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The American Indian and Indigenous Relations (AIIR) Committee of The University of Delaware Anti-Racism Initiative (UDARI) has launched an unprecedented educational resource for the UD community, “Keywords for Building Relationships in Lenape and Nanticoke Homelands.”
The Keywords document provides transparent and accountable language to foster relationship-building among university members and Indigenous peoples. It corrects misunderstandings and provides information about the Lenape and Nanticoke in the Delaware watersheds, those forcibly displaced from this region and other American Indians dispossessed through UD’s land grant history, as well as defines associated vocabulary.
This resource creates a foundation for dialogue and collective action, supporting the interests of Indigenous communities as well as a diverse, inclusive, and intercultural campus. It was developed over two years through an extensive process of outreach, consultations and conversations with tribal members from nine Nanticoke and Lenape groups in Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York and Oklahoma informed the document.
The AIIR committee has also produced a living land acknowledgement, recommended institutional action steps and a guide to understanding UD’s land grant history, all based on consultation with American Indian tribal members. The Keywords project supports these endeavors while offering a much-needed educational resource to foster a more just future at UD and beyond.
This effort was led by Associate Professor Jessica Horton in the Department of Art History, and Associate Professor Pascha Bueno-Hansen, in the Department of Women and Gender Studies, and Department of Political Science and International Relations. All members of the AIIR committee contributed. UDARI graduate student assistants, doctoral candidates Julia Hamer-Light in the Department of Art History, and Emma Korein in the School of Marine Science and Policy, researched and drafted many of the entries.
