support American Indian and Indigenous students, faculty, and staff. Moreover, we affirm that Michigan State University must support Indigenous communities and nations in Michigan, as well as throughout Turtle Island, and across the Fourth World. We recognize, support, and advocate for the sovereignty of Michigan’s twelve federally-recognized Indian nations, for historic Indigenous communities in Michigan, for Indigenous individuals and communities who live here now, and for those who were forcibly removed from their Homelands. We affirm Indigenous sovereignty and hold Michigan State University accountable to the needs of American Indian and Indigenous peoples.
BRIEF LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT FOR EMAIL SIGNATURE
Michigan State University occupies the ancestral, traditional, and contemporary Lands of the Anishinaabeg–Three Fires Confederacy of Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi peoples. The University resides on Land ceded in the 1819 Treaty of Saginaw.
Inquiries can be sent to Dr. Kristin Arola, Director of American Indian and Indigenous Studies
This Provisional Land Acknowledgement was developed in Binaakwe-giizis // Leaves Falling Moon – October 2018. The Provisional Land Acknowledgement is a living document developed by American Indian and Indigenous Studies and will be further developed and revised in conversation with communities.