Indigenous People's Day
Today on Indigenous People’s Day, FIUTS celebrates Native American peoples and commemorates their diverse histories and cultures. We are honored to share the words of Luiza Prestes, descendant of native peoples of Brazil, who built community with the Jamestown S’Klallam tribe of Sequim while visiting as an Aquatic and Fisheries Sciences Ph.D. student at the University of Washington in 2019.
FIUTS would like to acknowledge the ancestral homelands of those who walked here before us and those who still walk here, keeping in mind the integrity of this territory where area Native peoples identify as the Duwamish, Suquamish, Snoqualmie, and Puyallup, as well as the tribes of the Muckleshoot, Tulalip, other Coast Salish peoples, and their descendants. We are grateful to respectfully live and work as guests on these lands with the Coast Salish and Native people who call this home. This land acknowledgement is one small act in the ongoing process of working to be in good relationship with the land and the people of the land.
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By: Luiza Prestes
During the Community Visit to Sequim with FIUTS in 2019, I had the opportunity to visit and see the lifestyle of a small U.S. town. We attended the Sequim Irrigation Festival, with all the figures of the local culture, exchanged ideas with local students, and had a local homestay experience. Above all, I felt connected to the world and at the same time had the opportunity to share my own culture. These were very memorable experiences.
I was especially impacted by the visit to the Jamestown S'Klallam tribe who are rescuing their culture together with the city of Sequim. I am a descendant of native peoples in Brazil. The idea of the harmonious relationship between different cultures, the city of Sequim and the Jamestown S'Klallam tribe showed me what we can do to recover our ancestry and at the same time evolve.
Programs like this one from FIUTS allow us to expand our socio-cultural experiences not only by reading, but by seeing and experiencing new things. We can return to our countries hopeful that we can do something different in the society in which we operate.
Guest posts on the FIUTS blog represent the experiences and views of individual writers. They do not necessarily reflect the views of FIUTS or any organizations or institutions affiliated with our programs.