The Local Engagement & Community Engagement sub-committee is honored to have spent time learning and engaging from the work of colleagues whose expertise and experience shine a light on accessibility, disability justice, and the possibility of coalitional work. Please take some time to review the following guidance which can help all of us to reorient ways of thinking about, doing, and advocating for access while at ASHE and always.

Access (Un)Statement

We desire the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) to be(come) a space that prioritizes and cultivates a culture of interdependence, access, and collaboration rather than a strict reliance on individual processes of disclosure and accommodation. We believe that by emphasizing disability justice, we can shift our collective perspectives toward disability and access. Disability justice pushes us towards antiracist and decolonial work that addresses ableism as a form of oppression that “assign[s] value to people's bodies and minds based on societally constructed ideas of normalcy, productivity, desirability, intelligence, excellence, and fitness. These constructed ideas are deeply rooted in eugenics, anti-Blackness, misogyny, colonialism, imperialism, and capitalism.” Embracing disability justice shifts the culture of a space, creating dynamic and empowering ways of living in community. It recognizes disability as fluid and natural, moving us towards practices of mutual responsibility, acceptance, and purposeful inclusion.

We have observed the demand for accessibility checklists and the overreliance on individual accommodation processes as strategies for creating accessible conference spaces. We believe the insistence on these two approaches reveals several dynamics that are rooted in white supremacist culture, namely: understanding disability as an individual problem, prioritizing the individual over the community, and insisting on perfection. When we rely on these approaches, it is easy to see how colonial desires to erase differences and isolate disabled people shape our ways of being together. Complacency around these approaches is incompatible with the goals of ASHE to be an inclusive organization.

Disability in the academy was historically seen as a problem to be eradicated by nondisabled people. Current accommodation processes echo that history: they are transactional, rooted in compliance, and designed to place retrofits without making nondisabled folks uncomfortable, or asking them to do too much. As a community of scholars working to eliminate systems of oppression in the academy, we look to disability culture and justice to challenge these norms. Embracing these principles in ASHE would involve embracing flexibility, creativity, messiness, interdependence, and imagination in conference design. We do not believe it is possible to design a perfectly accessible conference space as access needs, like disability, are dynamic and fluid. We do believe it is possible to transform the way we approach access labor at ASHE, shifting away from a framework that reduces disabled scholars “down to the expense of their accommodations.”

We have experienced the way disabled people do access differently: in ways that are creative, flowy, skillful, hack-y, radical, messy, and grounded in love and solidarity. Building our collective access knowledge can empower us to imagine and create ways of being together at ASHE that do not assume or rely on the non-participation and exclusion of disabled colleagues and scholars.

We are reminded that our work to address ableism is not just about the logistics of access. As Mia Mingus writes, “we want to question a culture that makes inaccessibility even possible. Just because disabled people are in the room doesn’t mean there is no ableism or that people won’t pretend we’re invisible.” Thus, beyond changing access practices, critical theorizing around disability invites us to unpack our feelings around and relationships to disability as a community.

We recognize that disability is often associated with whiteness and that white disabled people are often centered in disability research, history, and media (#DisabilityTooWhite). At the same time, we know a hesitancy to embrace disability identity and theory stalls our ability to engage in “generative theoretical projects that ultimately serve the goal of our collective liberation” (via Moya Bailey). By embracing disability justice and addressing ableism in our work, we sharpen our analysis of issues of race, ethnicity, and racism in higher education and create space to “reflect on how we uphold notions of normalcy that ultimately (re)produce the very systems we seek to tear down” (via Subini Annamma).

We invite and encourage you to engage in ongoing, deep reflection around how we can shift ASHE’s culture towards one of interdependence and collective accountability. As such, rather than provide a traditional access statement with a process for individual accommodation and accompanying guidelines, we shift and pose a set of reflection questions that can be explored individually, collectively, and ideally continuously. We imagine these as guiding questions that move us towards a community where disabled scholars of color can be fully present and participate in the process of knowledge-building with an inclusive community of peers and mentors.

