Building Authentic Collaborations with Tribal Communities
A Living Reference for Climate Practitioners
As an organization, the Climate Science Alliance strives to facilitate regular conversations on how we can cultivate meaningful and authentic collaborations with Indigenous communities and improve equity and inclusion for our staff, our projects, and within our network. Our work is successful when we are able to lift others’ voices up, make sure that climate conversations are accessible and relatable, and ensure that Indigenous ways of knowing are at the forefront of climate adaptation work.
Each section of this resource guide provides important information, key resources, and listed actions to take prior to reaching out to build new relationships with Tribal communities.
By sharing resources from this important discussion, our hope is that others will do their due diligence in expanding their understanding and moving their work forward in a good way where all people are valued for who they are and what knowledge they hold.
Resource Menu
UNDERSTANDING TRIBAL SOVEREIGNTY
Understand different aspects of sovereignty, including political Tribal sovereignty, Indigenous data sovereignty, and the rights of nature.
Building Understanding
-
There are currently 574 federally recognized Tribes
-
“Indian reservations are lands reserved in treaties, by executive order, or congressional acts. They are not gifts from the federal government to Tribes; they are products of massive land cessions by Tribes that created the United States” - Dina Gilio-Whitaker
-
On March 3, 1819, the Civilization Fund Act ushered in an era of assimilationist policies, leading to the Indian boarding-school era, which lasted from 1860 to 1978. Thousands of Native American children were forced to attend boarding schools created to strip them of their culture.
-
On May 9, 2019, the Yurok Tribal Council passed a resolution declaring the rights of the Klamath River and provided a legal avenue for the Klamath River to have its rights adjudicated in Yurok Tribal Court
Tribal Nations and the United States: An Introduction
by: National Congress of American Indians
Provides a basic overview of the history and underlying principles of Tribal governance and information for the public at large to understand and engage effectively with contemporary Indian Nations.
by: High Country News
Nearly 11 million acres of Indigenous land. Approximately 250 Tribal nations. Over 160 violence-backed treaties and land seizures. Fifty-two universities. Discover the bloody history behind land-grant universities.
The Native Land Digital Map highlights traditional territories, treaties, and languages across the United States, Canada, and beyond. Use this interactive resource to understand and acknowledge the traditional lands on which you work and live.
List of Federal and State Recognized Tribes
The following state-by-state listing of Indian Tribes or groups are federally recognized and eligible for funding and services from the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). The list also includes Indian Tribes or groups that are recognized by the states, when the state has established such authority. This acknowledges their status within the state but does not guarantee funding from the state or the federal government.
American Indian Law in a Nutshell
by: William C. Canby, Jr.
by: Vine Deloria, Jr.
by: Dina Gilio-Whitaker
Resources
What You Can Do
Identify who’s homelands you reside and work on.
Upon acknowledging who’s land you're on, take the time to learn about the people and communities that are still alive and present.
Identify treaties and court cases related to local Tribes to learn more about how their sovereignty came to be.
Offer equal authorship to your Tribal partners on the publication that are created from the project experience.
Tribal governments are sovereign nations and community leaders should be afforded the same respect and regard as you would give to the leaders of any country.
PARTICIPATING IN ACTIVE LISTENING
Understand the importance of active listening when engaging with Tribal communities.
Building Understanding
-
Each Tribal nation has different discourse styles, including length of response time, traditional protocols to follow and vocabulary.
-
Incentives and gift-giving are considered common practice to express appreciation for the exchange of time. This is often demonstrated in bringing food / having parking passes for meetings, and ensuring the comfort of guests and the space that you have invited them to.
Active Listening: The Story of Water
by: Melodie Lopez
Guidance and Responsibilities for Effective Tribal Consultation, Communication, and Engagement
by: Members of the West Coast Tribal Caucus of the West Coast Alliance
A guide for agencies working with West Coast Tribes on Ocean and Coastal Issues.
Tribal Relations & Traditional Knowledge
by: Crystal Leonetti
A presentation by the first Indigenous woman to ever serve as a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Native American liaison.
Changing the Narrative About Native Americans: A Guide for Allies
by: Reclaiming Native Truth (Echo Hawk Consulting and First Nations Development Institute)
The Reclaiming Native Truth initiative is designed to eradicate harmful and toxic narratives, stereotypes, structural and institutional racism, dehumanization, and the invisibility of Native Americans.
Resources
What You Can Do
In your meetings and interactions, observe how others “listen”. Write down what you can learn from their listening skills.
List a few ways of how you might demonstrate active listening.
When you wish to ask a question or add to the conversation, consider counting slowly to 10. Consider if a response is needed at all.
List a few things that we accomplish as a whole when we listen.
WISDOM AND RECIPROCITY: COLLABORATING WITH TRIBAL NATIONS
Understand the importance of centering reciprocity while establishing and maintaining partnerships with Tribes.
Building Understanding
-
Members of the Havasupai Tribe in Arizona gave blood samples in 1989 for research on type 2 diabetes, only to find out later that the researchers had used the DNA samples for studies on schizophrenia, ethnic migration and population inbreeding without the individuals’ approval.
-
The Onondaga Nation Land Claim case is remarkable because the suit asks only for a declaratory judgment that the land was illegally taken from the Nation and that the Nation continues to have legal title to the land. The lawsuit is not a land “claim,” because to the Onondaga, the land has far greater significance than the notion of property. The Nation is primarily interested in demanding the restoration of the land from the destruction of SuperFund sites in the area around Syracuse, especially Onondaga Lake, a sacred site.
