WINTER 2020-2021 EVENTS

ERASURE AND RESTORATION:

An Understanding of Past and Present in the Kwinitekw Valley’s Indigenous Communities

2020 was the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower’s landing in Wampanoag territory in 1620. People living in the U.S., and white people in particular, have yet to reckon with the centuries of violence and conflicts over land, resources, and values that began with the arrival of Europeans. The way this history is most often told—by settlers’ descendants—excludes the voices of Indigenous peoples, downplays the systematic violence and attempted erasure that Indigenous communities have survived, and raises many questions about who gets to shape our understanding of history and why. The continued erasure of Indigenous stories and perspectives, in history and the present, calls into question whether colonialism is really “history” at all—or a system and set of policies that still actively shape our communities today. 

Through events facilitated by Indigenous people and non-Indigenous allies, this series will consider who the narrators of Indigenous history are, and make space for a strengths-based retelling, and analyze the meaning and matter of relationship-building, reconciliation, land caretaking, memory, and inclusive curricula that explore Indigenous histories, cultures, and lived experiences.