Across Lands and Waters

Experts from the field of Indigenous education offer inspiring and vital perspectives, wonders, and responses for transforming the future for Native students

“Indigenous peoples have always been futurists, always taking into the heart, mind, and prayer future generations, always understanding that Native Nation–building is a project of immediacy and longevity.” —Theresa Stewart-Ambo, from Across Lands and Waters

Across Lands and Waters is the first book to offer a future vision for Indigenous education in the United States—a rich tapestry of ideas, frameworks, and dreams for educators, youth, and communities about Indigenous peoples and ideas. Across Lands and Waters was developed as an urgent response to the erasure of Indigenous futures, bringing together scholars from Alaska to Hawai‘i to Rhode Island, and places in between, including poets, psychologists, language revitalizers, hula practitioners, philosophers, and others.


Across Lands and Waters offers a deep well of stories and perspectives from different Indigenous traditions. The contributors examine why we educate, what the role of schools, histories, and philosophies can be in overcoming racist and colonial legacies, and how to envision a radically different future. They discuss how a colonial system of education erases Indigenous realities; the vital importance of reclaiming Indigenous languages; the urgency of dismantling systems of oppression; the varied experiences of Indigenous peoples; and the crucial contributions of traditional ways of being and knowing.


Graced with original artwork by the celebrated artist Maria Hupfield and contributions by Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Natalie Diaz, Across Lands and Waters is a groundbreaking project that will serve as a beacon for teachers everywhere.