Wellness in Community: Speaking our Truths, by Maria Girouard, first published on May 31, 2017
This month, we offer the essay Wellness in Community: Speaking our Truths, by Maria Girouard, first published on May 31, 2017. “I had the privilege of being part
of a young Passamaquoddy woman’s final graduation project. She focused her attention on the topic of racism and presented a variety of stories about racism inflicted against native peoples of her community. Some of these stories were written and read aloud. Some were audio recorded and accompanied by a picture portfolio. One storyteller was a guest speaker – an Elder, dressed up and eager to share.,,”
Beyond the Claims: Stories from the Land and the Heart.
Wabenaki Reach will open an oral history/art exhibit based on our multi-year truth-telling project, Beyond the Claims: Stories from the Land and the Heart. This exhibit is in collaboration with the Passamaquoddy Museum at Sipayik and is tentatively set to open around the Summer Solstice, June 20th or 21st. Definitive details will be available very soon.
Whose Land am I on?
After millennia of Native history, and centuries of displacement and dispossession, acknowledging original Indigenous inhabitants is complex. Many places in the Americas have been home to different Native Nations over time, and many Indigenous people no longer live on lands to which they have ancestral ties. Even so, Native Nations, communities, families, and individuals today sustain their sense of belonging to ancestral homelands and protect these connections through Indigenous languages, oral traditions, ceremonies, and other forms of cultural expression. Each of us are stewards to the land we are on, and it’s important to know whose people the land is a part of. This map will help you learn more about the land and its people, past, present, and future.
What do I do with this information?
Learn more about the ingdigenoius people who are in community with the land, you can
- Support local indigenous artists, vendors, creators,
- Visit their annual pow-wow
- Explore cultural centers set up to bring you into community
- https://wasatchmag.com/decolonizing-our-relationship-with-the-land/
- https://www.yesmagazine.org/issue/decolonize/2018/04/03/white-allies-lets-be-honest-about-decolonization
- https://umaine.edu/hudsonmuseum/wabanaki-artist-directory/