Welcome to Keoxa - Acknowledging Indigenous Cultures

Often when I’m on a hike, exploring the Mississippi River Valley, I stand in awe of the nature around me and think how lucky I am to live on this land. We have such a unique experience here between the bluffs and the river. I’m reminded, though, that we aren’t the first people to experience this land and it certainly isn’t ours for the keeping. The area that we call home, Winona, sits on the ancestral, stolen lands of the Sauk and Meskwaki, Wahpeton Dakota, Hoocąk, and Očhéthi Šakówiŋ people. 

While November is Native American Heritage month and a great time to celebrate the vibrant culture, traditions, and contributions of Indigenous people in the United States, this is something that should be at the forefront throughout the entire year. 

Reflecting on school for a moment, one thing that stands out to me with regard to education about Native American communities and cultures is that the focus was largely on the past. We learned about Native Americans at the time of the Columbian Exchange, the way that the United States mistreated and forcibly removed Native Americans from their land & culture, and the struggles of modern-day reservation life. We never learned about the strong culture of change makers and leaders active in Native American communities today. If you only use history textbooks as your guide for understanding Indigenous cultures in the United States, you’d think that Native American culture is dead or non-existent, however the opposite is true. 

With such a strong cultural connection to the land, there is so much we can learn from Native American communities about how to respect nature, how to responsibly use natural resources, and how to give back to the land. Today, I want to share with you an assortment of resources from Indigenous communities so that you can learn more about the thriving Native American cultures of today, how to care for our neighbors, and how to protect the land we so love & cherish for years to come. 

• Locally, the Winona Dakota Unity Alliance (www.winonadakotaunityalliance.org) seeks to create sustainable alliances among the Indigenous Nations and the Winona community, with a mutual understanding that we are all related. Each year, the Winona Dakota Unity alliance hosts a gathering in September for all to attend.

• In Minneapolis a new restaurant, Owamni, recently opened (www.siou-chef.com). This Indigenous-owned restaurant is led by Sean Sherman and Dana Thompson and seeks to revitalize Native American cuisine, reclaiming an important culture that has been buried and inaccessible for generations now. 

• Also in the Twin Cities, Dream of Wild Health, is an intertribal nonprofit that operates a farm providing educational programs to reconnect urban Native American communities with traditional Native plants, and their culinary, medicinal, and spiritual use (www.dreamofwildhealth.org).

• If you’re looking for some books, poetry, and other writings by Native authors, here are our top suggestions: 

  • Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, by Robin Wall Kimmerer

  • “All the Real Indians Died Off”: And 20 Other Myths About Native Americans, by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz and Dina Gilio-Whitaker

  • All Our Relations, by Winona LaDuke

  • Alliances: Re/Envisioning Indigenous-non-Indigenous Relationships, edited by Lynne Davis

  • Islands of Decolonial Love, by Leanna Betasmosake

  • Poetry collection by the first Native American Poet Laureate of the United States, Joy Harjo. Collection titled: Living Nations, Living Words 

• And, if you’re more of a podcast person here are a few episodes to check out as well!

  • On the Land Podcast, by Denaalee Hodgdon

  • All My Relations Podcast, by Matika Wilbur and Adrienne Keene

  • She Explores Podcast, interview with Jaylyn Gough: Native Connection to the Land

  • Travel + Leisure Podcast, interview with Jolie Varela: Reclaiming History as an Indigenous Hiker

• On a national level, there are many Indigenous outdoor organizations. Consider checking out the websites for these organizations, or following them on social media.

  • Natives Outdoors

  • Native Women’s Wilderness

  • Indigenous Women Hike

  • Native Women Running

Last, but certainly not least, two of the most important ways to acknowledge the vitality and contributions of Indigenous communities is to both acknowledge the land you’re experiencing life on and learning the Native names for the locations you love to visit. Acknowledging the land that you’re hiking, paddling, or biking on shows you stand in solidarity with the Native communities who first called the land home and are the rightful stewards of the land. Additionally, it further challenges the idea that Native cultures and communities no longer exist. If you’re visiting a new location and wondering which tribes’ land you’re on, check out the website https://native-land.ca/. 

Oftentimes locations have been renamed by the white settlers from their original Native names, further erasing Native culture. It’s for this reason that learning the Native names for locations is so important. It’s another way that you can show your support for Indigenous culture, that you respect the history of where the name came from, and dispel the myth that Indigenous culture is gone. For example, our very own Sugarloaf in Winona was formerly known as Wapasha’s Cap, after the hat a local Dakota chief wore. 

So this November, and honestly all year, we challenge you to explore today’s Inidgenous culture and seek to learn what we can from the generations of knowledge these communities share.