Start Seeing Native Land
Native History and our Ecosystem
Many of us don’t know much about Native history. The text books we were given in school tend to breeze through it and ignore the serious injustices of the past and the present. The treaties between Native Nations and the US Government that weren’t entirely bogus from the start were often broken (and continue to be broken) when it suits the government’s financial interests.
But despite these broken treaties and the genocide waged against Native peoples, this land has long been, and continues to be inhabited by them. Humans are merely an extension of the Land; a branch on a massive evolutionary tree. Ecology is the study of the relationship between the living organisms in that tree.
With this in mind, we can begin to understand the ancestral knowledge and skills that has been developed by Native people over millennia of living in this particular place, and why understanding Native culture and history is essential to our collective resiliency and the health of the Land
There are more than 574 Native Nations in the United States alone. Seeing Native Land and raising your awareness is the first step. Check out these resources to start familiarizing yourself and let us know if you have others we should add. What were you most surprised to learn about? Let us know in the comments!
Podcasts
“ Haslihail and Osiyo! Welcome to All My Relations, a podcast where we explore what it means to be a Native person in 2019. To be an Indigenous person is to be engaged in relationships—relationships to land and place, to a people, to non-human relatives, and to one another. All My Relations is a place to explore those relationships, and to think through Indigeneity in all its complexities. ”
“ Native America Calling is a live call-in program linking public radio stations, the Internet and listeners together in a thought-provoking national conversation about issues specific to Native communities. Each program engages noted guests and experts with callers throughout the United States and is designed to improve the quality of life for Native Americans. Native America Calling is heard on nearly 70 public, community and tribal radio stations in the United States and in Canada. Our program is a production of Koahnic Broadcast Corporation, a Native-operated media center in Anchorage, Alaska. ”
“ Driven by the mission to originate and celebrate a wealth of distinct, Indigenous-led experiences both on-line and off, our larger vision is to catalyze these conversations and connections into community; to bring together the people who share our vision, from trendsetters and tastemakers to thought leaders. Our podcast is but one way to do that, and we’re just getting started. ”
The Native Lands App
There are more than 574 distinct and recognized Tribal Nations in the United States alone. NativeLands is a well designed and informative app and gives us a quick way to determine who’s land we’re occupying, links to learn about those Tribal Nations, treaties, and more.
Ethically Visiting Tribal Nations (Reservations)
**EDITORS NOTE** —— DO NOT TRAVEL THROUGH RESERVATION LANDS DURING A PANDEMIC.
These communities have been hard hit by the COVID-19 Pandemic and many Nations have closed their borders. Please use the information below to plan for a future visit. Please respect these communities.
While all the land we occupy is Native land, there are specific sections of land known generously as ‘reservations’ that were established by the Dawes Act of 1887 — giving the US Government power to divide and diminish Native lands for the purpose of cultural assimilation.
These reservation lands were often stark allotments of land where the US Military corralled different communities they had uprooted from hundreds of miles around. They were also sites of mass murders and atrocities committed against Native families. Despite this, many Native communities are rebuilding and modeling new benchmarks for resiliency and ecological thinking!
Check out Wakíŋyaŋ Opȟa Wičhóthi Gluíčhaǧe Okȟólakičhiye (Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation) to see how a community in the Oglala Lakota Nation is building one of the first and most ecologically-sustainable communities on the planet, in the area known as the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Consider donating to support their grassroots work.
Today, many Tribal Nations have museums, cultural centers, ecotourism attractions, and art galleries open to the public. Your choice to learn about the history of the Land you occupy and support Native nonprofits and businesses is essential to a well-rounded ecological life wherever you roam.
As with any community, bringing humility and open ears can go a long way toward understanding the place and the People. Do research before you go and learn about the local laws of the sovereign nation you’re visiting. Specifically look for information about camping, recreation, and the possession of alcohol, as these rules can change between communities.
Beware of non-Native-run service trip programs and ‘native’ art that are not explicitly run or produced by Native people. The Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990 actually prohibits it!
