Podcast: Beyond Land Acknowledgment - Accountable Action in Partnership with Native Nations

Listen online on the Untying Knots Podcast website. The speakers are from South of us, but the content is still relevant.

EPISODE SUMMARY

Land Acknowledgements have become popularized by organizations and non-Native communities in 2022, but what are their actual impact?

EPISODE NOTES

Land Acknowledgements have become increasingly popular in many organizations and non-Indigenous communities over the last few years, but what is their actual impact? We sat down with Michaela Madrid and Jessica Gliden, Program Managers in Tribal Governance and Leadership Development at the Native Governance Center, to explore this question and their work with Tribal leaders and the 23 Native nations that share geography with Mni Sota Makoce, North Dakota, and South Dakota. They joined us for a live recording in Boston after leading a workshop for IARA’s Truth and Transformation 2022 conference entitled Beyond the Land Acknowledgement.

As Michaela notes, “A lot of times organizations really spin their wheels, and use a lot of resources to get the exact verbiage right, when they could be spending that time doing things that would actually support Native folks.” In our conversation, they describe the myriad of ways their organization is “helping Native people and nations thrive on their own terms,”1 supporting key initiatives in Tribal governance and leadership development, as well as engaging non-Indigenous allies to act for justice beyond performative statements.

1NativeGov.org

Notes:
Untying Knots, co-hosted by Nikhil Raghuveera and Erica Licht, explores how people and organizations are untying knots of systemic oppression and working towards a more equitable future. Each episode features special guests and a focus on thematic areas across society.

This podcast is published by the Institutional Antiracism and Accountability Project in collaboration with the Harvard Kennedy School’s Ash Center.