Ukwanu·wá· (Mission)
Skaˀnikú·lat, Inc.’s mission is to reclaim the cultural value of “one mind” in the Oneida community through ancestral language and cultural enrichment in effort to restore holistic wellness for the next seven generations.
Ukwanu·wá· translates to 'our mark', 'destiny/calling'
ʌtwʌhnisla·tékeˀ (Vision)
ʌtwʌhnisla·tékeˀ translates to 'there will come a day'
Skaˀnikú·lat, Inc. envisions a future where, within three generations, every family member - from grandparents to children - are speakers of the Oneida language, embodying our traditional knowledge, cultural values, and traditions. Our community will thrive with the ongoing existence of holistic healing, wellness, and prosperity. There will be a resurgence of matriarchal leadership, the return of clan structures, and a robust self-sufficient economy built on our heritage and unity.
Skaˀnikú·lat
501(c)(3) non-profit and Indigenous women-led organization rooted in the values of peace, strength, and a good mind.
What does Skaˀnikú·lat mean?
‘skaˀnikú·lat’ (pronounced ska-knee-goo-lat) translates “one mind” in the Oneida language and is a traditional, ancestral, historical, spiritual, and cultural value representing strength, a good mind, trust, safety, unity, peace, respect, responsibility, relationship, and reciprocity. It is said this principle was given to us by the Creator and to be used as a way for us to live within peace, balance, and harmony with one another, the environment, and all of Creation.
tsiˀ ni·yót tsiˀ tʌtwate·ní· kaˀi·kʌ́ yolihowa·nʌ́·se
translates to 'how we will change these great forces' and 'important matters'
Ongoing settler-colonialism has had devastating impacts on the Oneida community resulting in disempowerment, language loss, numerous social issues, and lateral violence with no solutions or support for the resurgence of culture-based approaches to healing.
The graphic below includes symbolism adapted from the Hiawatha Belt. This belt represents the first agreement that bound together the original five nation of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy. Further, this belt serves as one of the first maps of our ancestral territory which is now settler-occupied New York and Canada. Lastly, this belt represents the structure of our nations within the longhouse, which spans both directions from West to East. The graphic below is designed to reflect those ideals and demonstrate our Theory of Change.
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Our theory of change addresses the impacts of settler-colonialism by implementing pathways that use Oneida language and culture programming as healing tools to restore and build a strong identity, which then supports the development of individual wellness, further influencing collective community wellness and liberation within and beyond our community all led by Oneida women. Through this strategy we aim to restore the inherent matriarchal leadership of our community and facilitating intergenerational knowledge from elders, relatives, families, and youth who will generate solutions, transform systems, restore the balance in Creation, and our inherent power as ukwehu·wé (Oneida people/Original people).
We believe that western solutions are not the answers that can save us. Only we can do that. We not only have the capacity, but the vision, the strategy, the knowledge systems to navigate such issues that affect us as a result of settler-colonialism and white supremacy ideology including issues and behaviors but not limited to: lateral violence, racist blood quantum pedigree measurements of Indigeneity, erasure and outlawing of cultural ways, language loss, climate exploitation, removal from ancestral territory, social injustice, genocide, cultural appropriation, dominance and influence of christianity, extractive capitalism, power, greed, and entitlement. It is this colonial system that perpetuates anger, guilt, shame and fear externalized as major social problems that affect our community such as historical and generational trauma, suicide, incarceration, poverty, violence against Indigenous women, and erosion of traditional food systems causing our community to be dependent on such colonial systems as opposed to fostering self-sufficiency.
Existing within a settler-colonial society that is dominated by white supremacist ideology, we seek to renew our responsibilities and connections to our lifeways, including the revitalization of our language and culture, and build a self-sustainable ecosystem of Oneida language and culture programming and tools for healing.
To fully achieve our goals and mission, we know that it is up to us, our people, and our knowledge systems to enact solutions for issues that affect us. Skaˀnikú·lat believes that our community has the power, knowledge, and abilities to create, implement, and administer solutions to issues that affect our community. Skaˀnikú·lat exercises our inherent power to actively organize, implement, and administer community solutions, by community, and for community. We shift power to our community by educating our community, advocating for our needs and issues that affect us, as well as facilitating discussions with our community about the needs. We further shift power back to our community by ensuring our organization employs Oneida people with desired skill sets that align with our work. Lastly, we shift power back to our community by investing in intergenerational connections, youth development, and leadership. We believe we must invest in future generations to ensure our ways continue on and we give them a space, voice, and support to provide input in the development of our programming. We seek to maintain a high level of character, integrity, and wellness in the work we do by leading by example.
It is this Theory of Change that fuels our vision to a just transition and a right to return to our authentic and inherent ways of being without the control, influence, oversight, and threats of colonization. This approach by Skaˀnikú·lat seeks to restore Oneida and Indigenous excellence that is based on an ecosystem of Oneida language and culture programming.
We know that our language, culture, ceremonies, songs, traditional arts, agricultural practices, food systems, and other ways of being hold a highly advanced structure and system of connection, knowledge, and intelligence that give us insight into how the universe operates and how to live in harmony with it. We no longer believe the lies that have been fed to us by settler-colonial dominant culture about our knowledge systems being less than, barbaric, or uncivilized. We know our language and cultural practices like our ceremonies, histories, stories, and traditional artforms hold incredibly advanced patterns, structures, teachings, and principles that hold solutions to problems that affect us all.
We believe that community solutions are global solutions, and that strengthening the community can truly impact global outcomes on the entire planet that we all share!
