The Land Speaks: The Monacan Nation and Politics of Memory

Abstract

This online exhibit was made possible by students in the Virginia Tech ASPECT Spring 2020 graduate course, "the Politics of Memory," who researched the long history of the Monacan Indian Nation. The Monacan Indian Nation are indigenous people from the greater Piedmont and Blue Ridge, with some of their earliest settlements dating to 1000 A.D. Their history is marked by resilience and their tie to this place. Today, the Monacans need help saving the remains of their historic capitol, Rassawek, located at the confluence of the Rivanna and James Rivers, from development. After the initial design planning stage for "The Land Speaks: The Monacan Nation and Politics of Memory," Scott Fralin, exhibits program manager and learning environments librarian, was ready to construct the exhibit physically by hand. Then came the COVID-19 pandemic, Gov. Ralph Northam’s statewide stay-at-home directive, and the university’s transition to essential operations. “The Land Speaks” exhibit is a unique product of a transdisciplinary collaboration between Fralin and several faculty members in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences. Desirée Poets and Audrey Reeves, assistant professors of political science, joined Jessica Taylor, an assistant professor of history, in teaching a class, “The Politics of Memory,” under the aegis of the doctoral program ASPECT (Alliance for Social, Political, Ethical, and Cultural Thought). The main goal of the exhibit is to spread the story of the Monacan Indian Nation. This federally recognized tribe includes more than 2,300 members and has a continuous, thousand-year-old history and presence in the area that is now Amherst County in central Virginia.