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.
Map of Native American Land Cessions and Reservations to 1858. In "Territorial Imperative: How Minnesota Became the 32nd State," by Rhoda Gilman (Making Minnesota Territory 1849–1858; Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1999).
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.