From Land Grab to Native Sovereignty: A Panel Discussion
Photo: UMass Department of HIstory
Source: UMass Department of History
The UMass History Department is presenting a panel discussion entitled, “From Land Grab to Native Sovereignty: Indigenous Futures at Land Grant Universities on Thursday, February 13 at 4 p.m. on Zoom. This program is part of the 2024-2025 Feinberg Lecture Series with the theme “What are Universities For? Struggles for the Soul of Higher Education.” It features Tristan Ahtone of Grist magazine and K. Wayne Yang (a.k.a. la paperson) of the University of California San Diego who will engage in an expansive dialogue on the historical and present-day relationships of U.S. universities to Indigenous peoples, reflecting on how universities can be accountable to the land and to Indigenous peoples.
Ahtone will build on his work in Land-Grab Universities and Misplaced Trust to discuss the connections between universities, Indigenous land, and climate change, with land-grant universities profiting from fossil fuels, mining, and other industries on lands stolen from Indigenous nations. Author of A Third University Is Possible and co-author of “Decolonization Is Not a Metaphor,” Yang will explore how universities can recognize and respect Native sovereignty, including through free enrollment for Native students, rematriation of land, and Indigenous community-driven action research. The conversation, including opportunities for audience engagement, will be facilitated by Abigail Chabitnoy, award-winning poet and faculty at the Institute of American Indian Arts and the UMass English Department.
Registration is free.
The next program is a film screening of “You Are Not a Loan” on Monday, February 24 at 6 p.m. in the UMass Student Union Black Box Theater and streaming online.
About the Feinberg Series
The history department’s signature event series, the Feinberg Family Distinguished Lecture Series is offered every other academic year thanks to the generosity of Kenneth Feinberg ’67 and associates. Each iteration of the series focuses on a “big issue” of clear and compelling concern, generally a policy or social issue. Regularly attended by thousands of people from across the world, Feinberg Series events ground the theme in historical inquiry, context, analysis and experience and featuring a wide variety of events, including lectures, exhibitions, performances, panel discussions and film.