“The concept of Land Back precedes the creation of borders. It would mean dismantling borders.” – Nickita Longman, George Gordon First Nation on Treaty 4
Image: “LAND BACK” artwork by David Bernie (Ihanktonwan Dakota) displayed at The First Nations Garden, Albany Park, Chicago, Illinois
We have all seen it: in memes, on social media, in songs, in tv shows, but, what does it mean? “Land Back is a movement that aims to re-establish Indigenous political authority over territories belonging to Indigenous tribes and groups.” Land was stolen from Indigenous people through treaties which continue to be broken. Land Back is about reclaiming our ability to manage the land in a way that is healthy, in a way that Indigenous people have known how to do since time immemorial. For example, Native knowledge and practices have been useful in fighting the threat from severe wildfires on the West Coast and youth groups like the Chi-Nations Youth Council and the First Nations Garden in Šikaakonki, Zhigaagoong, Zhekagoynak (“Chicago” in Myaamia, Ojibwe, and Potawatomi respectively), have been working towards Land Back for years. You can read more about their work below under the resources page.
According to the Yellowhead Institute at Ryerson University: Land Back as a process of “reclaiming Indigenous jurisdiction: breathing life into rights and responsibilities.” Land Back is a concept that has existed since Indigenous land was first invaded and colonized in 1492. Since this time, Indigenous people have been fighting for land back and to reclaim lands. In addition to the transfer of deeds, Land Back includes respecting Indigenous rights, preserving languages and traditions, and ensuring food sovereignty, housing, and clean air and water.
Although in existence in different forms, Land Back is said to have been introduced into the mainstream around 2018 by Arnell Tailfeathers, a member of the Blood Tribe (Blackfoot Confederacy). It then quickly became a hashtag, and now appears in artwork, on clothes and in beadwork. These creations are often used to raise funds to support water protectors and land defenders who protest against oil pipelines. In 2020, native DJs A Tribe Called Red produced a song “Land Back” on their album The Halluci Nation, to support of the Wet’suwet’en resistance camp and other Indigenous-led movements.
Land Back in practice
- Chi-Nations Youth Council & First Nations Garden in Chicago, also this video and this one
- Illinois House Resolution Supports the Return of Lands to Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation in Dekalb County, Illinois (2021)
- In 2020, Chippewa National Forest was instructed to transfer 11,760 acres of forest service land to the Department of Interior to be held in trust for the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, thanks to the Leech Lake Reservation Restoration Act.
- That same year, the Esselen Tribe of central California purchased about two square miles of their land back for just under $4.5 million, assisted by Western Rivers Conservancy * I personally don’t think they should have had to purchase their land back, it should have been given to them
- In March of 2020, with a grant from conservation charities, the Passamaquoddy Tribe raised $355,000 to purchase Pine Island in Maine, their ancestral land.
- The removal of dams on the Klamath River is also being praised as a land back victory for Karuk and Yurok Tribes.
Resources:
- INDIGENOUS YOUTH AS AGENTS OF CHANGE, Actions of Indigenous youth in local food systems during times of adversity *Chi-Nations Youth Council, p. 22 & video recording presentation
- The Broken Spears 2007 Revised Edition: The Aztec Account of the Conquest, By Miguel Leon-Portilla
Here’s what librarians can do for #landback c/o the wonderful Cree-Métis Librarian Jessie Loyer (side note: check out Jessie’s Tiktok):
- Do Indigenous communities know what you have of theirs? Songs, stories, archives. Bringing these materials home rounds out what they’re already doing to build a sustainable relationship with the land
- Support data sovereignty. Go see what @GidaGlobal is doing.
- Avoid eco-fascism. People are not the disease. Our disconnection from our relative, the land, is. Do our info practices and tools make techno trash, impact human rights, or kill the earth?
- Avoid tech solutionism. Tech is a tool, not a panacea. We decide how it can be used, hopefully not to racially profile people
- Learning about the work is not the work, even if it feels like doing the work
- What if technology emerged FROM Indigenous thought, rather than outside of it? Embrace Indigenous Futurisms. It’s joyful!
- Include the work of #landback activists in our collections, recognize the gaps that exist
And always, #landback recognizes human movement and adoption, cannot be anti-Black, and isn’t about sending anyone back to Europe. It’s about sustaining the system that we’re a part of, using Indigenous knowledge.
Resources:
- Land Back, A Yellowhead Institute Red Paper, 2018
- Land Back w/ Nickita Longman, Emily Riddle, & Lindsay Nixon, The Red Nation (Podcast)
- The Land Back Issue, Briarpatch Magazine, September/October 2020
- What is Land Back? A Settler FAQ, by David Gray-Donald, Sep 10, 2020
- ‘The Only Way to Save the Land is to Give It Back’: A Critique of Settler Conservationism, by Majerle Lister
- The Red Nation Wants Its Land Back, by Cecilia Nowell
- Why It’s Time To Give Native Americans Their Land Back (video)
- What Does Decolonization Look Like? Ask Bolivia, Erich Arbor, Oct 16, 2020
- Land Reparations & Indigenous Solidarity Tool Kit
- Community Tools & Resources – Land Back: Yellowhead Institute
A list Local and National Indigenous Communities and Organizations
List of Federally and Stated Recognized Tribes: https://www.ncsl.org/legislators-staff/legislators/quad-caucus/list-of-federal-and-state-recognized-tribes.aspx
Local Chicago Organizations to support
National Organizations
- National Indian Education Association
- Native American Rights Fund
- National Congress of American Indians
- National Museum of the American Indian
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