About Us
The Native American Student Association welcomes all walks of life. In an effort to reclaim our Indigeneity, NASA's mission aims to increase awareness of Native cultures and perspectives on Bowdoin's predominantly white campus. NASA provides a safe healing space for all students who are passionate about tackling issues facing Indigenous peoples today. To reframe colonized ideologies surrounding education and ways of knowing, NASA believes that change comes from within community. We encourage the Bowdoin community to recognize the importance of Native voices and sovereignty in white spaces, as we are the backbone of existence. We want respectfully acknowledge Bowdoin College resides upon the traditional homelands of the Abenaki People. The Abenaki are members of the Wabanaki Confederacy, or "People of the Dawn," which include five member nations: the Abenaki, Migamaw, Maliseet, Passamaquoddy, and the Penobscot. This was a site of trade, travel, gathering, and healing for the Wabanaki over more than 12,000 years. Today, each community maintains its own tribal government, community schools, cultural centers, and manages its respective lands and natural resources. Although most of Maine's Native people belong to one of these five federally recognized groups and reside on tribal lands, other Native people live in towns and cities across the State. We make this acknowledgment aware of violations of water, territorial rights, and sacred sites across Wabanaki homelands, which are stewarded today by over 7,800 tribal members in the state of Maine. Indigenous peoples continue to protect and remain in relationship with the land and waters and will do so until the end of time. It is vital to honor these beginnings and recognize the ongoing dedication and importance of Indigenous culture within our communities and within the spaces that we gather, live, learn, and work on. People of the Dawn allow us to be here. For their truth is our truth. Their pain is our pain. With our breath we carry words of healing. With our hands we write this prayer.
