Toward Enacting Good Relations: Teaching Native Religions Through Relationship
Publication Date
1-1-2026
Document Type
Contribution to a Book
Publication Title
Native American Religions Teaching and Learning on Stolen Land
DOI
10.4324/9781003564751-11
First Page
138
Last Page
149
Abstract
Relationships are central to Native religious, cultural, and philosophical traditions. These relationships include those of human (family, clan, and nation/tribe) and non-human (land, water, animal, plant, and spirit). Many Native traditions suggest that relationships come with responsibilities. Ceremonies and other cultural practices are one of the ways Native peoples work to be “good relatives” to the web of relations they are a part of. We can see this in the Ohlone Big Time and Coast Salish First Salmon ceremonies as well as in the popular phrase “all my relations.” These cultural traditions can also invite non-Native students to consider their own relationships to the land and to Indigenous peoples of the place where they reside. This sometimes takes the form of a land acknowledgment statement, which is where the chapter turns its attention to next. Researching the Indigenous peoples of the place where one resides and working on a formal acknowledgment are important steps, but the real power of these statements is their ability to move us into action. The last part of this chapter explores how we might consider our relationships and work toward becoming “good relatives” to the land and Indigenous peoples through respectful engagement with Indigenous-led movements.
Department
Sociology and Interdisciplinary Social Sciences
Recommended Citation
Abel R. Gomez. "Toward Enacting Good Relations: Teaching Native Religions Through Relationship" Native American Religions Teaching and Learning on Stolen Land (2026): 138-149. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003564751-11
