Intentionality of a University: A Reconceptualization of Native Land Recognition Statements

Keywords: Land recognition, land-back, rematriation, neoliberal, reconciliation, decolonization
Abstract Type: Paper Abstract

Abstract

The modern neoliberal university has become a place of racial and economic segregation through the protection of white fragility and silencing attempts for equity against oppressed populations. One key example of this is land recognition statements (LRS), which have become a casual speaking point for many universities to account for political correctness or the checking of a DEI box, instead of treating them as an actionable list of demands from indigenous peoples and our allies. In these false reconciliatory statements, power is removed, and thus what should be statements of action have instead become the palatable versions we have seen arise in recent years. This is especially true in regards to universities, as they can act as gatekeepers to history and equity through taking a non-stance in their LRS, if they have one at all. This lack of critical engagement and the diluting of uncomfortable truths around LRS must be reconciled, and the approach must be repositioned away from thinking words themselves as sufficient. Through the framework of Land-back and rematriation I am attempting to both re-conceptualize and decolonize what LRS can, and should be. It is the goal of this paper to address those failings, and propose meaningful ways to engage with land recognition as a form of rematriation, and not simply empty words. By approaching university LRS through this praxis, these sterile and normative declarations of passivity can evolve, and focus on the deeper and more holistic purpose of discussing what it means to occupy stolen lands.