Read “Native Land Conservancy Tackles Climate Change from Indigenous Perspective,” featuring Leslie Jonas (https://www.capeandislands.org/science-environment/2019-11-18/native-land-conservancy-tackles-climate-change-from-indigenous-perspective).
Danielle Hill-Greendeer, Mashpee Wampanoag; Indigenous Food Sovereignty Educator and Practitioner – Read Danielle’s July 11, 2021 blogpost (https://www.heron-hill.org/post/knee-high-by-july?utm_campaign=3d22345c-98a8-427e-a8fd-a255c3a7e6db&utm_source=so&utm_medium=mail&cid=07a3dc13-d99b-48a1-b160-97408869d83d) from her website https://www.heron-hill.org/.
Please view the website of the Massachusetts Commission on Indian Affairs, which includes information regarding the Native peoples of Massachusetts and links to Tribal websites (https://www.mass.gov/service-details/indian-affairs).
Questions:
1) What is Indigenous sovereignty and self-determination? Why is it important for non-Natives to understand this?
2) How many federally recognized Tribal Nations are there in the US? What is the relationship between those Tribal Nations and the US government?
3) Who are the two federally acknowledged Tribal Nations in Massachusetts?
4) What is the NLC? When was it founded?
5) Who founded the NLC? Please state specifics you have learned from one assigned reading about the founder of the NLC.
6) What is a cultural respect agreement? Who is the Indigenous educator/leader/scholar/activist in Massachusetts who generated the creation of cultural respect agreements?
7) Who is Ahkee? From the perspective of Indigenous people, why is it crucial for us to know who Ahkee is?
8) Give one specific example of what you have learned about Indigenous sovereignty and self-determination in action from at least one reading thus far. For example, what does the reading by Mashpee Wampanoag food sovereignty expert-practitioner and educator, Danielle Hill Greendeer, teach us about food sovereignty as essential to Indigenous self-determination?
9) Who said the following? What aspects of this statement do you consider to be most important, and why? :
“When land is put into a conservancy, it becomes public land for light recreation so you can walk the trails. When we go as Native people to do a ceremony, go blueberry picking as a big family, or if we go scalloping or to gather beach plums, we attract attention. The last thing we want is to have a ceremony disrupted by police or for our children to witness racism in action. This is why it’s become necessary and important to have a cultural respect agreement, for special access to the property even if it’s open to the ‘public.’”
10) In the assigned reading, “Northeast Wilderness Trust & Native Land Conservancy Announce Collaboration,” by Leslie Jonas, Ramona Peters, and Jon Leibowitz, we learn about the power of collaborations among Native and non-Native peoples and organizations in Massachusetts. Based on what you have learned thus far, write one detailed paragraph (5-6 sentences minimum) in which you explain (a) what Indigenous principles are fundamental to generating and sustaining such collaborations; and (b) what you have learned about the NLC and why it is so important to the wellbeing of the people and of Ahkee.
