HISTORY

HISTORY

2017 

Hampshire College hired Ashley Smith, Professor of Native American Studies and Environmental Justice. As the first Native American and Indigenous Studies (NAIS) faculty at Hampshire College, Ashley was instrumental in cultivating student inquiry and engagement with decolonization, Indigeniety, Indigenous sovereignty and self-determination, and settler colonialism. Ashley Smith was among the first Hampshire community members to introduce the practice of offering land acknowledgements at campus wide events. 

2021 

We Make Community by Hand, an interdisciplinary arts course,  hosted a series of five conversations with visionary Indigenous artists who collaborate with the land to build community, foster healing, and galvanize movements for justice.   The talks were the result of a faculty-student partnership between Hampshire College Visiting Assistant Professor of Theatre Will MacAdams and three teaching assistants: Hampshire students Blythe Wilde and Fianna Wilde (who also co-wrote the grant that funded the series) and Mt. Holyoke student Anpa’o Locke (Húnkpapha Lakota and Ahtna Na-Dené). The talks were supported by a Five College NAIS Mellon grant, in partnership with Hampshire's Office for Institutional Diversity and Inclusion, Ethics and the Common Good, the In/Justice Learning Collaborative, and the Hampshire Theatre Program, and contributed to the work that followed in the Spring 2022 with the Common Good Residency. 

2022

The Spring 2022 Common Good Residency with Jean-Luc Pierite (Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana), Indigenous leader, activist and designer, invited the Hampshire college community to actively engage with and reflect on the question: How can we (individually, collectively, and institutionally) cultivate a right and reciprocal relationship with this land the the Indigenous Peoples of this land? This residency included campus wide events with Jean-Luc Pierte, Rowen White and Marge Bruchac, and the creation of an embodied land acknowledgement at the first Native Crossroads Festival, which was organized by Isabella Uttley-Rosado.  The Living Land Acknowledgement Hoop hangs in the Kern Atrium today.  The 2022 Common Good Residency Planning Group offered Senior Leadership and the campus community their reflections and recommendations for how to continue to move towards cultivating right and reciprocal relations with the land that we live and work on and the Indigenous Peoples of these lands, which you can find here. 

2023

In Spring 2023, President Ed Wingenbach and Senior Vice President of Justice, Equity and Antiracism charged Assistant Dean of Collaborative and Community Engaged Learning Javiera Benavente with leading and forming the Decolonization and Reciprocity Working Group (DRWG). The Working Group was constituted and met for the first time in August 2023, and has continued to meet biweekly ever since. During our first year of work, we received invaluable guidance from Heather Bruegl, a public historian and decolonial education consultant and a citizen of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin and a first-line descendant of Stockbridge Munsee, Jean-Luc Pierite and Rowen White, Indigenous Seed Keeper from the Mohawk community of Akwesasne.

During the Fall 2023 Common Good Residnecy kara lynch worked with on campus and off campus partners to explored themes of reparations, rematriation, landback, Black Indigenous Futures, reciprocity, and healing our relationships with the land and all our relations. In addressing Hampshire’s efforts to create a Living Land Acknowledgement, this residency asked: How will Hampshire honor the deed with the original peoples of this land? Could, should, and would Hampshire be a steward of a seed sanctuary in community with others in Western Ma and the region? This residency included conversations with Andre Strongbearheart Gaines, founder of No Loose Braids, to learn more about Indigenous Land Stewardship and cultural easements / use agreements.  

2024

In our first year, the DRWG developed the Decolonization & Reciprocity Action Plan—a roadmap that articulates a shared vision, guiding principles and outlines five transformational goals and a set of reparative, reciprocal, and imaginative actions Hampshire can take to move toward right relationship with the Indigenous Peoples whose lands we are on. In June 2024, we shared this plan with Senior Leadership, who expressed strong alignment with its vision. However, in light of institutional financial constraints, we paused on presenting it publicly in order to refine a set of realistic, actionable commitments for the next three years.

In Fall 2024, the Decolonization & Reciprocity Working Group developed the Living Land Acknowledgement Resource Guide. This effort was led by then student Finn Farrell. This guide emerged from the understanding that land acknowledgements—when practiced meaningfully—are more than symbolic statements. They are invitations into sustained processes of reflection, learning, and accountable action. The guide challenges us to move beyond performative recognition and instead cultivate a living practice—one that is relational, context-specific, and grounded in reparative and reciprocal commitments.

Community Day of Learning Native Crossroads Cheryll Visit - Spring 2024

In Spring 2024, the DRWG organized a Community Day of Learning alongside the third annual Native Crossroads Festival

Educating ourselves—and our community—about colonization, Indigenous history and presence, and decolonization is central to our work. This year, a major focus was organizing the third annual Native Crossroads Festival, which has become a powerful space for education, celebration, and relationship-building.

In collaboration with artist and cultural educator Justin Beatty (Ojibwe/Saponi/African-American), we brought together over 100 students, staff, faculty, and local community members for a day that included Native singing, drumming, four workshops and presentations, and ten Indigenous vendors. The event fostered meaningful exchange while affirming Hampshire’s commitment to Indigenous communities.

Key Accomplishment:

• We successfully organized the 3rd annual festival and deepened partnerships with Indigenous artists, scholars, and community leaders.
  
  

• Over 100 participants attended the festival, and feedback from presenters and attendees was overwhelmingly positive - emphasizing the festival’s impact in building community, amplifying Indigenous voices, and making visible Hampshire’s commitments to Indigenous communities.