About
Native American Studies Land Acknowledgement
Developed in Fall of 2019 with input from NAS Committee members, after consultation with tribes, to be read at NAS public events and included in NAS syllabi, and shared with others, including WVU Humanities Center, Morgantown Human Rights Commission, et al.
WVU, with its statewide institutional presence, resides on land that includes ancestral territories of the Shawnee, Lenape (Delaware), Haudenosaunee (Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, Mohawk, Tuscarora), Cherokee, and many other Indigenous peoples.
In acknowledging this, we recognize and appreciate those Indigenous nations whose territories we are living on and working in. Indigenous peoples have been in the land currently known as West Virginia since time immemorial.
It is important that we understand both the context that has brought our university community to reside on this land, and our place within this long history. We also recognize that colonialism is a current ongoing process, and as scholars seeking truth and understanding, we need to be mindful of our present participation in this process.