The People Here

About the program:

The People Here is a digital exhibit about the Indigenous people of the land currently occupied by Salem State University.

Born from a desire to create a meaningful, nuanced land acknowledgment for our university community, this project examines the varied and complex narratives told by both Native and nonnative historians, scholars, storytellers, and community members about the colonization and subsequent Indigenous dispossession of the people of Naumkeag, or, as the land is known today, Salem, Massachusetts.

Our presenters will offer these narratives through their timeline, which offers a glimpse into the lives of the original people of Dawnland, beginning at the end of the last ice age, some twenty thousand years ago.

As the timeline moves toward the 16th and 17th centuries, when the European colonists arrived on Turtle Island, our scope narrows to the people of Naumkeag and their kin as they are affected by colonial encroachment. Because The People Here is modeled on the Indigenous theory of survivance—resisting extinction narratives by contributing to an active sense of Native presence—the timeline continues to the present day.

By telescoping into the present and future, our timelines also underscores that colonization is ongoing and its effects are ever-present. 

About our presenters:

Jessica Cook, MA '22G, reader and writer of The People Here, is a graduate student of English literature at Salem State University. She lives on the traditional land of the people at Agawam.

Keja Valens, PhD is a Professor of English and the Faculty Fellow for Diversity and Inclusion at Salem State University.