Williamstown, Massachusetts is acknowledging this Indigenous Peoples Day with the opening of a new public art project: “50 Mohican Reminders: Going Beyond Land Acknowledgments.”
It’s a collaborative effort from community members, Williams College, and the Stockbridge-Munsee Community to draw attention to the occupation of the tribe’s ancestral homelands in Berkshire County. The installation will take the form of lawn signs in Field Park through October 24th.
Randal Fippinger is the Visiting Artist Producer and Outreach Manager at the Williams College '62 Center for Theatre and Dance. He spoke with WAMC.
FIPPINGER: The idea is to continue the conversation to acknowledge that members of the Indigenous community, they have, they're here with us, they live with us, they have always lived with us. It is not some idea in the past, it is a conversation that we need to be having now about the land and the people that are around us. And we want to just keep that conversation going, whether it is directly on campus or to the larger community. And so having those signs up in Field Park is a way for us to acknowledge that those members of the community are here with us and part of our community.
WAMC: Now, these installations in Field Park- What are they going to look like? What are folks going to see when they pass them by?
What it is, very simply, is 50 lawn signs circling Field Park. They’re Mohican land acknowledgement signs. And so, what we're trying to do is use the signs to get us past just simply acknowledging, doing land acknowledgments. And by having that many signs- 50 in and of itself is not a symbolic number. But it's the volume, it's the number of them, to say, members of that community are here in our community as well. It is not some other. They are here. They are with us.
Tell me about the input process for the project. What was it like working with not just community members, but the Stockbridge-Munsee community? Walk us through that Randy.
The Stockbridge-Munsee community has always been so receptive and excited to collaborate. So, the first step is always connecting with them and seeing what is their interest level and how they want to participate in how we can have an acknowledgement. So, once we start with that, it's about talking to community members and students across campus, whether it is in classrooms or in student groups. [They] really are passionate about this work, and think deeply about it. And that energy sort of helps bubbled beyond the campus borders and gets community members excited about this work as well. And so, I'm here just to sort of help move it along by just helping with the installation, but I'm so happy to be working with everybody.
How does this tie into other efforts to acknowledge the Indigenous history of Williamstown?
Well, it's about a conversation. It's about slowly, continuously having a conversation about what is our relationship to the land, what is our relationship to Indigenous communities. And so, while it's not trying to say, this is what we should think, it is to keep that conversation going so that we can all come to that decision together. We will be also be putting up some pamphlets in Field Park that the Stockbridge-Munsee community helped put together about their relationship to the land.
By way of disclosure, the Williams College '62 Center for Theatre and Dance is a WAMC underwriter.
