Building Solidarity with Indigenous Communities 101

Building Solidarity

with Indigenous Communities

Course Overview

Worldwide, Native Nations are calling for solidarity to help protect our cultures, languages, waters, homelands, and more. A growing portion of the world is awakening to answer that call, but doesn’t always know how. In this introductory level course, we will explore some of the very basic do’s and don’t’s when it comes to engaging with Indigenous communities and their causes. We will look into some of the conscious and unconscious ways that we have been trained to override Indigenous agency and sovereignty, as well as examine very successful case studies where settler society is working with Indigenous Peoples in a good way.

In this introductory course, we will:

Explore different guest speakers’ views on how to be in solidarity with Indigenous communities
Learn about the historical wounds impeding intercultural solidarity today
Unlearn personal biases that we consciously and unconsciously bring to the table
Learn expectations and protocols set forth by various Native-led organizations when collaborating with Indigenous communities
Explore and reconnect with our own Indigenous roots and identity to approach Indigenous communities without feelings of “cultural-deficit” or grasping, but instead centering mutual liberation and connectedness
Gain inspiring kinship with like-minded instructors and peers to kickstart our solidarity efforts

Course Schedule:

Sundays, October 12th, 19th, & 26th

9-11 AM Pacific Time

This course takes place live via Zoom, using the same link each time.

If you cannot make all the dates, you can still sign up and receive recordings later.

Modules

Module 1:

Unlearning

In this class, we will discuss the ways not to interact with Indigenous communities, by learning about the historical context of colonial harms. It is imperative that we understand the deeply painful history of colonial violation and extraction of Indigenous communities, and move forward from a place of self-love instead of guilt or avoidance. It is critical that we each embark on personal journeys of unlearning the conscious and unconscious beliefs that may perpetuate practices of exploitation. Unraveling the biases we may unknowingly bring into our communal efforts will prepare us to responsibly and constructively be in solidarity with Indigenous communities.

Module 2:

Learning

After “unlearning” in the first class, we will explore responsible ways that we can engage with Indigenous communities. We will discuss “protocols” and expectations that are common in many Indigenous communities, and how these may shift depending on who we are supporting. Specifically, we will look at a few case studies to see how certain Native Nations have requested to be engaged with on their own terms. We will also explore service learning vs. extractive learning— where volunteering with Indigenous communities can be a constructive avenue for learning more about Indigenous philosophies and practices. Most importantly, we will dig into our own Indigenous roots to try not to come from a place of personal “cultural deficits” or grasping for cultural belonging. We will also celebrate the #LANDBACK movement and how this movement has embodied successful solidarity.

Module 3:

The Road Map

In Module 3, we will distill all of the unlearning and learning into a clear step-by-step process for working with Indigenous communities in a non-colonial way. We give this road map to prepare students for powerful and successful collaboration, which places each unique Native community in the “driver’s seat” of how they are supported, and empowers non-Native allies to feel confident in their initial steps and relationship building process. This road map is accompanied by a set of best practices, a clear list of do’s and don’t’s, a resource guide, and preparation for diverse scenarios. Focused on reciprocity, we will explore how we can truly be allies to Indigenous relatives and collectively care for Mother Earth.