Continuous Reflection Questions

• Why do you participate in ASHE?
• What are your access needs as a scholar, researcher, mentor, and/or student?
• How does ASHE meet your access needs?
• If you could imagine a completely accessible community, what would it look like?
• How are you building community at ASHE?
• Who do you see as being in the ASHE community?
• Do you see disabled scholars?
• What does accessibility mean to you?
• How have you learned about creating access?
• What relationships have shaped your knowledge around access?
• What do you know about individual accommodation processes?
• Do you assume they work?
• Do they work (differently) for scholars of color?
• Are they humanizing?
• Who has power in these processes?
• How do you think about accessibility when you are giving presentations?
• Facilitating or moderating discussion?
• Participating as an audience member?
• What accommodations have you been asked to make in the past?
• Have they become a part of your practice?
• Why or why not?
• What do you see as possible and not possible around access at ASHE (or in other academic settings)?
• What has shaped that understanding?
• What are your fears, questions, excitements, and concerns around access work?
• How do you seek out resources to address these concerns?
• What types of labor do you ask of disabled people around you?
• How is (dis)ability represented in your scholarly work?
• How is ableism incorporated into your framing of systemic oppression?
• How does your work unpack or reinforce ideas of normalcy, intelligence, and excellence?
• When you think of disability, who do you think of?
• What are your associations between disability and whiteness?
• How do you consider the experiences of disabled people of color when you think about disability and ableism?
• How are the multiple, intersecting identities of disabled people of color present in your thinking?
• What systems, norms, and assumptions make inaccessibility possible at ASHE?
• What enables inaccessibility to persist at ASHE?

Contributors List

This statement was developed and refined by scholars engaged through the CEP Accessibility and Equity/Inclusion Sub-Committee, which was convened by CEP Chair (2020-2022), Dr. Lissa D. Ramirez-Stapleton, California State University, Northridge and chaired by Dr. Julia Rose Karpicz (2021) and Dr. Gina A. Garcia (2022). This group included the following scholars (listed in alphabetical order) and others:

• Esteban Alcalá, University of Pittsburgh, PA
• Brenda E. Avilés, University of North Texas, Denton, TX
• Daniel J. Blake, University of Pennsylvania, PA
• Val Erwin, Bowling Green State University, OH
• Cherese F. Fine, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, IL
• Gina A. Garcia, University of Pittsburgh, PA
• Julia Rose Karpicz, University of California, Los Angeles, CA
• Emily R. Koren, University of Pittsburgh, PA / University of Southern California, CA
• Georgina Rivera-Singletary, Saint Leo University, Saint Leo, FL
• Gabriel Rodríguez Lemus, Jr., The University of Texas at Austin, TX

Land Acknowledgment

As we gather for the ASHE 2023 Conference, it is important to acknowledge that we are currently on the traditional ancestral homeland of the Dakhóta Oyáte (Dakota people), the original inhabitants and stewards of the land and waterways of Minneapolis, MN. The cultural history of the Dakota people begins at the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers, a sacred place they call Bdóte, and is shared with the Anishinaabeg (Ojibwe) people, whose homelands extend northward from the city.

The land of the Dakota and Ojibwe people that now comprises the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area was unfairly ceded through the major land cessions that coincided with the collapse of the fur trade. The Treaties of 1837 and 1851 with the Dakota people and the treaties of 1837 and 1855 with the Ojibwe people delivered unfulfilled promises of future payments of cash, goods, timber and land rights in exchange for the majority of land ownership in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area.

In addition to the Dakota and Ojibwe people, the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area is home to one of the largest and most tribally diverse urban American Indian populations, numbering well over 35,000. The size of the Twin Cities’ indigenous population boomed as a result of the 1956 Indian Relocation Act which defunded many reservation services and paid for relocation expenses to the cities in an attempt to assimilate the country’s indigenous peoples.

