VRA 2023 Land Acknowledgment

San Antonio, Texas is homeland to the Tonkawa, the Lipan Apache, the Kickapoo, and many of the autonomous clans and bands of the Coahuiltecan. As the Visual Resources Association visits the city for our 2023 Annual Conference, we acknowledge and pay respect to the Indigenous people of San Antonio, from both the past and today.¹

Cultural heritage work has both a colonial history and present, and it is incumbent upon us to lessen ongoing harms by responsibly speaking about the harmful impact of settler colonialism. We operate within structures rooted in colonial hierarchies, and the technologies we use to work and travel contribute to changing climates that disproportionately affect Indigenous people.² As visual resources workers we must be mindful of the legacies of colonization embedded within our profession.

In the tradition of voluntary land taxes, which recognize our use of stolen Indigenous land, the Visual Resources Association has donated $200 each to the Tap Pilam Coahuiltecan Nation and Lipan Apache Tribe.³ 

What members of VRA can do:

• Implement workflows that support and uphold ethical digital stewardship:

• engage in critical cataloging 

• pursue collection development in collaboration with diverse communities

• appropriately enhance the visibility of underrepresented artists

• Support the hiring, retention, and promotion of your BIPOC colleagues.⁴ 

• Support the repatriation of stolen land and collections in your workplace and local community. 

• Join VRA’s Equitable Action Committee

Donation Links:

• Tap Pilam Coahuiltecan Nation & American Indians in Texas at the Spanish Colonial Missions 

• San Antonio Fatherhood Campaign 

• Lipan Apache Tribe

Resources:

• Native Land

• The Indigenous of Texas: Native American Tribes, When and Where they Lived

• The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley: Coahuiltecan Research Guide

• Lipan Apache Tribe: Our Sacred History

• Tonkawa Tribe of Oklahoma: Tribal History

• Creating subject headings for Indigenous topics : a culturally respectful guide

• Indigenous Knowledge & Decolonising through Critical Information Literacy

• Embracing a Complicated Relationship: Indigenous Museum Practices

• Native Governance Center: A Self Assessment

• Land-grab universities: Expropriated Indigenous land is the foundation of the land-grant university system.

• Guide to Indigenous Land and Territorial Acknowledgement for Cultural Institutions

• Beyond the Land Acknowledgement: A Guide

• A Guide to Indigenous Land Acknowledgment

Tribes and Nations referenced:

• Tap Pilam Coahuiltecan Nation

• Tonkawa Tribe of Oklahoma

• Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas

• Lipan Apache Tribe

¹ The University of Texas Rio Grand Valley Library: Coahuiltecan Research Guide

² VRA 2021 Land Acknowledgement

³ Beyond Land Acknowledgement: A Guide

⁴ Recruitment, Retention, and Experiences of Art Library Professionals