Rethinking Place Conference: Land & Memory

This one-hour presentation covers two perspectives on a research project formed between Forge Project, a Native-led arts organization, and Bard College Rethinking Place initiative. The collaboration between the arts space and academic institution hopes to uncover the history of the land in the surrounding region over time. This presentation will try to answer the question of the role and use of colonial archives in decolonial contexts. Using as its starting point the moment of full displacement of the Moh-He-Con-Nuck from their homelands (and partnering with the Stockbridge Munsee Community Cultural Affairs department to share these histories), Frances Cathryn and Lucas Ondak are working to produce a land “narrative” that will answer the question of the origin of New Forge Road where Forge Project is situated.