Minnesota comes from the Dakota name for the area, Mni Sota Makoce — ‘the land where the waters reflect the skies.” Today, Minnesota shares geography with eleven Tribal Nations, in addition to the Ho-Chunk, Cheyenne, Oto, Iowa, Hidatsa, Arikara, A’aninin, Cree, Blackfeet, Assiniboine, and the Sac and Fox tribes all who also acknowledge Minnesota as important to their tribal histories.

We ask conference attendees to take time to reflect and acknowledge the land and resources we are using to sustain ourselves during the conference. We also ask attendees to devote time to learning about the histories and the experiences of the Dakota people in the Minneapolis area. We acknowledge the painful history of genocide and settler colonialism that continues to impact Native and Indigenous communities today and how settler colonial logics are presently embedded in educational structures, policies, curriculum and procedures. By offering this land acknowledgement, we affirm tribal sovereignty. We hold ourselves accountable as postsecondary educators to recognize and counter the historical and contemporary injustices, violence and inequity that continue to impact Indigenous people today. We commit ourselves to support movements of Indigenous sovereignty through mutually beneficial partnerships, research, policies, and practices in the field of higher education and beyond.

Reflection on Minneapolis

Written by Jamaica DelMar and J.D. Lopez (Quechan), Local and Community Engagement Committee Co-Chairs

We are honored to carry on the meaningful work of the Local and Community Engagement Committee (LCEC), which was formalized into committee under the leadership of ASHE President, Dr. D-L Stewart and led by Drs. Awilda Rodriguez and Heather Shotton (Wichita & Affiliated Tribes, Kiowa, and Cheyenne) in 2021. The inaugural committee facilitated deep place-based learning through intentional conversations, through virtual pre-conference learning opportunities, the development of culturally grounded syllabi, land acknowledgments, and decolonizing tours. Their work provided an excellent service for the ASHE membership and a strong foundation for the 2022 LCEC led by Drs. Chris A. Nelson (Laguna Pueblo and Diné) and Magdalena Martinez.

Indeed, the 2022 LCEC’s work included another powerful syllabus, a carefully coordinated visit to a People of Color-owned art studio and community center, and an informative Presidential Session. The 2023 ASHE Annual Conference will be held on the traditional homelands of the Dakota/Lakota/Nakota and Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) in the city of Minneapolis (Dakota “minne” meaning water + Greek “opolis” meaning city), the state of Minnesota (Mni-sota makoce, Dakota for land of smokey water).

The Twin Cities (Minneapolis and St. Paul) are home to a diverse community including the largest Karen (South Myanmar) and Somali populations in the U.S., the second largest Hmong population, and significant indigenous and Mexican populations call the Twin Cities home, along with many others. As the 2023 Co-Chairs, we gratefully embrace and build on the paths set before us. We plan to offer opportunities that facilitate place-based awareness through locally-based learning experiences.

Thus, while cold temperatures and Prince’s Purple Rain may come to mind before advocacy and activism, as LCEC Co-Chairs, we want to highlight that the Twin Cities metro area has long been a site for those whose interests lie in fighting for equity. For example, in response to discrimination and decades of inequitable Federal Indian policy, the American Indian Movement (AIM) was formed in Minneapolis in 1968 and soon became a nationwide movement. AIM members came together in Minneapolis and elsewhere to discuss the critical issues restraining their lives and to take control of their destinies.

We look forward to collectively learning and sharing more about how the AIM movement addressed the reclamation of land, fought against high unemployment, slum housing, and broken treaty rights—all perpetuated by racism. Minneapolis, as we will all learn, is a space of radical coalition. For example, activist groups including the abolition work of MPD150, Communities United Against Police Brutality, and Black Lives Matter Minnesota, have followed and worked with AIM’s fight for social justice.

