We, the department of Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Studies, acknowledge that we work, learn, and educate on the unceded, ancestral territory of the Musqueam people. This land has always been a place of learning and growth. Community, ceremony, and sacred relationships have always existed here.
We commit to working with Indigenous and non-Indigenous members of our community to bring about change; to reshaping our curricula, to equipping ourselves and our students for more meaningful and appropriate engagement with Indigeneity and Indigenous peoples, and to implementing UBC’s Indigenous Strategic Plan.
Fields of Study and Colonialism
We acknowledge that modern universities have devalued and disrespected Indigenous ways of knowing and learning. In particular, we recognize that our own specific disciplines, research, and topics (including Archaeology, Biblical Studies, Classics, and Near Eastern Studies) have often been abused to serve as tools of colonialism, and have contributed to devastating harm to Indigenous peoples and their land.
AMNE recognizes that upholding our commitments requires sustained and thoughtful practices in learning and doing. Recently, working towards these commitments as a department has taken shape through various initiatives, some of which include: Facilitating the reshaping of course curricula through an internal faculty repository of Indigenous scholarship, and a departmental lending library. Faculty, students, and staff have also participated in workshop-based training, particularly through UBC’s Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology (CTLT). This has focused on implementing the Indigenous Strategic Plan (ISP), understanding the significance of land acknowledgements, and strengthening our teaching and learning practices with respect to Indigeneity. These commitments are also reflected in our newly developed course, AMNE_V 384: Reading the Bible on Indigenous Lands, which looks at the reception, use, and appropriation of biblical texts to support European settler colonialism on Turtle Island (North America), with a focus on British Columbia.
We recognize that our work is ongoing. We remain committed to listening, learning, and being held accountable as we continue to reflect on our disciplines and on our responsibilities as a department.