Roger Kuhn on Reclaiming Embodiment Amid Colonialism

This question of reconnection is multi-layered and multi-faceted. One important issue to remember is that not all Indigenous people have been raised with their culture or amongst their tribal community/communities. Because land is a crucial issue among Indigenous people, it is always important to remember that many Indigenous people have been misplaced from their original homelands due to either forced removal or assimilation programs, both products of the government and colonialism. The idea of reclamation and reconnection is both deeply personal and also collective. Personal because how someone connects to their body is for the individual to choose, whether that be learning specific traditional practices or through more contemporary practices. Collective because as Indigenous people, we understand that we are stronger when we are together.

Muscogee writer Laura Harjo states every place she goes becomes a Muscogee place. By this she is not laying any claim to the land, rather she is sharing her understanding of what it means to be in relation to the land from a Muscogee perspective. I agree with this idea and find comfort in the land, whether that be my ancestral lands (which are in the southeast United States) or in my current home in Northern California (Pomo territory). My connection to land is rooted in my understanding of what it means to be a Muscogee person.

Every Indigenous person that you know is a descendent of a survivor of genocide, every single one. Though we have been reduced to caricatures and stereotypes, we have never forgotten who we are. We are still here, and we are thriving.