Indigenous Struggle “to Keep Land Under Our Feet”: Revitalizing Language and Culture through Land Relations

• In Event: Honoring Black and Indigenous People’s Place and Land Relations: Educational Engagement in and Beyond Schools

Abstract

Purpose

For Indigenous peoples worldwide, “land is everything” (Kimmerer, 2013, p. 17). Land is their identity, connection to ancestors and more-than human kinfolk, and source of learning, healing, and sustenance while providing a language rich context (Kimmerer, 2013; Lomawaima & McCarty, 2006; Simpson, 2014). Land theft and dispossession has and continues to be the largest threat to Indigenous lifeways and knowledge systems (Simpson, 2014). Wampanoag people have been fighting to keep land under their feet and to sustain their linguistic and cultural legacy since settler invasion and land theft dating back to the 1600s (Marcelo & Fonseca, 2018; Author, 2021). Their fight for land, language, and cultural revitalization are deeply intertwined and have been the fire fueling their educational advocacy efforts in a community and school district that has been their home since time immemorial. This paper explores the significance of land to Wampanoag parents and community members and the connection between land and their linguistic and cultural revitalization advocacy efforts in their community and local schools.

Theoretical Framework

The educational experiences of Indigenous peoples have been and “are profoundly shaped by a unique relationship with the federal government and by their status as tribal sovereigns” (McCarty & Lee, 2014, p. 102). Tribal sovereignty is Indigenous peoples’ right to self-governance, self-education, self-determination, lands and lifeways (Lomawaima & McCarty, 2002; McCarty & Lee, 2014). Culturally sustaining/revitalizing pedagogy, the framework used for this study, is an expression of tribal sovereignty that aims to challenge asymmetrical power relations, transform legacies of colonization, and reclaim and revitalize all that has been disrupted and displaced by colonization including land, language, and culture (McCarty & Lee, 2014).

Methods, Data Sources, and Analysis

This paper draws from 30–90-minute individual semi-structured conversations and a 2-hour talking circle conducted with 8 Indigenous (mainly Wampanoag) parents and community leaders from a small New England town that has been their homeland for over 12,000 years. Talking circle and semi-structured conversations transcripts were analyzed using a combination of Wilson’s (2008) intuitive logic and Braun & Clarke’s (2006) thematic analysis.

Results

For the Wampanoag parents and community leaders in this study, land was indeed everything and key to revitalizing and sustaining all that colonization disrupted. They were adamant in their assertion that Wampum (pseudonym for the town) is their homeland and shared stories of their ongoing battles with the federal government for tribal recognition and rights to their land. Maintaining status as a federally recognized tribe and rights to reservation lands was/is necessary to supporting and continuing their linguistic and cultural revitalization effort in local schools and their community. It was/is also key to sustaining their Tribally created and run school.

Scholarly Significance

This paper argues for critical understanding of the significance of land for Indigenous families and community members and its connection to their linguistic and cultural revitalization efforts in and outside of schools. For educators, recognition of Indigenous peoples and their own relationships to Indigenous lands is critical to understanding and supporting the engagement practices and advocacy efforts of Indigenous families and community members.

Author

• Shanee A. Washington, University of Washington