The Place That Is Easy To Get To

Ridgway, Morgan

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/109781 Copy

Description

Title

The Place That Is Easy To Get To

Author(s)

Ridgway, Morgan

Issue Date

2021

Keyword(s)

• Philadelphia
• History

Abstract

Philadelphia is a city of rivers; the Schuylkill River cutting through the city and the Delaware River marking the boundary between Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Pictured here is the Schuylkill on its way to join the Delaware and continue its journey through Lenape territory toward the Atlantic Ocean. This river is evidence of the persistence of Lenape lands, life, and connection throughout the Mid-Atlantic region. As an analytic, the river questions the meaning of multiculturalism that shapes Philadelphia. How does multicultural “progress” reflect the fluid legacies and realities of white supremacy and settler colonialism? How are Native and non-Native people connected in ways beyond such systems of violence? Thinking about these structures through water encourages us to see Native and non-Native people as related in fluid, intimate, and unstable ways. It reveals how Indigenous peoples maintained communities through intimate relationships and responsibility toward each another and their histories. When we center the continued presence of Lenape people and knowledge held in the water, we can imagine a world different than the one inherited from settler colonialism. The lesson of the river is the understanding that we are all interrelated and together there is a better way to live our futures.

Type of Resource

Image

Language

eng

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/109781

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2021 Morgan Ridgway

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