I want to acknowledge that my husband and I are living on the traditional territory of the indigenous Wampanaog, Nauset, and Massachusett. As a recent arrival to Cape Cod, the site of the first contact between “Pilgrims and Indians,” I am thinking about what it means to acknowledge the history and legacy of colonialism.

I enjoy many privileges today because of colonialism. What can we do beyond acknowledging the territory where we live? How can we develop relationships with peoples whose territory we are living on in the contemporary geopolitical landscape? Do we have a realistic understanding of the on-going violence and the trauma that is part of the structure of colonialism?