Today, we acknowledge that those at New York City College of Technology are working on the unceded territory of Lenapehoking, the ancestral homeland of the Lenape people. Due to centuries of colonialism perpetuated by genocide, forced displacement, and systemic oppression, today the Lenape diaspora is dispersed throughout the United States and Canada. 

We express gratitude to the Lenape ancestors past, present, and future. We acknowledge today’s Lenape communities, including Lenape people who belong to the Delaware Nation and Delaware Tribe of Indians in Oklahoma; the Stockbridge-Munsee Community in Wisconsin; the Delaware Nation at Moraviantown, and Delaware of Six Nations in Ontario. We also recognize their ongoing stewardship of our land, water, and air, and model their understanding that all life is interconnected.

We encourage our scholar colleagues to consider including indigenous perspectives in their own research, noticing where indigenous people are not included, and to share and make space for indigenous perspectives in the curriculum. You can look into the land where you were born or live and write and share your own land acknowledgement.

We intend to revise and strengthen this statement in collaboration and community.

Adapted from OER FELLOWS: 2023-24

Resources

  • The Lenape Center
    “Lenape Center has the mission of continuing Lenapehoking, the Lenape homeland through community, culture, and the arts. Since 2009, Lenape Center based in Manhattan and led by Lenape elders has created programs, exhibitions, workshops, performances, symposia, land acknowledgment, and ceremonies to continue our Lenape presence. We push back against our erasure and seed the ground with Lenape consciousness for the next generations.”
  • Forge Project
    “Forge Project is a Native-led organization whose mandate is to cultivate and advance Indigenous leadership in arts and culture. Located on the ancestral homelands of the Moh-He-Con-Nuck, Forge is situated in two buildings designed by the renowned artist and activist Ai Weiwei on a 38-acre campus in the Mahicannituck (Hudson river) valley. Forge Project is a model for Native cultural self-determination and leadership, fusing traditional and contemporary knowledge and practices to build community, public education, and collective action.”
  • Back to Manahatta (film), by Stewart Huntington (2021).
  • Indigenous knowledge on Wikipedia and Wikidata (article), by Ian Ramjohn, WikiEdu (2021).