Untangling Colonialism — Decolonizing Advocacy
Resources page
**We are always adding to this page, so keeping coming back. There are so many resources available once you start looking, this page is simply a starter. There are so many books, videos, podcasts, and more that we would like to add to this page.**
Land Acknowledgment
(this is the language we use for the two territories our organizing spaces are located in. You are welcome to use it or create your own. Check out some of the website resources below for more on creating your own land acknowledgments.)
We acknowledge that our offices are located on the ancestral and unceded traditional territories of the lower Tanana Dene Peoples and the Dena'ina Peoples. The Indigenous peoples of this land never surrendered lands or resources to Russia or the United States.
We acknowledge this as both gratitude to the Indigenous communities who have held and continue to hold relationship with this land for generations AND also in recognition of the historical and ongoing legacy of colonialism. Additionally, we acknowledge this as a point of reflection for us all as we work towards actively dismantling colonial practices.
For more information on Land Acknowledgements we highly recommend:
Melissa Shaginoff’s Land Acknowledgement Workshop (link currently unavailable)
Beyond Land Acknowledgements, video panel of Alaska Native leadership (Feb. 2022) from the national Difficult Dialogues National Resource Center.
Native Movement Unicorn Reflection Charts
Podcasts
All My Relations: hosted by Matika Wilbur (Swinomish and Tulalip) and Adrienne Keene (Cherokee Nation), this podcast explores our relationships— relationships to land, to our creatural relatives, and to one another. Each episode invites guests to delve into a different topic facing Native peoples today.
This Land: hosted by Rebecca Nagle, an Oklahoma journalist and citizen of the Cherokee Nation, this podcast provides an in depth look at how a cut and dry murder case opened an investigation into half the land in Oklahoma and the treaty rights of five tribes. Follow along to find out what’s at stake, the Trump administration’s involvement, the larger right wing attack on tribal sovereignty and how one unique case could result in the largest restoration of tribal land in US history.
On The Land: this podcast brings you the voices of Indigenous People in this time of political and climate insecurity. They tackle difficult discussions on who has access to land, water, and air and offers a contemporary understanding of what it means to be Indigenous and live in relation to what is often known as the “outdoors” or “the wild. (Alaska Native host)
Coffee & Quaq: a podcast to celebrate and explore contemporary Native life in urban Alaska. (Alaska Native host)
Missing & Murdered: Finding Cleo. Where is Cleo? Taken by child welfare workers in the 1970's and adopted in the U.S., the young Cree girl's family says she was stolen, raped, and murdered while trying to hitchhike back home to Saskatchewan. Host Connie Walker joins their search.
Books
Alaska specific Indigenous Non-Fiction books
Alaska: A Colony, by Stephen Haycox
Etok: A Story of Eskimo Power by Hugh Gregory Gallagher
The Alaska Native Reader: History, Culture, Politics edited by Maria Shaa Tláa Williams
Village Journey: The Report of the Alaska Native Review Commission, by Thomas R. Berger (compiled & composted by a non-Alaska Native person)
Indigenous Non-Fiction
All Our Relations: Native Struggles for Land & Life, by Winona LaDuke
An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States, by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
An Indigenous Peoples History of the United States For Young People by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, adapted by Jean Mendoza and Debbie Reese
As We Have Always Done: Indigenous Freedom Through Radical Resistance, edited by Leanne Betasamosake Simson
Custer Died for Your Sins, by Vine Deloria Jr.
Decolonizing Wealth by Edgar Villanueva
I Am Woman: A Native Perspective on Sociology and Feminism by Lee Maracle (canadian First Nations centered)
Indigenous Men and Masculinities: Legacies, Identities, Regeneration edited by Robert Alexander Innues and Kim Anderson
Indigenous Peoples in International Law, by James Anaya
Indigenous Relations: Insights, Tips, & Suggestions to Make Reconciliation a Reality by Bob Joseph with Cynthia F. Joseph (Canadian First Nations centered)
In the Courts of the Conquerer: The 10 Worst Indian Law Cases Ever Decided Paperback, by Walter R Echo-Hawk
Native Science, by Gregory Cajete
Not a Nation of Immigrants: Settler Colonialism, White Supremacy, and a History of Erasure and Exclusion, by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
Pedagogy of the Oppressed, by Paulo Freire
Recovering the Sacred, by Winona LaDuke
Reconciliation in Practice: A Cross-Cultural Perspective edited by Ranjan Datta
Red Pedagogy: Native American Social and Political Thought, by Sandy Grande
The Rights of Indians and Tribes 4th Edition, by Stephen L. Pevar
The Winona LaDuke Reader: A Collection of Essential Writings, from Winona Laduke (2002)
The World We Used to Live In, by Vine Deloria Jr.