It is important to note that this racial justice work has been ongoing since and even before the 1960s. However, the recent murders of Philando Castile (2016) and George Floyd (2020) among others brought heightened attention to the injustices forced on communities of color in Minnesota. Keeping all of this in our minds and hearts has led us to think more about: What is higher education’s role in creating and sharing knowledge that can be used to advocate for justice in the communities where we live, work, and visit? How do we ensure that our research is helpful, not harmful and not extractive? How can we make our work relevant to practitioners who are leading the fights for justice in our communities?

It is with these questions in mind that we plan to shape the activities of the 2023 LCEC. We encourage 2023 ASHE conference proposal submitters and attendees to be purposeful and consider how higher education can be used to advocate for equity and justice. While we want everyone to enjoy the beautiful city of Minneapolis, let’s not forget that it is home to some of the greatest racial disparities and a long ongoing fight for racial justice in the country.

Purposes

As ASHE President Dr. Ana Martinez-Aleman shared while announcing the 2023 conference theme, social, political, and economic forces are impacting the higher education landscape. Members of the public and actors from varying political spaces are questioning the purpose of higher education and its role in society like never before. For some, higher education is a place for career and workforce training, while for others, it is a place for personal and community development and engagement – all important in the development of a democratic society. However, it is important to come to this work with a critical lens and acknowledge the interlocking systems of oppression that are reverting progress around equity and justice in higher education.

In entering a space such as Minnesota, we are reminded of the paradoxes that exist within its current social, political, and economic landscape. For example, Minnesota has a deep and rich history of social justice movements, but for a progressive space, economic disparities are glaring between white and historically marginalized communities. To address this paradox, this section of the syllabus hopes to provide insight into areas where educational research may be of most benefit to develop community-centered solutions.

The educational materials shared in this section address the interrelationship between history and the present, and how acknowledging this dynamic will help move the needle forward in creating justice and equitable access for all its community members. Most resources are connected to the area of Minnesota but have broader relevance.

Continuous Reflections Questions

• What connections have you made between your state’s government and local community regarding policy making and implementation?
• How have local community members been considered or integrated into decision-making at your institution?
• What role does history play in equity and justice efforts at your respective institution?
• In what ways have your institutional leaders acknowledged harm done to marginalized individuals and communities?
• In what ways has community engagement changed at your respective institutions in the last 5-10 years?
• How does your institution build community-centered partnerships?

Resources about Education/Purposes of Education in Minnesota

• Bui, T. (2021, December 5). Native American students want the University of Minnesota Morris to search for lost burial sites. Sahan Journal.
• Davis, J. L. (2013). Survival schools: The American Indian movement and community education in the Twin Cities. University of Minnesota Press.
• Estes, N. (2019). Our History is the Future: Standing Rock Versus the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the Long Tradition of Indigenous Resistance. Penguin Random House.
• Eubanks, D., Frias, L.M., Galloway, A. (Hosts), and Hlee, L. (Producer). (n.d.). The TRUTH (Episode 129) [Audio podcast episode]. In Counter Stories. Ampers.
• Farley, M., Matthews, N., Deer, S., Lopez, G., Stark, C., & Hudon, E. (2011). Garden of truth: The prostitution and trafficking of Native women in Minnesota. Minnesota Indian Women’s Sexual Assault Coalition & Prostitution Research & Education.
• Fernández Campbell, A. (2016, October 12). How America’s Past Shapes Native Americans’ Present. The Atlantic.
• Koepplinger, S. (2008). Sex trafficking of American Indian women and girls in Minnesota. University of St. Thomas Law Journal, 6(1), 129-137.
• Lee, R. and Ahtone, T. (2020, March 30). Land grab universities. High Country News.
• Lemm, L. and Premo, C. (Hosts). (2023, April 21). Misty Blue & Indigenous-led Research Toward Healing and Recognition (Episode 103) [Audio podcast episode]. In Native Lights: Where Indigenous Voices Shine. Minnesota Native News.
• Navratil, L. (2023, February 9). University of Minnesota says it will return forestry land to Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. Star Tribune.
• Pexa, C. (2019). Translated Nation: Rewriting the Dakhota Oyate. University of Minnesota Press.
• Schilling, V. (2020, December 26). The traumatic true history and name list of the Dakota 38. Indian Country Today.
• Shin, S. Y. (2016). Good time for the truth: Race in Minnesota. Minnesota Historical Society.
• Steinman, E. (2019). Why was Standing Rock and the #NoDAPL campaign so historic? Factors affecting American Indian participation in social movement collaborations and coalitions. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 42(7), 1070-1090. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2018.1471215
• The TRUTH Project (2023, March). Oshkigin Noojimo'iwe, Naġi Waƞ P̣etu Uƞ Ihduwaṡ'ake He Oyate Kiƞ Zaniwic̣aye Kte (the spirit that renews through fire heals the people). [Report].
• Twin Cities PBS (2021, August 10). The U.S.- Dakota Conflict: The Past Is Alive Within Us | Documentary [Video]. YouTube.
• University of Minnesota (n.d.). American Indian Boarding Schools in Morris.
• Weissman, S. (2023, July 13). Tribes Call for Reparations From University of Minnesota. Inside Higher Ed.

