Monterey Peninsula Acknowledgment of Land & People
Monterey Peninsula Community College District is situated on unceded territories and Indigenous homelands of the Esselen and Rumsen people, including the tribal village area of Achasta, a place of deep cultural, historical, and spiritual significance. We honor the original caretakers of the traditional territories. We acknowledge the strength and resilience of Indigenous people - past, present, and future - in the face of settler colonialism.
As an educational institution, we recognize our responsibility to highlight Indigenous voices and advocate for practices, policies, and actions that bring justice to Native communities. We are dedicated to ensuring this land acknowledgment is integrated into a broader individual, collective, and institutional commitment, where the district continues to learn about, honor, and support the histories, cultures, and contributions of Indigenous communities while fostering meaningful relationships and actions that promote equity and respect.
What is a Land Acknowledgment?
A land acknowledgment is a formal statement that recognizes and respects the Indigenous peoples as traditional stewards of this land, the enduring relationship between Indigenous peoples and their traditional lands. This is an act of conciliation that makes a statement recognizing the traditional land of the Indigenous people who have called and still call the land home before and after the arrival of settlers. It is critical that a land acknowledgment does not merely frame the presence of Indigenous people in their ancestral territory in the past tense. A land acknowledgment must recognize their continued presence and relationship to their ancestral lands since time immemorial.
Information About Local Tribes
- Costanoan Rumsen Carmel Tribe
- Esselen Tribe of Monterey County
- Ohlone Costanoan Esselen Nation (OCEN)
- Rumsen Ohlone Tribal Community
What is the appropriate pronunciation of each indigenous name in the Monterey area?
- Costanoan: Cost’-an-no’-an (Spanish name)
- Esselen: Ess’-sel-len
- Ohlone: oh-LOW-nee
- Rumsen: ROOM-sen
Learn More and Engage with Native People, Knowledge, & Cultural Practices
- Take a course at MPC: ETHN 20 - Introduction to Native American Studies
- Empower Native voices in your classroom. Check out NMAI’s Native Knowledge 360 Initiative.
- Native Land Digital - Native Land Digital strives to create and foster conversations about the history of colonialism, Indigenous ways of knowing, and settler-Indigenous relations, through educational resources such as our map and Territory Acknowledgment Guide. We strive to go beyond old ways of talking about Indigenous people and to develop a platform where Indigenous communities can represent themselves and their histories on their own terms. In doing so, Native Land Digital creates spaces where non-Indigenous people can be invited and challenged to learn more about the lands they inhabit, the history of those lands, and how to actively be part of a better future going forward together.
- Whose Land - Whose Land is a web-based app that uses GIS technology to assist users in identifying Indigenous Nations, territories, and Indigenous communities across Canada. The app can be used for learning about the territory your home or business is situated on, finding information for a land acknowledgment, and learning about the treaties and agreements signed across Canada.
- Native Governance Center - Native Governance Center is a Native-led nonprofit dedicated to assisting Native nations in strengthening their governance systems and capacity to exercise sovereignty.
- Indigenous Ally Toolkit - Created in 2019, the NETWORK’s Ally Toolkit aims to educate non-Indigenous individuals and groups on how they can use their privilege to listen, shift power dynamics, and take concrete steps towards (Re)conciliation-Action.