Indigenous Peoples

I would like to recognize that Bowdoin College is located on the traditional homelands of the Abenaki People. The Abenaki are members of the Wabanaki Confederacy, or "People of the Dawn," which include five member nations: the Abenaki, Mi'kmaq, Maliseet, Passamaquoddy, and the Penobscot. I pay my respects to the Wabanaki Confederacy who have been and continue to be on this land as the original inhabitants and caretakers of what is now known as the State of Maine. I also want to recognize their enduring stewardship over their homelands, their resistance to ongoing forms of settler colonialism, and their resilience in preserving ancestral knowledge and practices for future generations. 

Yá'át'ééh, shí eí Shandiin Largo yiniishye. ’Ádóone’é nishłínígíí ‘éí 'Áshįįhi nishłį́, Kinyaa'áanii bashishchiin, Tódich'ii'nii dashicheii, dóó Ts'ah yisk'idnii dashinalí. Ákót’éego diné asdzáán nishłį́. Tséta’ tó’alk’olí dee naasha adoo Bowdoin College dee’ ííníshta.’

My name is Shandiin Largo, I am Salt clan, born for Towering House clan. My maternal grandfather is Bitter Water clan, and my paternal grandfather is Sagebrush Hill clan. In this way, I am a Diné woman. I am from the Eastern Agency of the Navajo Reservation—Casamero Lake, New Mexico.  I am currently in my third year at Bowdoin College. 

In honor of Native American Heritage Month, and as part of an ongoing BIPOC series at the Bowdoin College Hawthorne-Longfellow Library, I present to you a snapshot of Indigenous literature, with special focus on contemporary Indigenous authors who have published works within the past year. This collection showcases the complicated history between Indigenous populations and settler colonial powers in the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Hawai’i, Russia, and Australia, and includes works from the late 1960s to today. Additionally, I have included a variety of genres, from children’s books, graphic novels, and poetry books to memoirs, horror fiction novels, and academic history books that center Indigenous identities and experiences. The main purpose of this book display is to dispel racist and harmful stereotypes made about Indigenous peoples that still exist in the media and in our classrooms. 

As a member of an institution and a society that have been the perpetrators of the dehumanization, exoticization, and erasure of Indigenous peoples, you should let this book display and its contents remind you that Indigenous peoples still exist and are thriving. I hope this book display also reminds you that the work to achieve racial equality and justice does not stop with representation but continues with you and me.

Axhee’ee, Thank you.