Performance or Progress? The Physical and Rhetorical Removal of Indigenous Peoples in Settler Land Acknowledgments at Land-Grab Universities

Abstract

Land acknowledgments are an evolving practice to recognize local Indigenous Peoples as traditional stewards of their homelands. Using a content and discourse analysis, we conduct the first empirical study of U.S. land acknowledgment statements focusing on the 47 land-grab universities created under the 1862 Morrill Act. We find that LGUs tend to adopt statements in urban areas, where federally recognized tribes are present, and at institutions with over 100 enrolled Native American students. Land acknowledgment statements also commonly name local Indigenous Peoples yet often fail to articulate their responsibilities to them, include superficial gestures, and center multicultural language. We offer “rhetorical removal” to describe the tendency of land-grab universities to deploy language that selectively erases Indigenous Peoples and, thus, argue that statements must directly address settler colonial legacies of violence and redistribute material support for Indigenous students and partnerships with Native nations.

Whiteness and racialized emotions in leaders’ planning and implementing equity in graduate education organizations.

“…Here, an institutional commitment to antiracism may be a “self-declaration that ironically can participate in the concealment of racism within the university” (Ahmed, 2006, p. 110). For example, often institutional commitments to antiracism do not divulge how the institution stole freedom and labor from slaves (Tichavakunda, 2021a) or land and culture from Indigenous tribes (Ambo & Beardall, 2022).…”

Lessons on addressing whiteness in diversity and equity initiatives: Recommendations for leaders and organizational practice.

“…Race-evasive language tempers transformative change by diverting attention away from critical conversations about systemic racial inequities toward terms that are assumed to be comfortable and palatable, particularly for audiences that are not already involved with equity planning (C. Harris, 1993;Iverson, 2007). For example, often institutional commitments to equity or even antiracism do not divulge how the institution stole freedom and labor from slaves (Tichavakunda, 2021) or land and culture from Indigenous tribes (Ambo & Rocha Beardall, 2023). Also, in using race-evasive language, programs and schools also risk sliding into racial ignorance, which further perpetuates Whiteness (McCambly & Colyvas, 2023;Mueller, 2020), including leaders who at times expressed critical race consciousness and equity mindedness.…”

“…Harris, 1993; Iverson, 2007). For example, often institutional commitments to equity or even antiracism do not divulge how the institution stole freedom and labor from slaves (Tichavakunda, 2021) or land and culture from Indigenous tribes (Ambo & Rocha Beardall, 2023). Also, in using race-evasive language, programs and schools also risk sliding into racial ignorance, which further perpetuates Whiteness (McCambly & Colyvas, 2023; Mueller, 2020), including leaders who at times expressed critical race consciousness and equity mindedness.…”

Acknowledging the Land Acknowledgment Paradox

“…Many of my colleagues expressed concerns similar to mine, and all of us were unsure of what, if anything, our professional societies can or should do about the issue. Many Indigenous scholars, however, have been vocal in their critique of the practice of land acknowledgments as "superficial" and "performative" (Ambo and Beardall 2023). Other criticisms include the failure of the acknowledgments to articulate the institution's responsibilities to Indigenous community being acknowledged, or a willingness to share the benefits these institutions accrued from the place (Ambo and Beardall 2023).…”