Tribal Land Acknowledgement

The town of Brookline is located on the tribal homelands of the Massachusett people. We acknowledge the continuing presence of the Massachusett, and the neighboring Wampanoag and Nipmuc peoples. We also recognize the Indigenous peoples represented in the town’s residents. There are two federally recognized tribes within Massachusetts: the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) and the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribes.

A Land Acknowledgment is a formal statement that recognizes and respects Indigenous Peoples as traditional stewards of this land and the enduring relationship that exists between Indigenous Peoples and their traditional territories. They can be presented verbally or visually: think signage, short theatre presentations or simple spoken-word greetings. According to Anishinaabe-kwe Wanda Nanibush, the first curator of Indigenous art at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO), land acknowledgements have one goal, regardless of format: They commemorate Indigenous peoples’ principal kinship to the land—and the fact that we have not and cannot be erased from her, our collective first mother. “They’re a starting place to a change in how the land is seen and talked about,” she says. “[They] help redefine how people place themselves in relation to First Peoples.”

Land Acknowledgement helps show respect for these Indigenous identities, as well to help to counter their biased, stereotypical, misguided, and missing representations in our collective consciousness.  The practice is quite common in Canada, New Zealand, and Australia, and it is becoming an important part of inclusive culture in the United States.