Change in education is situated in broader social movements and political contexts. Institutions of higher education have responded to social movements demanding greater access to education, equity in access, and more inclusive learning environments during college, but have also faced backlash. This can be seen in the past several years with the Black Lives Matter movement challenging anti-blackness and systemic racism in institutions including colleges and campus police systems. Though some institutions have taken this as a call to action, reactionary politics has also introduced bans to African American Studies courses, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs, and Critical Race Theory (CRT). This tension between progress towards social change and reactionary tactics to maintain the status quo can be seen in Minnesota colleges and universities. At the same time that the supreme court case ruled against the use of Affirmative Action in college admissions, three universities in the state, including University of Minnesota, announced that they would be ending legacy admissions. The political push and pull in policy mirrors the larger paradox of higher education as a “social good” and also a system of social reproduction.

This section provides scholarly articles and other resources about social movements directly tied to Minnesota and their connection to higher education.

Continuous Reflection Questions

• How do we, as individuals and as parts of institutions, hold colleges and universities accountable for moving beyond merely stating that Black Lives Matter or that they reside on stolen, indigenous land, and put those statements into action?
• How does higher education’s foundation in white supremacy and colonialism shape the ways that these institutions respond to student movements?
• How should institutions of higher education be influenced by political movements, and which movements should they be responsive to?
• In light of heightened attacks on unprecedented attacks on academic freedom, diversity, inclusion, equity, and academic freedom, how do we advance colleges and universities as invaluable spaces for grappling with social difference and systemic inequality?

Resources about Political and Social Movements in Minnesota

American Indian Movement

• Deeper Dive
• Bellecourt, Clyde, as told to Jon Lurie. The Thunder Before the Storm: The Autobiography of Clyde Bellecourt. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2017.
• Johansen, B. D. (2013). Encyclopedia of the American Indian Movement. Greenwood.
• Nagle, R. (2019-present). This land [Audio podcast]. Crooked Media. https://crooked.com/podcast-series/this-land/

Black Lives Matter

• https://blacklivesmatter.com/herstory/
• https://blacklivesmattersmn.com/
• Connection to removing confederate statues and other memorials of white supremacy on campuses https://www.mnopedia.org/thing/christopher-columbus-memorial-st-paul

Blood Quantum to Lineal Descent

• https://nativenewsonline.net/currents/minnesota-chippewa-tribe-votes-to-remove-blood-quantum-from-enrollment-requirements

Water is Life

• Friends of the River
• Native American Community Development Institute
• History of the River Bdote Memory Map
• Open Rivers publication

Reactions to change:

• Increased presence of white supremacy on college campuses
• Attacks on Affirmative Action
• Banning DEI programs, CRT, and African American Studies courses

