In support of the land acknowledgment, this website documents and facilitates Vassar’s efforts to build and sustain relationships with Native communities; expand opportunities for Native students, Native faculty and other employees; and collaborate with Native nations to know better the Indigenous peoples, past and present, who care for this land.
Native American Studies at Vassar College
The American Studies Program offers a correlate sequence in Native American Studies, a multi- and interdisciplinary field, in which students examine Indigenous cultures, politics, histories, and literatures, in a primarily North American context.
Student Projects
- Indigenous Environmental Activism
A Blog and Podcast Series - Indigenous Vassar: Acknowledging the Land and its Peoples
A Story Map
- AMST 282: Decolonizing the Exhibition: Critical Approaches to Contemporary Indigenous Art
A Curated Virtual Exhibition - AMST 282: Decolonizing the Exhibition: Imagining Indigenous Futures
A Curated Virtual Exhibition
Inclusive History
The Vassar Inclusive History initiative, launched in February of 2023, is dedicated to evaluating, reflecting on, and unearthing the College’s history with respect to justice, equity, and fairness. Focused on stories, lives, and questions that have been neglected in the telling of the history of Vassar College, the Inclusive History initiative represents a promise and an invitation to the entire Vassar community. Learn more
Past Events
Welcome to Indian Country is an evening-length celebration of Native culture through music and storytelling. A world-class, five-piece musical ensemble is joined by storyteller and Washington State Poet Laureate Rena Priest. Together they weave new compositions and songs with witty, wise, and poignant poetry and satire to honor the elders and ancestors.
Audio
Chabitnoy, a Koniag descendant (Aleut) and member of the Tangirnaq Native Village in Kodiak, is an award-winning writer and an Assistant Professor of English at UMass Amherst. Her works include How to Dress a Fish, which addresses the lives disrupted by the Indian boarding school policy of the U.S. government.
Chacon, the first Native American awarded the Pulitzer Prize for music, will join Loeb curator John P. Murphy for a conversation about art, music, and Indigenous cultural expression. Their dialogue will be followed by a performance of the experimental composition Horse Notations. Registration required.
Video
Vocalist, actress, dancer, composer, poet-lyricist, and artist, Joan Henry will lead an embodied conversation about the ethical display of Indigenous culture in museums.
Artist, Joan Henry discussed and sung about land acknowledgment practices and their importance to Native communities.
Stories
Land Acknowledgment
We acknowledge that Vassar stands upon the homelands of the Munsee Lenape, Indigenous peoples who have an enduring connection to this place despite being forcibly displaced by European colonization. Munsee Lenape peoples continue today as the Stockbridge-Munsee Community in Wisconsin, the Delaware Tribe and the Delaware Nation in Oklahoma, and the Munsee Delaware Nation in Ontario. Read the full statement.