In her role as associate director of Science Indigenous Initiatives at Waterloo, Savannah Sloat has plenty of opportunities to interact with students, faculty and members of Indigenous communities in the region. As a Tuscarora educator and a registered member of Six Nations of the Grand River, Sloat focuses her work on community identity, politics and personhood.
"It is one of the most satisfying parts of my job when I see people making connections and learning from one another," Sloat, a SSHRC Graduate Fellow, says. "It is also an important part of my culture and something that, regardless of your background, is an important part of the learning process."
Sloat is working alongside her PhD supervisor Dr. Talena Atfield (History) on a project that is collecting first-hand accounts from Haudenosaunee community members who were involved in the 1988 repatriation of eleven wampum belts to the Haudenosaunee Confederacy.
The idea of the project originated during a conference that Sloat and Atfield attended where Rick Hill Sr. gave a presentation on repatriation. After their talk, Hill suggested to Sloat that a more thorough chronicling of the experiences of those community members involved in the process would be valuable.
Nation-to-nation agreements
Wampum belts continue to serve as living nation-to-nation agreements, but over time these responsibilities have been forgotten by settler institutions. Over the course of history, many Haudenosaunee wampum belts were confiscated and sold to private dealers and collectors, the eleven belts repatriated in 1988 left the community in 1899 and 1910 and were absorbed into to the Museum of the American Indian Heye Foundation collection.
The Two Row Wampum/Covenant Chain illustrates mutual respect and non-interference between Haudenosaunee and settlers moving forward in relation to one another. It is an agreement that outlines each side's responsibilities in living together in peace.
"The sales and purchases of these Wampum knowingly went against the wishes of the Confederacy," according to Sloat. "Chronicling the events surrounding their return from Haudenosaunee perspectives provides a deeper, richer understanding of what transpired during the repatriation process."
"The reclamation of Wampum is central to understanding the ongoing narrative of Haudenosaunee sovereignty and this project provides an opportunity for the community to engage in significant scholarly contributions to history, material culture and museology."
Interplay between history, culture and identity
Beyond Haudenosaunee scholarship, Sloat hopes the project will contribute to better understanding of the intricate interplay between history, culture and identity, recognizing Wampum as vital components of Haudenosaunee law, governance and inter-nation agreements.
"This project emerges from within the community, aiming to document and preserve our own stories and knowledge systems," Sloat says. "While many scholars have explored Haudenosaunee history through the lens of colonial impact, I'm hoping to highlight the contemporary relevance of Wampum as a living aspect of our culture."
Once complete, the research will reside with the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and community, to be held at Deyohahá:ge:, the Indigenous Knowledge Centre at Six Nations Polytechnic Institute, contributing to the preservation of our collective memory and reinforcing our agency in historical narratives.
The research is funded in part by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Canada graduate Scholarship - Doctoral Program (2024 competition).