Scholarly References about Social and Political Movements

• Bell, Berry, D., Leopold, J., & Nkomo, S. (2021). Making Black Lives Matter in academia: A Black feminist call for collective action against anti‐blackness in the academy. Gender, Work, and Organization, 28 (S1), 39–57. https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12555
• Cordes. (2023). Place is everything: remembering responsibilities between and beyond land acknowledgments. Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies, 20 (2), 191–199. https://doi.org/10.1080/14791420.2023.2202724
• D’Arcus, B. (2010). The urban geography of Red Power: The American Indian Movement in Minneapolis-Saint Paul, 1968-70. Urban Studies, 47 (6), 1241-1255. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098009360231
• Dancy, T. E., Edwards, K. T., & Earl Davis, J. (2018). Historically White Universities and Plantation Politics: Anti-Blackness and Higher Education in the Black Lives Matter Era. Urban Education, 53 (2), 176–195. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085918754328
• Jacobs, W. R., Thompson Taiwo, W., & August, A. (Eds.) (2021). Sparked: George Floyd, racism, and the progressive illusion. Minnesota Historical Society.
• Moxley Rouse. (2019). Liberal Bias: The New “Reverse Racism” in the Trump Era. American Anthropologist, 121 (1), 172–176. https://doi.org/10.1111/aman.13187
• Williams, & Grande, S. (2023). Trumpocalypse and the Historical Limits of Higher Education Policy: Making the Case for Study/Struggle. Qualitative Inquiry, 29 (3-4), 432–445. https://doi.org/10.1177/10778004211014615

Meaningful change can only be achieved through a combination of personal growth, systemic transformation, and collaborative efforts, as demonstrated in the sections above. Addressing issues of social justice, diversity, and inclusion in higher education creates an environment to positively contribute to society and promote equity in all areas of the social sphere. This section explores a range of individual, organizational, and collective practices that aim to advance justice within and beyond academia. Through critical and actionable approaches, Practices delves into acknowledgement and reconciliation efforts, decolonization and advocacy movements working to create a more equitable and inclusive future. Advancing justice is the work of all.

The current political climate in the US recognizes the power within our institution’s policies and practices. Mindful of the purposes and politics that build the foundation for the current practices in and outside of the classroom, consider the following as you digest the readings provided here and beyond our time together.

Continuous Reflection Questions

• How do we, as individuals and as parts of institutions, hold colleges and universities accountable for moving beyond merely stating that Black Lives Matter or that they reside on stolen, indigenous land, and put those statements into action?
• How does higher education’s foundation in white supremacy and colonialism shape the ways that these institutions respond to student movements?
• How should institutions of higher education be influenced by political movements, and which movements should they be responsive to?

Resources about Personal, Organizational and Collaborative Practices

• Land Back: Lee, R., Ahtone, T., Pearce, M., & colleagues. (2020). Land-grab universities. High Country News. https://www.landgrabu.org/
• Makoce Ikikicupi (Land recovery) https://makoceikikcupi.com/our-first-village-2/ https://ias.umn.edu/programs/public-scholarship/mespac/twin-cities
• Reconciliation Efforts: The TRUTH Project (2023, March). Oshkigin Noojimo'iwe, Naġi Waƞ P̣etu Uƞ Ihduwaṡ'ake He Oyate Kiƞ Zaniwic̣aye Kte (the spirit that renews through fire heals the people). [Report]. https://mn.gov/indian-affairs/truth-project/ https://www.fortlewis.edu/fort-lewis-college-news/news-detail/flc-board-reaffirms-its-commitment-to-ongoing-reconciliation-process-as-it-awaits-history-colorados-report https://discovery.osu.edu/stepping-out-stepping-toward-truth-reconciliation-dispossessed-native-american-tribes
• Missing, Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW): https://www.mprnews.org/story/2021/07/06/minnesota-creates-nations-first-state-office-on-missing-murdered-indigenous-people Report to the MN Legislature: https://dps.mn.gov/divisions/ojp/Documents/missing-murdered-indigenous-women-task-force-report.pdf https://www.miwsac.org/missing-and-murdered-indigenous-women-and-relatives/ MN is the first in the nation to create an office for missing and murdered Indigenous relatives: https://dps.mn.gov/divisions/ojp/Pages/missing-murdered-indigenous-relatives-office.aspx https://dps.mn.gov/divisions/ojp/Pages/missing-and-murdered-indigenous-women-task-force.aspx https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/minneapolis-missing-and-murdered-indigenous-relatives-march/ https://sahanjournal.com/policing-justice/missing-and-murdered-indigenous-relatives-office-minnesota-new-logo/

