Although I have signed this statement, I want to point out that it neglects to acknowledge the roles of Indigenous peoples around the world in promoting values closely related to ecocentrism. (I do not mean to oversimplify the diverse Indigenous cultures of the world, but most would find resonance with the idea of the “intrinsic (inherent) value in all of nature and the ecosphere.”) The First Nations peoples of Turtle Island and have been especially vocal in this regard. One significant example that comes to mind is “A Basic Call to Consciousness: The Hau De No Sau Nee Address to the Western World,” which was written primarily by John Mohawk (Sotsisowah), a historian, writer, and activist of the Seneca Nation, and was presented in Geneva, Switzerland in 1977, as part of the International Non-Governmental Organization Conference on Discrimination Against Indigenous Populations in the Americas. More recently, Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrasshas reached thousands and thousands of readers. Also, in the past decade, Indigenous water protectors using the Lakota words Mní Wičóni, “water is life,” have stood up against the petroleum industry. Adrián Villaseñor Galarza has also written of the “ancestral deep ecology” of the Indigenous peoples of Central and South America. The establishment of systems of human supremacy over the past several centuries–systems that are now global in scale–has gone hand in hand with colonization and genocide of Indigenous peoples and the destruction of their lifeways. Proponents of ecocentrism today have an obligation to learn from and ally with Indigenous peoples, many of whom are front-line defenders of the ecosphere.
Since at least 2018, I have been using a course handout on the “4Rs” of First Nations Education with my students at UWGB to introduce them to widely shared indigenous values when we study First Nations history. After several iterations, I am now sharing the document publicly. I created this document based on many years of working with Dr. Rosemary Christensen and other colleagues in the First Nations Studies program at UWGB.
I’d like to draw attention to the acknowledgments included with this document. I am grateful for teachings that I have received from a number of First Nations elders, in addition to Rosemary Christensen (Mole Lake Band of Lake Superior Chippewa), over the years, including: Napos (David Turney, Menominee Nation) and Carol Cornelius (Oneida Nation of Wisconsin and Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican), as well as several elders who have walked on: Dorothy Davids (Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican), Loretta Metoxen (Oneida Nation of Wisconsin), David Courchene, Jr. (Sagkeeng Ojibwe First Nation, Manitoba, Canada), and Joe Rose, Sr. (Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Chippewa). Their teachings and perspectives have shaped and informed my views in many ways, though I do not claim that these elders would endorse all of my positions. Several colleagues in First Nations Studies at UWGB, including Professors Lisa Poupart, Forrest Brooks, and J P Leary, have been trusted advisors and friends for many years, as I worked (and continue to work) on integrating First Nations history, culture, and sovereignty into my courses.
On April 12, 2022, I was incredibly fortunate to have an opportunity to give a co-keynote address at the 2022 Saint Cloud State University’s Provost Summit on Excellence in Teaching and Learning entitled “Envisioning Sustainability through Teaching and Learning,” with my friend and former UWGB colleague Alison K. Staudinger. Alison and I met frequently throughout early 2022 to craft a talk in dialogue format, building on our collaboration for UWGB’s 2020 Common CAHSS conference on the theme of Beyond Sustainability.* We attempted to address the big question, “Can the university, through both teaching and research, help co-create an affirmative vision for the Anthropocene?” A video recording of the event is available, as are our sources. Thanks to Alison for the collaboration and to La Vonne Cornell-Swanson for making it possible!
As a resident of the state of Wisconsin, I live, work, and find restoration on the colonized homelands of several First Nations, including the Menominee, Ho-Chunk, Ojibwe, and Potawatomi peoples. These Nations were the original human inhabitants of the place that we today call Wisconsin. They each have relationships with the land, waters, and plant and animal beings of this region stretching back to time out of mind. While the achievements of the United States (established in 1776) are frequently extolled, it often goes unacknowledged that this nation was created from land that it seized through a combination of intimidation, deception, and force. Such was the case here in Wisconsin.
Thus, in support of historical accuracy and out of respect for these peoples, I believe it is necessary and important for me as a historian, teacher, and citizen to acknowledge Wisconsin’s First Nations peoples and lands. I share and reflect here on some aspects of Wisconsin history that I believe are important for all Wisconsinites to know and consider but that are often neglected.
After Wisconsin was established as a territory in 1836, its official seal depicted white settlement moving in from the East as a Native person exits to the West. The seal prominently features the Latin phrase “CIVILITAS SUCCESSITT BARBARUM,” which translates as “CIVILIZATION SUCCEEDS BARBARISM,” with “succeeds” here carrying the sense of following and replacing. The image and the slogan both convey clearly the ambition of white settler colonists to expel First Nations people from Wisconsin and replace them with a white population and new regimes of land control. Although this vision of colonization was not fully realized, the United States systematically expropriated the vast majority of the Indigenous peoples’ lands over the following few decades.
