OFFERINGS TO THE POTOMAC: ACKNOWLEDGING INDIGENOUS PLACE

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OFFERINGS TO THE POTOMAC
ACKNOWLEDGING INDIGENOUS PLACE

February 24 - April 25, 2025
Buchanan Hall Atrium Gallery

Curated by Dr. Gabrielle Tayac and Public History in Action students

In Indigenous tradition, offerings are made to honor the peoples and lands where we enter. This exhibit acknowledges the Doeg, who lived in a major village called Tauxenent (Tauj-ah-nahnt) near the place that we stand now. In the late 1600’s, the colonial Virginia militia attempted to erase the Doeg people and culture through genocide. Doeg descendants are in current Piscataway and Rappahannock tribes as well as individual family lines.

We welcome you to consider ways to honor the ancestors, join in caring for these lands, and support local Indigenous communities. This is an Indigenous place, home is here.

Public History students at George Mason University collaboratively curated this exhibit with contemporary artists and culture bearers from Indigenous communities connected to Northern Virginia to create offerings for this land’s ancestors. The exhibit is a hands-on approach to research and learning. This remembrance is certainly cause for somber reflection and at the same time, celebration of a vibrant cultural journey.

Mason Exhibitions is honored to expand the offerings to include student and alumni artwork by CJ Davis, Girasol O’Neill, Ayman Rashid, and students taking Intro to Darkroom with Stephanie Benassi in Fall 2024.

 

Offerings to the Potomac presents three major Indigenous communities in Northern Virginia:

Local Intertribal Community – Native Americans from across the United States and Canada live and work in this region. The American Indian Society of Washington, D.C. works to gather community for cultural, spiritual, educational, and social support. The Piscataway (Maryland) and Rappahannock (Virginia) tribes have lived on these lands for millennia.

Mayan Nation – There is a large diasporic Central American Indigenous population in this area. The International Mayan League is an important organization representing a rapidly growing community.

Andean Indigenous Community – Longer established in Northern Virginia, Quechua and Aymara speakers from Andean countries are a dynamic part of this region’s culture.

Exhibition Bookshelf

Indigeneity and Diaspora - Books in the Window Series at Provisions Library 

This book display explores the intersection of indigeneity and diaspora. Indigeneity is rooted in deep connections to land, community, and culture. Yet, paradoxically, it also carries the histories of displacement, forced migration, and survival in the face of colonialism and socio-economic hardships. For those who have been removed from their ancestral homelands, the struggle to revive connections and reclaim roots is ongoing. At the same time, those who have migrated from other Indigenous lands and settled in spaces with layered histories seek to maintain their own cultural ties while respecting the histories of the land they now inhabit. In this way, indigeneity and diaspora are intertwined. When land, history, and people are honored, these experiences can coexist, resisting forces that seek to sever those connections. This book display presents key perspectives on indigeneity and diaspora, offering a dynamic lens to understand the complexities of identity, belonging, and resilience. 

Themes Explored in This Collection 

  • Indigenous Identity & Survival – How Indigenous communities assert and sustain their identities amidst colonial histories, systemic erasure, and cultural transformations. 

  • Resistance & Political Struggles – Movements for self-determination, constitutional recognition, and governance in the face of ongoing oppression and global exploitation. 

  • Performance & Public Representation – The role of performance, art, and public space in shaping and contesting narratives of indigeneity, belonging, and sovereignty. 

  • Museums, Heritage & Historical Narratives – Debates over representation, cultural ownership, and the responsibilities of institutions in preserving and interpreting Indigenous histories. 

  • Migration, Displacement & Global Indigeneity – Indigenous experiences in urban spaces, diasporic communities, and the ongoing impacts of forced migration, colonization, and globalization. 

Through this selection, we invite you to explore indigeneity and diaspora as dynamic, intersecting forces—stories of resilience, adaptation, and the enduring ties that connect people to land, culture, and each other. 

BOOKS IN THE WINDOW AT PROVISIONS LIBRARY
On Display until March 31
Provisions Library, L001 Art and Design Building

BOOK COLLECTION 

  • Louisiana Creole Peoplehood: Afro-Indigeneity and Community – Edited by Rain Prud'homme-Cranford, Darryl Barthé Jr., and Andrew Jolivétte (2022) 

  • The Politics of Indigeneity: Challenging the State in Canada and Aotearoa New Zealand – Roger Maaka & Augie Fleras (2005) 

  • Urban Mountain Beings: History, Indigeneity, and Geographies of Time in Quito, Ecuador – Kathleen S. Fine-Dare (2020) 

  • Defiant Indigeneity: The Politics of Hawaiian Performance – Stephanie N. Teves (2018) 

  • Performing Indigeneity: Global Histories and Contemporary Experiences – Edited by Laura R. Graham & H. Penny (2014) 

  • Archaeologies of "Us" and "Them": Debating History, Heritage, and Indigeneity – Edited by Charlotta Hillerdal, Anna Karlström, & Carl-Gösta Ojala (2017) 

  • 500 Years of Indigenous Resistance Comic Book: Revised and Expanded – Gord Hill; Foreword by Pamela Palmater (2021) 

  • Peace, Power, Righteousness: An Indigenous Manifesto – Taiaiake Alfred (1999) 

  • Paradigm Wars: Indigenous Peoples' Resistance to Globalization – Edited by Jerry Mander (2006) 

  • Carl Beam: The Poetics of Being – Greg A. Hill, Carl Beam, & Gerald McMaster (2010) 

  • Spirited Encounters: American Indians Protest Museum Policies and Practices – Karen Coody Cooper (2007) 

  • Being Indigenous in Jim Crow Virginia: Powhatan People and the Color Line – Laura J. Feller (2022) 

 

The readings below are available at George Mason Libraries, Provisions Library, or freely online.

Special Thanks to Collaborators, Sponsors, and Supporters

This exhibition grew out of the “IndigenoUs Northern Virginia: Activating Local and Diasporic Native Identities at Mason” project of Dr. Alison Landsberg and Dr. Gabrielle Tayac, funded by Mason’s Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence (ARIE) grant in February 2023.

“Indigenous Northern Virginia” began with a Summer Research Institute of students who connected with diverse indigenous communities in NOVA through experiential listening and dialogue. Learn more about the Summer Institute in 2023 and related programming. Learn more about the Summer Institute in 2024