References about Practices

• Davis, J. L. (2013). Survival schools: The American Indian movement and community education in the Twin Cities. University of Minnesota Press.
• Kimmerer, R. W. (2013). Braiding sweet grass: Indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge, and the teachings of plants. Milkweed Editions.
• la paperson. (2017). A third university is possible. University of Minnesota Press. https://manifold.umn.edu/read/a-third-university-is-possible/section/ba50806d-ff18-4100-9998-784aecb42ae4
• McCoy, K., Tuck, E., & McKenzie, M. (Eds.). (2017). Land education: Rethinking pedagogies of place from Indigenous, postcolonial, and decolonizing perspectives. Routledge.
• Stein, S. (2020). What can decolonial and abolitionist critiques teach the field of higher education. The Review of Higher Education, 44 (3), 387-414. https://doi.org/10.1353/rhe.2021.0000
• Wilder, C. S. (2013). Ebony and ivy: Race, slavery, and the troubled history of America’s universities. Bloomsbury Press.
• Wildcat, M., McDonald, M., Irlbacher-Fox, S., & Coulthard, G. (2014). Learning from the land: Indigenousland based pedagogy and decolonization. Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education, Society, 3 (3), 1-25. https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/des/issue/view/1584
• Rocha Beardall, T. (2022). Settler simultaneity and anti-indigenous racism at land-grant universities. Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, 8 (1), 197–212. https://doi.org/10.1177/23326492211037714
• Tuck, E. & Yang, K. W. (2012). Decolonization is not a metaphor. Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society, 1 (1), 1-40.

Given ASHE’s two-year presence in Minnesota, the LCEC intends for this syllabus to serve as a starting point for ongoing learning, dialogue, and action. Mni Sóta Ma ḳ oce, where “the land where the waters reflect the sky,” has long been a rich contact zone (Guam Poma de Ayala, 1980; Pratt, 1991). Before white colonizers arrived, this region saw the resettlement of the Anishinaabe (also known as the Chippewa or Ojibwe) from the East.

For the 2023 conference syllabus, the LCEC has focused largely on these Indigenous communities and their experiences of ongoing colonialism in order to provide a historical foundation for our forthcoming discussions of the purposes, politics, and practices of higher education. In the centuries since European settlement began, the Minneapolis and St. Paul metro area has become home to many racial and ethnic groups that moved both within and across the borders of what is today the United States.

We encourage the 2024 LCEC to build upon our work by centering the stories of these younger Minnesotan communities and their contributions to decolonization, anti-racism, and an inclusive democracy. Any and all ASHE members are invited to participate in our ongoing work and apply to join the 2024 LCEC. Whether you formally join the LCEC or not, you are also invited to contribute resources to the LCEC’s efforts by suggesting readings, lectures, artwork, local experiences, or anything else of value via this linked form.

Thank you for taking the time to learn about the people and history of Minnesota during your visit. We hope that these resources help us collectively center the needs and desires of our local hosts, both in our immediate work in Minneapolis and in our future collective endeavors.

In solidarity,

The 2023 Local Community Engagement Committee

References

• Pratt, M. L. (1991). Arts of the contact zone. Profession. 33–40. https://www.jstor.org/stable/25595469
• Guaman Poma de Ayala, F. (1980). El primer nueva coronica y buen gobierno (J. Murra & R. Adorno, Eds.). Siglo.

