Indigenous Futurism: Returning to Land, Reclaiming Thyselves

Dr. X (Jemez/Taos Pueblo/Chicana), a mother, writer, scholar, and organizer, received her doctorate from Arizona State University’s School of Social Transformation & Justice Studies and is an advocate for the rematriation of Indigenous lands and communities. For the first couple of years of grassroots activism around Native country, there were lots of emphases put on “land acknowledgments,” but now it’s more about the land back ideology, which seeks to re-establish Indigenous sovereignty. “We don’t want just an acknowledgment that this land was once ours; we want processes that afford us the opportunity to reclaim ancestral land bases,” said Dr. X.

However, getting one’s “Land back” isn’t just a matter of academic discussion; it’s political. Several champions are using grassroots activism to ensure practical application. Grassroot organizers and front-line organizers mobilize with nonprofits and city and state entities to gain leverage and push for land back. And it has worked. Through the efforts of Alas de Agua Art Collective and Three Sisters Collective, in collaboration with the nonprofit farm next door to Full Circle Farm and Youthworks, activists approached the county for the land, acquired five acres, and began rehabbing to remove trash and debris. “I feel like we are doing a really good job of moving the pendulum of social transformation, reintegrating our original Indigenous name of our community, O’gah Po’g’eh, into the language lexicon, creating a model example of what could be replicated in other cities., states, and counties,” said Dr. X.

And who are the primary leaders of this cause? These political movements, water protection movements, and land back movements are all led by women. Dr. X, and other like-minded women, view it as their personal responsibility as a matriarch to teach people how to reconnect with the land – native or not. Everyone needs to understand our place in the web of life. Humanity must learn our place and how to be in reciprocity with nature. Until then, according to Dr. X, “we will continue to destroy our planet.”

To learn more about Dr. X’s work and the work of collaborators, make sure to RSVP for the September 14th and 20th event by RSVPing at https://www.muralarts.org/art-environmental-justice-symposium-2022/