Land Acknowledgements and The Clovis People

As I said, Andrew has a land acknowledgment in his syllabus. Specifically, it says: Land Acknowledgement: As the first land-grant institution established under the 1862 Morrill Act, we acknowledge that the state of Kansas is historically home to many Native nations, including Kaw, Osage, and Pawnee, among others. Furthermore, Kansas is the current home to four federally recognized Native nations: The Prairie Band Potawatomi, the Kickapoo Tribe of Kansas, the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska, and Sac and Fox Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Nebraska. Many Native nations utilized the western plains of Kansas as their hunting grounds, and others—such as the Delaware—were moved through this region during Indian removal efforts to make way for White settlers. It’s important to acknowledge this, since the land that serves as the foundation for this institution was, and still is, stolen land. We remember these truths because K-State’s status as a land-grant institution is a story that exists within ongoing settler-colonialism and rests on the dispossession of Indigenous people and nations from their lands. These truths are often invisible to many. The recognition that K-State’s history begins and continues through Indigenous contexts is essential.

I'm not going to spend too much time explaining how stupid I think land acknowledgements are. All that I'll say is, why aren't the Clovis People mentioned?

As you may or may not know, the Clovis People were a Paleo-Indian culture of North America, known for distinctive fluted spear points or what is termed, Clovis points. They used these to hunt mammoths around 13,000 years ago, representing the first widespread, well-documented human presence in North America. Though newer sites show people were in the Americas before Clovis, also known as the Pre-Clovis People. Most likely these were all descendants of migrants from Asia via the Bering Land Bridge. They spread rapidly across the continent, leaving behind sophisticated stone tools and evidence of advanced hunting and camp life, but their technology vanished relatively quickly as the Ice Age ended. 

So, if we are talking about stolen land, . . . shouldn't we mention the Clovis People? They're the original victims. Why stop with the Kickapoo? They stole it from someone who stole it from the Clovis People?

It's all so silly. Hell, why stop with the Clovis People? Why not the mammoth? The Bison? The prarie dog. Did they not inhabit the land before the Clovis People walked across the land bridge. 

I'll tell you this . . . if I'm forced to write a land acknowledgement, I'm replacing what Andrew has with this: We acknowledge that this land holds a deep human history and was once home to the Clovis people—among the earliest known inhabitants of North America. Their presence reminds us that our institution exists within a much older story of human life and relationship with this land. Recognizing the Clovis people helps us remain aware that the foundations of our work are tied to histories that are often overlooked yet essential to understanding our place here today.