• Community Conversation #1: A story disrupted: Indigenous perspectives (1 hr, 12 min). Friends of the Falls. This is a recording of the project introduction and panel discussion, streamed online via Zoom. Speakers introducing the project included Carrie Day Aspinwall (facilitator of the Native Partnership Council), Kjersti Duval (Friends of the Falls), David Malda (GGN), Mark Andrew (Friends of the Falls), and Robert Lilligren (NACDI). The panel discussion hosted by Robert Lilligren featured Native leaders Karen Diver, Juanita Espinosa, Jewell Arcoren, and Wakinyan LaPointe.
• Community Conversation #2: Relationships with the river: Water is Life (1 hr, 26 min). Friends of the Falls. Speakers opening the conversation included Carrie Day Aspinwall (facilitator of the Native Partnership Council), David Malda (GGN), and Robert Lilligren (NACDI). The panel discussion hosted by Robert Lilligren featured Native leaders Sharon Day and Wakinyan LaPointe, as well as river experts John Shepard and Whitney Clark.
• Community Conversation #3: Restoring a story disrupted: What can this place become? (1 hr, 37 min). Friends of the Falls. The third Community Conversation for The Falls Initiative was held on May 19, 2022 in partnership with the Prairie Island Indian Community. This is a recording of the session, streamed online via Zoom. At times the audio in the video is disrupted; view a transcript of the Zoom chat, including summaries of some speaker comments, at TheFalls.org/zoomchat.
• Community Conversation #4: Building connections (1 hr, 12 min). Friends of the Falls. The fourth Community Conversation for The Falls Initiative was held on May 21, 2022 as part of the City of Minneapolis Community Connections Conference. This is a recording of The Falls Initiative breakout session, hosted live at the Minneapolis Convention Center. Following the session, participants were invited to visit The Falls Initiative booth and share additional feedback.
• Community Conversation #5: A powerful place for partnership (52 min). Friends of the Falls. The fifth Community Conversation for The Falls Initiative was held on June 28, 2022 at Open Book in Minneapolis. This is a recording of the presentation, streamed online via Zoom. Following the presentation, guests participated in small group discussions about Early Design Concepts and Next Steps.

Podcasts

• Native access and equity in higher education with Commissioner Denis (49 min). From Native Minnesota, with Rebecca Crooks-Stratton. In this episode, Rebecca sits down with Dennis Olson, the commissioner of the Minnesota Office of Higher Education and member of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. In this conversation, Rebecca and Dennis talk about his early educational experiences, the achievement gaps between white and Native college students, and how his agency is working with tribes and Native communities to address issues in higher ed.
• Treaties, trust, responsibility, and relationships between Tribes and universities with Tadd Johnson (1 hr, 12 min). From Native Minnesota, with Rebecca Crooks-Stratton. In this episode, Rebecca sits down with Tadd Johnson to cover his varied career in law, government, and higher education. Tadd currently serves as the senior director of American Indian Tribal Nations Relations at the University of Minnesota, director of the Tribal Sovereignty Institute and director of graduate studies in the American Indian Studies Department. In this conversation, Rebecca and Tadd talk about his work in education, how universities are evolving in their work with Native peoples and what folks don’t understand about Native history.
• Waters to the sea stories – Dakota place and kinship with the Mississippi river (1 hr, 3 min). CGEE multimedia and Hamline University. This hour-long webinar, hosted by Hamline University's Center for Global Environmental Education (CGEE), was recorded on 11/10/2020. The program celebrates a collaboration between CGEE and the Lower Phalen Creek Project (LPCP: https://www.lowerphalencreek.org/) and its Wakan Tipi Center in St. Paul, MN. Presenters were LPCP Director Maggie Lorenz, Spirit Lake Dakota/Turtle Mountain Ojibwe; LPCP Board Member Dr. Kate Beane, Flandreau Santee Sioux; and CGEE Assistant Director John Shepard. The recording includes debuts of two videos about Dakota relationships with the Mississippi River and an overview of CGEE's learning resources about American Indian history and culture available through the Waters to the Sea: Mississippi River Adventure program.