Land Acknowledgment
We gather on the land of the Council of the Three Fires – the Ojibwe, the Odawa, and the Potawatomi. Indigenous nations of the Great Lakes region are also known as the Anishinaabe (Ah-nish-nah-bay), or original people, and their language is Anishinaabemowin (Ah-nish-nah-bay-mow-in).
“Kalamazoo” itself is derived from the Anishinaabe word meaning to surround with smoke, and reflects the way the mist rises off the Kalamazoo River. Kalamazoo College rests on Potawatomi land – specifically, on the traditional land of Match-e-be-nash-she-wish and his people.
The United States began seeking land cessions in Michigan after the defeat of the British and their Anishinaabe allies in the War of 1812. Southwest Michigan was ceded in the 1821 Treaty of Chicago with small tracts of land reserved at the sites of prominent Potawatomi villages, including a three-mile square area for Match-e-be-nash-she-wish in present-day Kalamazoo. Under the 1827 Treaty of St. Joseph, the U.S. government did away with four of the five reserved areas, including the one in Kalamazoo, in an attempt to consolidate the Potawatomi as a precursor to removal west. Although many Potawatomi were forcibly removed in 1840, some bands found ways to remain, including the Match-e-be-nash-she-wish band. Their descendants belong to the sovereign nation known as the Gun Lake Tribe. The Tribe has never been compensated for the loss of their Kalamazoo reserve.
We acknowledge the enduring relationship that exists between the People of the Three Fires and this land.
You may find more information about this land acknowledgment at land.kzoo.edu.
Activity:
What do you know about the Indigenous territory that you live on? If you don’t know, explore Native Land’s crowdsourced interactive map by searching for your location to know more about the land you live on (https://native-land.ca/). Please write as much information about the territories, languages, etc. and try to do a quick search to learn more about the Indigenous region’s history.
What does the term civic engagement mean to you? Where have you heard the term used before? In what context?
What does the term service-learning mean to you? Where have you heard the term used before? In what context?
Center for Civic Engagement Mission, Goals, and Issue Areas
Mary Jane Underwood Stryker Center for Civic Engagement
Mission:
Affirming central goals of the College, the Mary Jane Underwood Stryker Center for Civic Engagement (CCE) engages students, faculty, and community members in sustained partnerships that foster collaborative learning and civic participation in a diverse, democratic society. By forging a link between service and learning, the CCE works to strengthen the community, invigorate the educational experience, and promote students’ informed and ethical engagement to build a more just, equitable and sustainable world.
Goals:
• To support the development and implementation of academically rigorous community-based courses across the curriculum that respond to needs and effectively utilize assets identified by the community.
•To seek and promote opportunities for scholarship within the realms of citizenship, community engagement, and service-learning pedagogy.
•To structure service opportunities in developmental sequences over the full four years of education that offer students progressively responsible service and leadership experiences in culturally diverse settings.
•To assist students to develop the knowledge, skills, sensitivity, and commitment necessary for a lifetime of meaningful and effective participation in public life and in their communities.
•To actively seek the guidance of community, faculty, staff, and student constituencies to continually assess and improve our work.
Issue Areas:
– Immigration
– Criminal Justice Reform
– Reproductive Justice
– Educational Equity
– Neurodiversity
– Health Equity
– Environmental Justice
– Migrant Farmworker Rights
– Food Justice
– Young Women’s Leadership
– Neighborhood Engagement
– Water Safety
