What are Land Acknowledgements?
Land Acknowledgement: An Opportunity for Land Engagement at The University of Texas at Austin
Land Acknowledgements express gratitude, respect, and recognition toward American Indian and/or Indigenous Peoples as the original stewards of their traditional lands. Land Acknowledgements are tools to foster good relations and a sense of trust and reciprocity between educational institutions and tribal communities, facilitating the research work and pedagogic endeavors of the faculty and students in tribal and Indigenous territories or spaces.
Given as a formal statement at the beginning of gatherings, such as public events, graduations, and presentations, it draws attention to the colonial histories, ongoing Indigenous presence, and the ethical and historic responsibilities that educational institutions have to the territories that they occupy.
Land Acknowledgments have been already adopted as standard protocol at many universities across Turtle Island. By adopting a Land Acknowledgment, The University of Texas at Austin makes a substantial step in recognizing the rich Indigenous history of the very land on which we work, study, and learn.
In addition to the Land Acknowledgment, the Committee on Land Acknowledgment at UT Austin provides a number of Land Engagements that express a course of action that The University of Texas at Austin can take to support the intentions laid out in the acknowledgment. These material commitments will distinguish our institution as a leader among its peers by going beyond what some have critiqued as the empty gesture of the Land Acknowledgement.
The Committee on Land Acknowledgment at UT Austin--formed in July 2020--included members of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Program; and it conducted a process of broad consultation among representatives of the Native community in the Austin area and student organizations on campus.
For deeper reading on the benefits and the limits of Land Acknowledgment statements, we recommend the following articles and guides:
- “Acknowledging Native Land is a Step Against Indigenous Erasure”
- “Beyond Territorial Acknowledgement”
- “Guide to Indigenous Land and Territorial Acknowledgements for Cultural Institutions”