Wisdom and Reciprocity: Collaborating with Tribal Nations
A panel offering wisdom from several different perspectives on the importance of centering reciprocity while establishing and maintaining partnerships with Tribes.
Wisdom and Reciprocity: Tips on Building Effective and Meaningful Collaborations with Tribal Nations
This document encapsulates takeaways from the 2021 Southwest Adaptation Forum panel on wisdom and reciprocity. It is by no means an exhaustive list and comes from the lens of climate adaptation planning, but our hope is that it provides basic guidance for scientists and practitioners interested in collaboratively partnering with Native Nations.
Guidelines for Considering Traditional Knowledges in Climate Change Initiatives
by: Climate and Traditional Knowledges Workgroup (CTKW)
A framework to increase understanding of issues related to access and protection of Traditional Knowledges (TKs) in climate initiatives and interactions between holders of TKs and non-Tribal partners.
How to Include Indigenous Researchers and their Knowledge
by: Virginia Gewin
Researchers from Native American and Indigenous communities explain how colleagues and institutions can help them to battle marginalization.
by: K. Chief, J.J. Daigle, K. Lynn, and K.P. Whyte
This collaboration, by more than 50 authors from Tribal communities, academia, government agencies, and NGOs, demonstrates the increasing awareness, interest, and need to understand the unique ways in which climate change will affect Tribal cultures, lands, and traditional ways of life.
Indigenous Stewardship Methods and NRCS Conservation Practices
by: USDA National Resources Conservation Science
A guidebook for NRCS employees that provides a framework for working with Indigenous communities across the conservation landscape.
Decolonization is not a Metaphor
by: Eve Tuck and K. Wayne Yang
“Decolonization brings about the repatriation of Indigenous land and life; it is not a metaphor for other things we want to do to improve our societies and schools."
Recognition and Support of Indigenous California Land Stewards, Practitioners of Kincentric Ecology
by: First Nations Development Institute
It is important for regional, national, and international organizations to support Indigenous peoples in their efforts to advance the rights and opportunities of the stewards of biocultural diversity and sustainable land management practices. This will happen only when we begin to know, support, respect, and love the practices that value relationship-based kincentric stewardship as practiced by people for over a millennium. This can start today by acknowledging this deep knowledge, uplifting and advancing this work, supporting Native-led organizations and leaders, and ultimately, reinstating stewardship and ownership of California’s lands to Indigenous peoples.
Resources
What You Can Do
Recognize that communities maintain data sovereignty
Ensure there is Native Nation hiring preferences in your program, from internships to evaluators.
Support community events such as Earth Day to become a familiar face and to find opportunities to build relationships.
Consider reading Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer, a mother, scientist, decorated professor, and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, in which she describes the awakening of acknowledging and celebrating our reciprocal relationship with one another and the rest of the living world.
PLANNING FOR FULL AND EQUAL PARTNERSHIPS & LONGEVITY OF COLLABORATION
Understand the importance of consultation and relationship building prior to project collaboration and before any times of crises.
Building Understanding
-
“The Modoc in northeastern California were forced into a treaty ceding their lands in exchange for their relocation to the Klamath reservation in 1864. With the land unable to provide sufficient food for all the Indians, a band of Modoc returned to their ceded lands at Tule Lake and engaged in an armed conflict with the US Army for several months before their defeat in 1873. Survivors were exiled to the Quapaw reservation, resulting in a Modoc diaspora between Oklahoma and Oregon” - Dina Gilio-Whitaker
-
In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Morrill Act, which distributed public domain lands to raise funds for fledgling colleges across the nation. The Morrill Act worked by turning land taken from Tribal nations into seed money for higher education.
Planning for Full and Equal Partnership and the Longevity of Collaborations
From the 2021 Southwest Adaptation Forum, a panel discussion on the importance of consultation and relationship building prior to project collaboration and before any times of crises.
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
by: UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs of Indigenous Peoples
Establishes a framework of minimum standards for the survival, dignity, and well-being of the Indigenous peoples of the world and elaborates on existing human rights standards and freedoms as they apply to the specific situation of Indigenous peoples.
A Global Assessment of Indigenous Community Engagement in Climate Research
by: Dominique M. David-Chavez and Michael C. Gavin
This global assessment provides an evidence base to inform our understanding of broader social impacts related to research design and concludes with a series of questions and methods to support responsible research practice with Indigenous communities.
Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples
by: Linda Tuhiwai Smith
In this important book, Linda Tuhiwai Smith meets a formidable challenge. In 200 pages she presents a cogent critique not only of anthropology, but of the cultural evolution of the entire Western concept of research. The author describes the devastating effects of such research on indigenous peoples and articulates a new Indigenous Research Agenda which aims to replace former Western academic methods.
Resources
What You Can Do
You are on someone's homelands, wherever you’re located. Go beyond land acknowledgement and find ways to personally relate to the people and the land that you are on.
Build relationships before you even have an idea for a project collaboration. Take the time to meet with all involved and impacted Tribes and communities.
Identify ways you can continue your professional relationship after the grant or project concludes.
WANT TO LEARN MORE?
US Bureau of Indian Affairs: Frequently Asked Questions
by: United States Department of the Interior