On October 12, Arcadia hosted the inaugural Lenape Cultural Heritage Symposium in front of a packed crowd in the Commons Great Room.

The symposium, sponsored by the Center for Antiracist Scholarship, Advocacy, and Action (CASAA), the CASAA Indigenous Working Group, the office of Access, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, and the Social Justice Society, included a ceremonial drumming session, a history lesson of the Lenape tribe, a saging ceremony, artwork and artifacts displayed from the tribe, and much more. 

“Our collaboration with the Lenape nation started about three years ago with the idea of drafting a land acknowledgement statement, and since then it has grown into a great partnership,” said Favian Guertin-Martin, Ph.D. associate professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice and associate director of CASAA. “The symposium is the largest event we’ve done to date with indigenous programming. In the future, we plan on building an art collection featuring the history and culture of the Lenape people that will be in the library.”

The Lenape’s historical territory included present-day northeastern Delaware, New Jersey, and large portions of eastern Pennsylvania and western New York state. As such, they were the original caretakers of the land where Arcadia University now sits.

Members of Lenape Nation welcomed students, faculty, staff, and outside guests to the symposium with a ceremonial smudging, helping to set the tone for a fun, educational day.

“The smudging we do is something we do every time we come together,” Adam ‘Waterbear’ DePaul, a chief of Lenape Nation and director of education, as well as an adjunct professor at Arcadia. “The point of the smudging is to come together in a good way. As the smoke goes over you, and you breathe it, you leave negative energy behind and it goes up with that smoke.”

“Our smudge is made up of cedar and white sage,” he added. “Our people never actually used white sage, but when they were forced to move and couldn’t use cedar anymore because of its lack of availability, we started to use white sage. The white sage has now become popularized in Hollywood and is sold all over.” 

Over the last several years, Arcadia has drafted a land acknowledgement statement and signed a treaty of renewed friendship. Additionally, the University hosted a ceremonial drumming circle, educational events, and students have traveled to the Lenape Nation Cultural Center and Trading Post in Easton, PA.

“I work with 40 colleges, and Arcadia is absolutely at the top when it comes to embracing its indigenous people and culture,” said DePaul. “Over the last few years, Arcadia has maintained constant contact, and they offered me a scholarship residency to help ‘decolonize’ the curriculum at the school. This will include the curriculum across the university, a reading section on Lenape history at the library, programs like this to spread the culture… It’s just been incredible.”