Rematriate the Land: Our Obligations to Truth and Healing - 1.25 PDH (LA CES/HSW)

Recorded On: 10/06/2024

Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge comprises foundational systems relating directly to the practice of cultural activities grounded by human interaction with the land and each other. Our obligations as landscape architects should be to facilitate the restoration and protection of cultural places while working to return Indigenous access to these lands.

Learning objectives:

Recognize why Indigenous communities are critical partners for biodiversity, resilience, and climate adaptation projects.
Promote strategies, policies, and partnerships for co-stewardship of public and private lands.
Understand how Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge is transferred, and how it is inseparable from the people and their culture, language, and spiritual identity.
Acknowledge how Indigenous peoples' connection to land contributes to their physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health and how landscape architects can develop more culturally safe and meaningful environments.

José de Jesús Leal, FASLA, PLA

Principal and Native Nation Building Studio Director

MIG, Inc.

José is a truth-teller and landscape architect who believes laughter is powerful preventative medicine. His personal and professional journeys are deeply spiritual, grounded in the understanding that he remains a lifelong student with a deep passion for learning. As Co-founder and Director of MIG’s Native Nation Building Studio, he nurtures the power of co-creation through inclusive, community-driven design and planning that honors cultural identity and placeknowing. Through landscape architecture, José advocates truth and healing as a better path forward, while simultaneously creating space for individual and collective transformation to help us do and be better.

Kenwani'cahee Kravitz, MLS

Native Nations Liaison

Southern Oregon University

Kenwanicahee Kravitz, MLS Native Nations Liaison, Southern Oregon University
Mrs. Kravitz is a Tribal advocate with a deep personal understanding of Tribal community, culture and protocols. She is an enrolled member of the Pit River Nation and also descends from the Northern Wintu people. She holds a Master of Legal Studies with emphasis in Federal Indian Law and Tribal Self Governance from ASU, Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law and a BA in Native Studies Leadership from Northwest Indian College. Her advocacy background grew out of a deep desire to effect change and address the issues impacting her Tribal community.

Paul Fragua, Affil. ASLA

Native Nation Building Studio Co-Founder, Elder, Architect and Planner

MIG, Inc.

Paul is a firekeeper, runner, translator, and interpreter. He is keeping the fires of Tribal sovereignty and self-determination burning through his life’s work in Native Nation Building, and in giving voice to the voiceless and bringing visibility to the invisible. He has over 40 years of Native community outreach, community planning, and development experience. He is a professional registered architect (inactive) and a Citizen of the Pueblo of Jemez. Paul is the Co-Founder and Elder of MIG’s Native Nation Building.