Ideas worth spreading

Whose land are you on? What to know about the Indigenous Land Back movement

991,180 views | Lindsey Schneider • TEDxMileHigh

Land thrives in Indigenous hands, and there are real, tangible ways you can help return what was stolen by colonizers from tribes across North America. Indigenous scholar Lindsey Schneider addresses the ill-gotten legacy of settler colonialism with an introduction to the Land Back movement: the push to return stewardship of the Earth to its rightful guardians and restore balance to ecosystems for generations to come.

Land thrives in Indigenous hands, and there are real, tangible ways you can help return what was stolen by colonizers from tribes across North America. Indigenous scholar Lindsey Schneider addresses the ill-gotten legacy of settler colonialism with an introduction to the Land Back movement: the push to return stewardship of the Earth to its rightful guardians and restore balance to ecosystems for generations to come.

This talk was presented to a local audience at TEDxMileHigh, an independent event. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

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Donate to the NDN Collective’s Landback Campaign to return the Black Hills and other public lands to Indigenous People.

About the speaker

Lindsey Schneider

Indigenous scholar

See speaker profile

Lindsey Schneider is a descendant of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians. Her research focuses on settler colonialism, the environment, and the diverse ways in which tribal nations peoples in the US and Canada have navigated legal and political barriers in order to sustain their relationships with the land.

Lindsey Schneider | Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, 2022 | Article

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Indigenous people have always had strong relationships with buffalo, so it’s no surprise that meaningful collaboration with tribal nations is the best way to restore free-ranging herds to the American west.

Robin Wall Kimmerer | Milkweed Editions, 2014 | Book

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants"

Potawatomi botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer’s beautiful essays illustrate the reciprocal nature of Indigenous relationships with plants and animals as our oldest teachers.

Eve Tuck and K. Wayne Yang | Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education and Society, 2012 | Article

"Decolonization is not a metaphor"

The word “decolonization” gets thrown around a lot, but what does it really mean? Eve Tuck and K. Wayne Yang argue that in the settler colonial context of the US and Canada, it is nothing less than the return of all stolen land back to tribal nations.

Leanne Betasamosake Simpson | University of Minnesota Press, 2020 | Book

"As We Have Always Done: Indigenous Freedom Through Radical Resistance"

Nishnaabe scholar Leanne Betasamosake Simpson writes about how Indigenous political resistance – from pipeline protests to justice for missing and murdered Indigenous women – are about more than a desire for “inclusion” in a multicultural society. Instead, she articulates Indigenous resilience as a deeply rooted alternative to the violent, extractive logics of the settler colonial state.

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This talk was presented to a local audience at TEDxMileHigh, an independent event. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

Read more about TEDx.

Donate to the NDN Collective’s Landback Campaign to return the Black Hills and other public lands to Indigenous People.