Imagining a world with Land Acknowledgements and Reparations
Location: Ruby 2 (Saturday 2:15 PM or 4:15 PM)
Land Ack and Land Back
Over the past two decades, governments, organizations, churches, and individuals from around the world have been honoring Mother Earth, Indigenous peoples, their Ancestors and Tribal Nations by practicing land acknowledgments when people gather. This class will introduce participants to the history and purpose of land acknowledgments, why they are important, as well as how and when groups and individuals should practice them. There are appropriate and respectful ways to deliver acknowledgments and knowing these ways will be promoted and leave lasting impacts.
In addition, the Land Back movement has impacted the lives of Tribal Nations and Tribal Members across Turtle Island. Class participants will learn more about this movement and reparations, why the movement is important to not only Indigenous people but for all people, and how best to engage in the restorative justice practices that such a movement fosters and demands. Asking people and organizations to choose justice in this way can prove challenging, yet starting the conversation gets us all closer to healing.
Presenter:
Vance Blackfox, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, is the founder and director of Other+Wise, a multi-site cultural education and cultural immersion program for youth from across the country. Vance previously served as the Director of Communications at the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, as the Director of Communications for Native Americans in Philanthropy, and has held executive director positions at the Haskell Foundation, which supports Haskell Indian Nations University, and the Oaks Indian Mission. Vance has served as the Guest Curator of the Indian Museum at the University of Texas at San Antonio Institute of Texan Cultures and as the Indigenous Theologian for the Faith-Based Initiative for the City of San Antonio.
An alumnus of Texas Lutheran University and the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, Vance has served the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in multiple capacities, from taking a post as National President of the Lutheran Youth Organization as a teenager to later working as a diversity and cultural education professional for the Women of the ELCA, Augsburg Fortress Publishers, California Lutheran University, ELCA Youth Gathering, and LSTC’s Youth in Mission. In addition to serving numerous ELCA and ecumenical teams and committees throughout the years, he is at present the Indigenous Theologian and Coordinating Team Member for the ELCA’s Theological Round Table, ELCA’s Director of Indigenous Ministries and Tribal Relations, as well as creator and producer of the Vine Deloria Jr. Theological Symposium, hosted at LSTC.