Seal of the Territory of Wisconsin (c. 1838)
The Green Bay area, which is the site of my home and my employer, the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, is located within the colonized homelands of the Menominee Nation and the Ho-Chunk Nation. The Menominee were forced to cede most of their homelands, and their nation exists today only because they fought for restoration after the U.S. government terminated the tribe. The Ho-Chunk were repeatedly expulsed from their homelands and have tribal lands in Wisconsin today only because of their incredible resilience and persistence.
On the west side of Green Bay, the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin has treaty lands that were unfairly taken away from them through the Dawes Allotment Act and other schemes. All told, the Oneida lost about 95% of their reservation lands by the late twentieth century, when funds generated through tribal gaming operations gave them resources to start buying back land. In addition to the Oneida people, who came to Wisconsin from New York state, there are other First Nations in Wisconsin—including the Stockbridge-Munsee Mohicans and the Brothertown Indian Nation—who came here seeking refuge as they were pushed out of their eastern homelands. They placed their trust in the U.S. government, which, unfortunately, repeatedly betrayed the tribes’ confidence, as it did in so many similar cases.*
As a settler whose European ancestors migrated to North America between the early seventeenth and the late nineteenth centuries (primarily from Germany, England, and France), I have benefited from the dispossession of Native people. Some of my ancestors, for example, had access to cheap land as a result of the federal policy of expulsing First Nations from eastern territories. I cannot undo this history, but I am committed to interrogating and interrupting the systemic injustices of colonization and contributing to a more just future for First Nations people through my actions as a teacher, scholar, and citizen.
There are many ways for Americans of settler heritage to ally with First Nations people, including: learning about the histories and cultures of the Indigenous peoples of Turtle Island and advocating for accurate and authentic instruction in schools; advocating for the sovereignty of tribal nations and respect for treaty rights; opposing the appropriation of Native culture and the harmful stereotyping of Native people though the use of Indian mascots; helping protect tribal lands from exploitation and protecting access to sacred sites; and contributing to organizations such as the Native American Rights Fund (NARF) and the Native Organizers Alliance (NOA), both of which are Native-led organizations that advocate for tribal communities and their sovereignty. In Green Bay, Wisconsin, and the Great Lakes region, there are many opportunities to support tribal enterprises and organizations. The Safe Shelter in Oneida, Wisconsin, accepts monetary and in-kind donations and offers volunteer opportunities, as does the Wise Women Gathering Place on the west side of Green Bay. Wisconsin Conservation Voices has a project called Wisconsin Native Vote that promotes voting among Native Americans in Wisconsin and employs Native advocates.
I express gratitude for the many First Nations elders, colleagues, students, and friends from whom I have learned so much; for the advocacy that First Nations people have done on behalf of their communities and the larger community of life; and for the resilience of First Nations people across Turtle Island. The teachings that First Nations elders have generously shared have affected me deeply.**
On March 25, 2021, I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Professors Ryan Martin and Chuck Rybak at UW-Green Bay for two episodes of the Canonball podcast. (Here’s the official description of the program: “Canonball is a podcast out of Phoenix Studios at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay that covers the great works from a variety of disciplines. From movies to film to literature to video games, hosts Chuck Rybak and Ryan Martin discusses all things canonical.”)
In the first episode, which aired on April 8, we discussed the Environmental Humanities.
In the second episode, which aired on April 22 (Earth Day), we discussed Aldo Leopold’s Sand County Almanac (1949), as well as Robin Wall Kimmerer’s “Speaking of Nature,” from Orion Magazine (March/April 2017).
This talk, available on YouTube, was the opening plenary session for the Common CAHSS 2020 Conference at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay on November 30, 2020. Professor Ryan Martin shared the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Land Acknowledgment at the opening of the session, and Professor Alison Staudinger skillfully guided me through the questions at the end. In the conclusion of the talk, I quote a sentence from Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass, “All flourishing is mutual.” This phrase appears five times in the book (on pages 15, 20, 21, 166, and 382), and Kimmerer presents it as one of the “teachings of plants” mentioned in the book’s subtitle. Given the degree to which this talk was inspired and informed by writings and teachings of First Nations people, which have been offered freely to all people, including settler colonists, I’d like to encourage anyone who watches the talk to consider how the United States and Canada could move toward reciprocity and justice for First Nations people today–as an essential aspect of moving beyond sustainability.
This excerpt from the beginning of the talk provides a brief overview:
We need to have an honest conversation about sustainability—not to demolish the concept, but to recognize that it has fallen short in helping us change our unsustainable ways. In my talk this evening, I’d like to focus on several aspects of the public discussion of sustainability, in order to suggest a more honest, expansive, and holistic approach. We can’t begin to talk honestly about sustainability until we come to terms with unsustainability and the harm we have caused on this living planet—including harm to each other. To do that, we have to see things holistically, and as whole beings. We will need sustainable knowledge systems that recognize multiple ways of knowing, and we will need a more robust media system, that shares accurate information and supports honest dialogue. We’ll need to pay more attention to the connections between environmental issues and social and racial justice. Above all, we’ll need to be more imaginative—to envision futures in which we thrive together as members of the larger community of life.