The Wretched of the Earth, by Frantz Fanon
Tribes, Treaties, and Constitutional Tribulations by Vine Deloria Jr. and David E. Wilkins
We Talk, You Listen, by Vine Deloria Jr.
Whose Land Is It Anyway? edited by Peter McFarlane and Nicole Schabus
1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus, by Charles C. Mann (not an Indigenous author)
Memoirs
Blonde Indian by Ernestine Hayes
Heart Berries by Terese Marie
Howard Luke: My Own Trail by Howard Luke and Jan Jackson
Neerihiinjìk: We Traveled From Place to Place, the Gwich’in Stories of Johnny & Sarah Frank
The Tao of Raven by Ernestine Hayes
Fiction/Historical Fiction
Bird Girl and the Man Who Followed the Sun, by Velma Wallis
The Man Who Became a Caribou: Gwich’in Stories and Conversations from Alaska and the Yukon by Craig Mishler and Kenneth Frank
The Round House, by Louise Erdrich
There There, by Tommy Orange
Two Old Women, by Velma Wallis
Organizing for Justice: non-fiction (not necessarily Indigenous focused)
Emergent Strategy by Adrienne Maree Brown
How to Be An Antiracist by Ibram X Kendi
Pedagogy of the Oppressed, by Paulo Freire
Pleasure Activism by Adrienne Maree Brown
Sister Outsider, essays and speeches by Audre Lorde
White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin Diangelo
Women, Race, & Class by Angela Y. Davis
** Also check out our Dismantling White Supremacy Resources page
Videos/Films
“Beyond Land Acknowledgements”, video panel of Alaska Native leadership (Feb. 2022) from the national Difficult Dialogues National Resource Center.
Dawnland, Director: Adam Mazo, Ben Pender-Cudlip
“Decolonizing the Mind” a presentation from Dr. Michael Yellow Bird speaks at Portland State University, "Healing through neuro-decolonization and mindfulness"
“We the People - the three most misunderstood words in US history,” a TEDx video with Mark Charles
We Breathe Again, Crawl Walk Run, Native Movement, & University of Alaska Fairbanks
Articles
Decolonization is Not a Metaphor by Eve Tuck & K. Wayne Yang
Settler Colonialism and the Elimination of the Native by Patrick Wolfe
“Wildlife Conservation and Settler Colonialism in the North American West” By Paul Berne Burow, Yale University
“For the Rights of All: Ending Jim Crow in Alaska” a viewer discussion guide produced by Vision Maker Media
Dismantling White Supremacy Culture by ChangeWork
Teen Vogue: “Indigenous Land Acknowledgement, Explained” by Delilah Friedler
Websites
Native Land. This website includes an interactive map that can be a guide for telling you about which Indigenous nation’s land you are on. The website is First Nations (Indigenous peoples of the territories currently known as Canada) based and as such some of the language is slightly different between Indigenous nations from other parts of the continent.
Native Governance Center: A Guide to Indigenous Land Acknowledgements
Whose Land: Territories by Land. This is web-based app that uses GIS technology to assist users in identifying Indigenous Nations, territories, and Indigenous communities across Canada.
Teaching Curriculum
Pedagogy of the Oppressed, by Paulo Freire
Rethinking Columbus: the Next 500 Years (EXPANDED SECOND EDITION), Edited By Bill Bigelow, Bob Peterson
Federal Acts & Court Cases
Venetie V Supreme Court, The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. February 25, 1998
Johnson & Graham's Lessee v. McIntosh, 21 U.S. 543 (1823)
ANCSA (PUBLIC LAW 92-203): HISTORY AND ANALYSIS TOGETHER WITH SUBSEQUENT AMENDMENTS