Land Acknowledgement

I begin with honoring the lifeblood of the land - the two rivers which cradle the valley I live with.

I acknowledge and honor the Nisenan and Miwok / Miwkoʔ Waaliʔ as the traditional and living stewards of the land that I reside with and give respect to their Elders past, present, and becoming. I am grateful to be living with and learning from this land and I acknowledge the resilience of Indigenous peoples, our complex history, and the deep need for repair, repatriation, and reconciliation. 

This acknowledgement is a small part of my ongoing effort through word and deed to support the continuity of Nisenan, Miwok / Miwkoʔ Waaliʔ, and Indigenous ancestral traditions and future dreamings. 

I recognize that All is Land, there is no other.

Learn More & Participate

Land acknowledgements are a small but important step in repair and reconciliation with the land and the Indigenous people who have been and continue to be its traditional stewards. It is meant to be an act of liberation, education, and inspiration, performed in concert with acts and deeds which protect the land and empower people.

• Start here to learn more about Land Acknowledgements as well as ways to practice solidarity with Indigenous people beyond words and into action.

• Native Land Digital is an excellent resource to start learning about the Indigenous people of the land you live with.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by where to start, I find that books written by Indigenous folks geared towards children can be an inviting and beautiful place to begin. While finding a book written by an Indigenous author specific to the Indigenous people of the land you live with isn’t always possible (but thankfully that is changing rapidly), here are some general recommendations:

• Fry Bread by Kevin Noble Maillard

• The People Shall Continue by Simon J Oritz

• We Are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom & Michaela Goade

A Work In Progress

My own land acknowledgement is a work in progress. It is a river of living words which will shift and change through time as I shift and change in my relationship to land and people, including my own Indigenous roots. Thank you for holding space, as a reader, for this ongoing ebb and flow to occur.

I use language here and throughout my site that speaks of the land I live “with” as opposed to “on” and this is intended as a way to use vernacular that is collective and based in power-with frameworks. As a Pagan it feels more authentic to speak of the land as something we are with and of, instead of on, and helps remind me, especially in these times of climate crisis, that I am allied as much with the tree outside the window where I sit writing these words as I am with my neighbors across the street.

I added the line “I recognize that All is Land, there is no other” in a inelegant but intentional way of acknowledging the need for us to not just honor the land we live with and its traditional stewards, but to purposely call us back into the wisdom that we are all of the land, not above or better or beyond it. It is a way to pull us into the story of Land, instead of feeling othered and distanced, which in turns others (through exoticization, erasure, and denigration) Indigenous peoples. One of the many ways that capitalism and colonialism weaponizes greed and dehumanization is by relegating the land and Indigenous people who live closely with it as something that is meant to be exploited - which becomes easier to do when you do not know yourself as Land. Awakening to ourselves as Land is an act of defiance, one that allows us to grieve for what has been lost, seek reconciliation where harm has been done, strengthen Land-affirming cultures, and ultimately reunite as family. To say that All is Land is a call to peace through the challenging but necessary work of reconciliation so that a sustainable and life-affirming solidarity can arise.