USDN Land Acknowledgement Lessons Learned
Over several months prior to our 2024 Annual Meeting in Minneapolis, a USDN team refined its approach for intentionally crafting land acknowledgements and encouraging action beyond the acknowledgements. Centered on recognizing the long history and present act of stewardship by the original people of the land, USDN strives to express its commitment to raising awareness of the ongoing impacts of colonization while highlighting ways to move beyond land acknowledgements. Additionally, USDN supports tribal/urban Indigenous communities by visiting Indigenous owned businesses, cultural centers, and events or donating to tribes and organizations that serve Indigenous people.
USDN’s Land Acknowledgement approach includes:
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Initiating the process as soon as the meeting location is confirmed.
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Engaging with staff at the host city to determine whether they have their own land acknowledgement or if they have established relationships with local tribal communities.
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Engaging with the local visitors bureau to see whether they have a land acknowledgement or relationships with local tribal communities. This was added due to the success of working with Minneapolis’ visitors bureau while there for a network event.
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Engaging with the county staff where the host city is based to determine whether they have a land acknowledgement or relationships with tribal communities.
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Engaging with local Indigenous communities directly if none of the above institutions have a land acknowledgement or relationships with tribal communities. This is our last step because, as an organization from outside of the community, it is preferred to build on existing relationships with tribes first, if possible.
Once the protocol has been followed, it is time to craft the land acknowledgement. This begins with identifying where in the meeting agenda the land acknowledgement will be placed and how much time is needed for it. Initial estimates start on the higher end to make room for a potential guest speaker, but of course, the timing can be shortened as the details are solidified.
Thus far, we have operated with the belief that it is best to have someone from the local Indigenous community present the land acknowledgement. Typically, our outreach for a speaker has been unsuccessful, which may be for the best. According to a discussion of land acknowledgements from the Native Governance Center, it is not up to tribal members to acknowledge the land for visitors or to welcome those they consider invaders to their land, particularly when we have invited ourselves. Instead, it is best that we write the land acknowledgement based on our own research, including history and current events, while also including some personal notes where appropriate. Along with this, reaching out to local tribes to foster a genuine connection or to make a donation, is more appropriate and shows more effort on the part of the visitors, than simply asking for a representative of the tribe to do the land acknowledgment for us. If you want to invite an Indigenous speaker to your event, invite them because of their knowledge and expertise pertaining to a relevant topic being featured at the event, rather than as a token to kick off the event.
After an event has ended and the total cost has been confirmed, USDN donates a percentage of the event’s lodging costs to a tribal organization in the host location. This may be a tribe or a community organization that works closely with local tribes. If the meeting has a guest speaker from a local tribe, they will receive a letter of thanks and the tribe will be asked to guide us in selecting where the donation will go. If a guest speaker was not involved, USDN’s Equity Practice Manager will research who is to receive the donation. The donation being submitted closes out the land acknowledgement procedure.
A Message From Celía Burke, USDN Equity Practice Manager
I have had the pleasure of crafting land acknowledgements for external and internal USDN meetings since 2022. It is an ongoing journey, helped by many conversations and research, and I would like to share some of the things that I have learned with you.
I encourage an infusion of personal details where possible. New Orleans is where I live, so when USDN hosted an event there, I was able to bring attention to my relationship with the land and water. For example, when USDN went to Minneapolis for a later meeting, I made the connection that the city is where the Mississippi River begins and New Orleans is where it ends, which felt meaningful to me, so I highlighted that. If you are writing a land acknowledgement, especially if it is where you live and work, take some time for personal reflection. I imagine that you may often be thinking about the place that you live and work from a more technical viewpoint. This can be especially true for those in more urban environments. Spending time considering the beauty of a place as well as its impact on your spirit can help you foster a deeper connection to place. I also consider that the way that it makes me feel could be how people have responded to it for millennia.
Research
I do not always begin with personal reflection, though that may be useful to you. When I find where we are hosting a meeting, I look to the now familiar Native Land map tool, and find the names of tribes first. I look on the website of the tribe, if it is available, to read about the history and current events. When I see multiple tribes in one place, I commit to naming all of them, and also consider that there may be disputes about who can claim to be original inhabitants of a place. Further research can help to determine if that is the case.
When I am not sure how to pronounce the words I will need to say in a land acknowledgement, I look on the tribal websites to see if there are phonetic spellings available, or even recordings. When I can’t find those, I turn to YouTube, and am often successful there, especially if the video is from the tribe itself. When all else fails, you can reach out to the tribe, typically via email, and see if they can help you with the pronunciation.
Lastly, I turn to news for current events. For external meetings or conferences, acknowledgements can include sessions, immersive experiences, landmarks, businesses, and volunteer opportunities tied to Indigenous communities. In internal meetings, I have shared news items including the opening of a new Native American community center and instances where land has been returned to the tribes. It is very important that land acknowledgements do not frame Indigenous people as only in the past tense. This framing is steeped deeply in our societies and is embedded in us at an early age; work to unlearn this. Indigenous people are still here.
Existing Models
I have no problem using existing land acknowledgements from local institutions, especially since USDN is not local to the meeting locations. If we do not obtain a land acknowledgement from our partners, research may reveal land acknowledgements elsewhere, like at local universities.
I regularly use a land and labor acknowledgement template on calls I facilitate. This acknowledgement has space to honor the contributions of Indigenous peoples, both past and present, but also acknowledges the labor of enslaved Africans and of immigrants. The land and labor acknowledgement does not have to be used only in locations with a history of African enslavement. I was introduced to this model by our former partners at Cultures Connecting, which is based in Seattle. People in other parts of the world can remove that portion and add something relevant to their cultural context or skip to the portion that acknowledges immigrant labor.
When time allows, I like to further engage participants of an event beyond hearing a land acknowledgement. My favorite tools for this work come from a webinar I attended a couple of years ago hosted by Amplify RJ - Restorative Justice. It was called “From Land Acknowledgement to Land Back (for people of the global majority)”, and I participated in exercises that asked me to use the Native Land map tool to reflect on the following:
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What is your relationship to this land and the original people? Who are the original people there? What languages did that land know first?
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Find other lands you have a relationship to: places you have lived, have visited, were born, have relatives, friends, or ancestors and consider the same questions as above.
I was also introduced to the template for a poem and invited to write, draw, sing, dance or respond in any other physical/embodied way to the following prompts:
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I live upon…
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I come from…
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Home is…
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My people are…
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When I think of land, I imagine…
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When I think of water, I picture…
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(insert place) knows my name.
These prompts are a great way to do deeper engagement that fosters a sense of belonging. It shifts participants away from the usual habit of introducing themselves and centering their profession and instead opts for something more personal. This is important because the heart of land acknowledgements should be community building. At USDN, these activities are meant to help you connect with other members, but we also hope that, if possible, our members can build relationships with the tribal communities around them.
Conclusion
Land acknowledgements are the bare minimum that an organization can offer. Yet we know that our members are not often in a position to make deeper decisions around giving land back to tribes or decolonizing office dynamics. Given this reality, making efforts towards a more intentional land acknowledgement practice is a humble offering that can open up our hearts and ground us in this unacknowledged reality: we are living on stolen land and the impacts of that continue today. The languages, cultures, and ideas that seem so fixed in our lives look pitiful compared to the centuries of original languages, cultures, and knowledge that this land has known. We appreciate the opportunity to recognize this respectfully and we are continuing to learn. We hope you will join this learning journey with us.
Resources for deeper learning