Koehler Center for Instruction, Innovation, and Engagement

Introduction as Protocol

My name is Pablo Montes (any pronouns) and I am descendant of the Chichimeca Guamares and P’urépecha people from the valley of Huatzindeo (place of beautiful vegetation), colonially referred to as Salvatierra, Guanjauto. Specifically, I am from a rancho called La Luz at the foot of the Culicán mountain. I am also an active Danzante Mexicah (Aztec Dancer) with Danza Ollinyollotl and Kalpulli Mitotiliztli Yaoyollohtli. Introducing oneself is a practice that many Indigenous communities have always done and a proper introduction to the Land and people requires one to share who you are and where your people are from (Robinson et al., 2019). Therefore, before talking in depth about the topic of Land acknowledgements, it is necessary that I properly introduce myself as someone who is not from the Lands of the Kir ikir?i:s (Wichita) and that I am in process of becoming a proper guest (Stewart-Ambo and Yang, 2021).

What is a Land acknowledgment?

Land acknowledgements have become ubiquitous amongst many U.S. universities and colleges in recent years, yet there is still uncertainty as to what is the purpose of a Land acknowledgement and to what extent are they useful. In this workshop, we discussed and envisioned ways to think about a Land acknowledgment as both a process of recognizing Indigenous presences and what material ways can we be of service to Indigenous people and Land. There are many iterations and understandings of what a Land acknowledgement is, and TCU’s version is as follows: The Land Acknowledgment helps remind and educate the TCU community about the long and diverse presence of Native Americans who precede and co-exist with our presence in this area. However, before we began to visualize how we can incorporate a Land acknowledgement into our pedagogies, curriculum, and academic spaces, we spent time thinking with the following questions: Who are you in relation to this Land? What relationship do you have to the Indigenous people of these territories? “What would it mean for a settler speaker of a land acknowledgment to say, ‘I am a visitor, and I hope to become a proper guest?’” (Stewart-Ambo and Yang, 2021, p.34). These questions encouraged us to consider how relationality and accountability was/is a central component of Indigenous acknowledgements of Land and thus require much more from us who are non-Kir ikir?i:s (Wichita) than simply recognizing/acknowledging the histories of a place.

Shortcomings of Land Acknowledgements and Becoming Guests

Many Indigenous and Black communities have shared their concerns and shortcomings of these types of statements. One major concern is that these statements do not actually materialize into actionable steps and better yet only serve to disrupt the comfort of settlers (Native Governance Center, 2021). Even though Indigenous Land Acknowledgements were created by Indigenous people as a form of Indigenous resurgence and settler disruption, as Chelsea Vowel (Métis) reminds us, these acknowledgements are often stripped of their disruptive power when their sole purpose translates to one of simple recognition and informing an ignorant public that there is a history of colonialism. So how can we avoid being reductive and performative with our Land Acknowledgements? As Stewart-Ambo and Yang (2021) invite us to think, we need to start asking ourselves the question of what we must do to become proper and honorable guests. Charles Sepulveda (Acjachemen/Tongva) provides us an avenue to begin this journey by offering his explanation of Kuuyam. As he explains, Kuuyam is Tongva word for guest that also shows the longevity of guest-host relationships that was/is common within many Indigenous protocols (2018). What is key in Sepulveda’s suggestion is that one becomes Kuuyam, in other words, someone who is a visitor is not necessarily a Kuuyam because in order to become a proper guest there must be a relationship, accountability, and understanding of the Indigenous people and Land of that place. So in order to become guests in good relation with the Kir ikir?i:s (Wichita) and the Land, we must see ourselves as visitors aspiring to become a proper guest (Stewart-Ambo & Yang, 2021).

Next Steps: Our classrooms, pedagogies, and the broader TCU Campus

After discussing in depth about Land acknowledgments and our own relationships with the Land and Indigenous people, we then were invited to reflect on how this workshop can be implemented within our classrooms, pedagogies, and the broader TCU campus. There has been generative resources compiled over the last couple of years at TCU to encourage faculty and staff to incorporate the Land acknowledgement into their classrooms, events, and programming. We asked ourselves the following questions: How does my field of study relate to Indigenous people, Land, knowledge, and futures? How can we make our classrooms, curriculum, and pedagogy anticolonial? What if my class was a continuation of our responsibility and reciprocity as proper guests? We encourage all of the broader TCU community to incorporate and use these tools purposefully in their teaching and programming so that we may continue becoming proper guests on the Lands of the Kir ikir?i:s (Wichita).