Indigenous Forum – Rematriation: Indigenous Women’s Leadership

Rematriation centers Indigenous Women’s leadership for the restoration and regeneration of land and water. By revitalizing Indigenous knowledge, honoring traditions and renewing annual cycles of life, rematriation directly addresses harms caused by patriarchal extraction and violence. In this panel featuring Corrina Gould, Caleen Sisk and Jessica Hutchings, these three powerful Indigenous women share “real-life” examples of rematriation, the ripple effects of these practices, and ways that we can all get involved to Indigenize the future.

This discussion took place at the 2024 Bioneers Conference.

Corrina Gould, born and raised in the village of Huichin (now known as Oakland CA), is the Tribal Chair for the Confederated Villages of Lisjan Nation and co-founded and is the Lead Organizer for Indian People Organizing for Change, a small Native-run organization; as well as of the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust, an urban Indigenous women-led organization within her ancestral territory. Through the practices of “rematriation,” cultural revitalization and land restoration, the Land Trust calls on Native and non-Native peoples to heal and transform legacies of colonization and genocide and to do the work our ancestors and future generations are calling us to do.

Jessica Hutchings, Ph.D., (Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Huirapa, Gujarati) is nationally (in New Zealand) and internationally recognised as a leader and researcher in Indigenous food systems and Māori food and soil sovereignty. A founding trustee of the Papawhakaritorito Charitable Trust that works to uplift Māori food and soil sovereignty, she is herself a food grower and has been a member of Te Waka Kai Ora (the Māori Organics Authority) for 20+ years. A widely published author on food sovereignty issues, Jessica has been working at the crossroads of Indigenous knowledge, environmental wellbeing, and Indigenous social justice, organic farming and self-determination for 30+ years.

Chief Caleen Sisk, the Spiritual Leader and Tribal Chief of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe since 2000, is an internationally known speaker on traditional tribal and spiritual issues including topics such as water and global warming. In addition, Chief Sisk is the Spiritual and Environmental Commissioner for ENLACE Continental, an international network of Indigenous women. Throughout her career she has focused on maintaining the cultural and religious traditions of her tribe as well as advocating for California salmon restoration, conferring rights to rivers and the protection of Indigenous sacred sites.

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