VISION

The efforts of the Decolonization & Reciprocity Working Group grew out of an essential mission of Hampshire College to become an actively antiracist institution. Antiracism, as defined in “Liberate & Repair: A Call and a Plan for Intersectional Antiracism and Equity at Hampshire College,”

“...disrupts forms of power that made (and continue to make) slavery, genocide, dispossession, and colonialism possible. It creates conditions for the full flourishing of those who are oppressed, devalued, and imperiled by white supremacy. A shared commitment and humanizing force, antiracism is informed by analysis of and resistance to economic exploitation and structural inequality. In this way, antiracism works towards collective, intersectional joy and liberation from fear, harm, want, and other tools of structural violence.”

The Decolonization & Reciprocity Working Group focuses particularly on de-settling, or decolonizing the College. As an institution (like many) that is built on stolen Native land and which continues to benefit from colonial structures, Hampshire has a responsibility to address past and ongoing harms to Indigenous peoples as part of our anti-racism efforts. The DRWG echoes the assertion of “Liberate & Repair,” that Hampshire, as a “persistently white institution,” will continue to reproduce racial and colonial inequities unless we exercise active resistance to this status quo.

Shared Understanding

Decolonization and reciprocity are complex concepts with many interpretations. In order to promote shared understanding, we created specific definitions to guide our work. These definitions center agency, mutuality, and liberation.

Decolonization is a process of undoing colonialism and creating systems that allow historically targeted communities to exercise their inherent sovereignty and self-determination. It involves tangible action toward the return of stolen lands and the resurgence of Indigenous lifeways, as well as political, social, economic, and educational reparation for the atrocities inflicted upon Indigenous, Black, and racialized peoples. Decolonization also entails the eradication of colonial ways of thinking and the rejection of competition and exploitation in favor of connectedness, balance, reciprocity, healing, and restitution. A hopeful project, decolonization means that we will liberate our lands, communities, and ourselves, by any means necessary.

Reciprocity refers to a continual state of engagement and intentionality, in which all community members actively take restorative action to ensure collective well-being and to pursue the redress of historical inequity.

Guiding Principles

We are guided by and seeks to embody commitments to decolonization and honoring indigeneity. These commitments echo the broader institutional antiracism aspirations to disrupt systems of oppression, and to center those who are “oppressed, devalued, and imperiled by white supremacy” (Liberate & Repair).

Decolonization

We commit to decolonization as foundational to everything we do. For us, decolonization requires commitment to antiracism, challenging anti-blackness, and dismantling intersecting systems of oppression. We ground our work in regularly exploring how decolonization influences and guides our initiatives and ways of being.

Honoring Indigeneity

As we deepen engagement between the college and external communities, we commit to consistently honoring and centering both local and global Indigenous peoples and practices. This includes centering Indigenous students, and keeping in regular communication and collaboration with Indigenous communities and people, particularly Nipmuc leadership.

Vision

“Liberate & Repair” frames decolonization as “the radical futurity of a ‘justice-to-come’ for the Indigenous, the Black, and the multispecies” (Priyamvasa Gopal, “Decolonization and the University, 2021). The vision of the Decolonization & Reciprocity Working Group echoes this framing, imagining a future of institutional and tribal relations that subverts the exploitation and erasure of the colonial past in pursuit of new power structures and relationships of mutual care. The DRWG guides Hampshire towards a future of:

Reciprocal community care and trust

We envision a community grounded in reciprocal care and earned trust that fosters support for Indigenous students and connection with Hampshire’s Indigenous neighbors. Reciprocity refers to a constant state of engagement and intentionality, in which all community members actively take restorative action to ensure collective well-being and to pursue the redress of historical inequity.

Youth Leadership

We envision initiatives, projects, and opportunities that incorporate youth leadership, mentoring, and fostering intergenerational relationships. This includes centering youth from local and Indigenous communities and initiating youth-led opportunities. Youth leadership is essential in imagining and working toward Indigenous futures.

Shared stewardship

We envision shared stewardship of our campus land and resources in partnership with local Tribal communities and cultural leaders; these partners must have direct and substantial involvement in decision-making. Shared stewardship means managing resources for the benefit of Hampshire College, local Native peoples, and the environment.

Curriculum & Pedagogy

We envision decolonial and Indigenous pedagogy in every classroom, robust relationships with the NAIS community, and many opportunities to learn with and from Indigenous communities, scholars, languages, and the land around us. Curricular work should draw from and acknowledge the influence of Indigenous pedagogy on Hampshire’s own educational model.

Transformational Goals

We have articulated five transformation goals that Hampshire College can actualize through the implementation of action steps, laying a foundation for cultivating right and reciprocal relationships with the Tribal Nations whose lands we are on and with Indigenous Peoples locally, regionally and globally. These transformation goals are:

Educate Ourselves & Each Other

Provide ample educational opportunities for all students and community members to learn about Indigeneity, colonization/decolonization, local Indigenous history and presence, and Indigenous perspectives on land and land stewardship. This includes providing ample opportunities for our campus community to reflect on and reckon with our entitlement, positionality, power, privilege and what brings us to this work.

Create Conditions for Indigenous Students to Thrive

Provide Indigenous (and all BIPOC) students with the necessary resources and support so that they can thrive at Hampshire College.

Living Land Acknowledgement

Adopt an official, living land acknowledgement grounded in a set of concrete actions the college is taking and prepared to take to contribute to decolonization, Indigenous Sovereignty, and building right relations with the Indigenous peoples whose lands we are on.

Build Right Relations with Indigenous Partners

Build right and reciprocal relationships with Nipmuc People and Indigenous Communities whose lands Hampshire College is located on, as well as other Indigenous communities locally, regionally, and globally.

Rematriation & Land Stewardship

Give Nipmuc People and other Indigenous communities with ancestral ties to these lands access to the lands Hampshire is currently on. Simultaneously, develop a land stewardship plan, informed by Indigenous approaches and perspectives to land and in partnership with Nipmuc People, Indigenous-led land stewardship organizations, and Indigenous communities, to ensure the wellbeing of these lands for the next seven generations.

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