Widening the Circle: Lunaape Land, Language, and History

This year’s gathering includes a session on wampum belts and their role in the making and maintenance of treaty obligations and responsibilities, centered on the wampum belt from Munsee-Delaware Nation currently housed at the American Museum of Natural History; a visit to Princeton University Library’s Special Collections to examine and discuss land transfer documents (deeds) that reflect interactions of settlers and Indigenous inhabitants of Lunaapahkiing (also “Lenapehokink,” the traditional Lunaape lands that correspond to present-day New Jersey, southern New York, and eastern Pennsylvania); two sessions on Lunaape Belongings, bringing out the ways in which communities connect with their belongings currently held in museums in North America and Europe, and how Lunaapeew are represented in museum spaces; a roundtable of updates on Lunaape language reclamation and revitalization from language-keepers in the various communities, both Munsee and Unami-speaking, as well as updates on the development of an online Munsee dictionary. The gathering closes with the sharing of versions of the Lunaape Delaware Creation Story, and a wider discussion of Lunaape Story.

View the symposium program

Pre-registration, via the Register button above, is required for virtual and in-person attendance.

For questions about the event, please contact Melissa Moreton at: mmoreton [at] ias.edu.