Native Land Acknowledgements

Guest: Christine McRae, Executive Director, Native Land Digital Recently, I’ve started to noticing speakers at public events say something along the lines of: “We are gathered today in native space and on the traditional lands of the Massachusett tribe," or “Before I begin this morning, I’d like to recognize the Algonquin nation on whose traditional territory we are gathering. We acknowledge them as the past, present and future caretakers of this land.” In one of the more high-profile examples, actor and director Taika Waititi acknowledged native land at this year’s Oscars. “The academy would like to acknowledge that tonight we have gathered on the ancestral lands of the Tongva, the Tataviam, and the Chumash.” Hearing these acknowledgments, two questions have come to mind—what’s the value of this? And, if I wanted to do it, how would I figure out whose traditional territory I’m on?