Here is a short list of some notable travel opportunities on Tribal Land.
The Famous Antelope Slot Canyon
The Blue-Green Waters of Havasupai Land
Do you know the history of these words?
Tribe — The word ‘tribe’ originated in latin Europe and referred to cultural groups, however in modern language, the word is most used by english speakers in North America. For the last 400 years or so, the word has been intimately tied to the long and ongoing history of Native, Tribal Nations in the Americas and the status of persons belonging to those Nations, and specifically NOT in reference to non-Native cultural groups. Tribal status for a Native person was and continues to be a serious and sometimes deadly issue for Native communities and is not something to be taken lightly. Today, Native people are still legally and officially judged by their amount of ‘Native blood,’ and that status can determine their ability to work, eat, and live under the control of the US government. Many thousands of people have died in the attempt to protect their family, lands, cultural heritage, and Tribal status from cultural genocide and oppression. By using the word ‘tribe’ colloquially to simple mean ‘group of people,’ undermines the struggles of Native people, specifically in the Americas. Instead of using the word ‘tribe,’ consider using Group, Collective, Family, or Crew.
Native v. native — The word Native with a capital “N” always refers to indigenous people, whereas the word with a lowercase ‘n’ always refers to the quality of being originally from a location. An example of this would be: “Aspen trees are native to alpine regions of the West.” and “Maka is a Native person from the Oglala Lakota Nation.” It should be noted that in some areas of the world, Native people use different words to refer to themselves, including words that other Native communities strongly resist, such as the word “Indian”. Just because a Native person uses the word “Indian” does not mean a non-Native person should as well. Many Native communities are also shifting the names of their Tribal Nations from terms that originated with colonial oppressors to terms that have roots within their own languages. An example of this would be Diné instead of Navajo, or Lakota/Nakota/Dakota instead of Sioux. While the word “Native” is generally acceptable, when in doubt, the following terms tend to be the most widely accepted across communities and countries: Indigenous and First Peoples/First Nations.
Spirit Animal — The concept of spirit animals originates in the long spiritual and historical traditions of indigenous people across North America and also among other spiritual traditions around the world. The english language phrase ‘Spirit Animal’ in the context of present day North American society gained its popularity through inappropriate and often destructive cultural fetishization; a fixation on the perceived ‘exoticness’ of Native culture.
It was illegal to practice any Native philosophy or spiritual practices until 1978 when the Native American Religious Freedoms Act was finally passed, protecting the rights of Native people to exercise their traditional spiritual practices by ensuring access to sites, use and possession of sacred objects, and the freedom to worship through ceremonial and traditional rites. Before this time, Native families were murdered, imprisoned, and disenfranchised because of their beliefs, including practices which involved spiritual connections with animals. Using the term ‘spirit animal’ as a modern phrase for “animal I identify with” belittles the ongoing struggles of Native people to be seen as human and the many Native lives lost while attempting to protect their spiritual traditions. Using ‘Spirit Animal’ colloquially reminds many indigenous people of this recent cultural oppression. Instead of using the phrase ‘Spirit Animal,’ consider simply using ‘Favorite Animal.’
Savage — While this word has a literal definition of: wild and ferocious, in regards to people, and in the context of history it also means cruel, brutal, untamed, uninhabitable, uncivilized, and unwelcoming. For the majority of its time in language it has been used to demean and oppress Native and dark skinned peoples, specifically in the Americas. While modern songs encourage listeners to sing along; Instagram provides stickers and GIFs brandishing the term; and society tries to re-define the word as a benign term for ‘feisty’ or ‘intense’, there is a much much longer history of it being used as a derogatory racial slur. If you are not Native or dark skinned, using this word could be seen as similarly offensive and reminiscent of a very recent past when the word was regularly racialized to degrade the character of certain groups of people. Consider using any of the other terms listed above in this paragraph and refrain from supporting cultural artifacts which ignore the destructive racial history this term.