“The land was already beautiful before”: A Look Into the History Beneath USD’s Surface

“The land was already beautiful before”: A Look Into the History Beneath USD’s Surface

Taylor DeGuzman / Arts & Culture Editor

• 

• 

It’s hard to ignore the beauty that resides on USD’s campus. Students are met with an immense amount of greenery, beautiful buildings, and views of Mission Bay when they step on to campus. However, what isn’t as immediately recognized is what lies beneath our beautiful university — the traditional and unceded territory of the Kumeyaay nation.

USD faculty and community leaders typically mention the Kumeyaay land acknowledgement in syllabi and classes during the first weeks of each semester. The land acknowledgement acts as a reminder to students that the land USD is on comes from a long-standing history that made it possible for students to reside here.

USD’s Tribal Liaison, Persephone Lewis, is an advocate for bringing greater attention to, and emphasizing the importance of, the history of the land USD is on in order to gain more respect for the Kumeyaay traditional land and natives.

“The creation story of USD is that ‘this land was empty, there was nothing on this land,’ and then we built this beautiful campus,” Lewis said. “But, I think it is really important for us to remember that we are walking on thousands of thousands of years of habitation, that we are walking on thousands of years of history.”  

Lewis delved into the history of the Kumeyaay people that would have lived and survived off the land beneath USD, as well as the San Diego area in general.

“I’ve talked to Kumeyaay folks where it would be reasonable to assume that our land, where USD is, would have been close to traditional villages, close to the valley and river sources,” Lewis explained. “Because we’re located right next to the bay, there would have been lots of folks over the millennia on our land.”

Old Town San Diego is known as the “birthplace of California.” Located in Old Town where the first mission was, was an original Kumeyaay village called “Kasoy,” Lewis said. In 1769, Father Junipero Serra established Mission San Diego de Alcalá, the first of the twenty one missions in California. The Native Americans who had first occupied the region were extremely resistant to the taking of their lands.

Lewis expressed her frustration with common myths that paint native lands as uninhabited and untouched by human beings.

“The story of the ‘New World’ is that it was this really beautiful, plentiful place that was uninhabited and untouched by human beings,” Lewis said. “And the truth is that for thousands of years humans were touching the land; the land was plentiful because human beings were tending to it.”

The Native Americans owned these lands which provided people with the food and resources that they needed to survive. However, because they were not Christians, they did not legally own the lands. As decided in an international court of law, the Doctrine of Discovery established a legal and spiritual justification for the seizure of the lands inhabited by those who were not Christian.

Lewis continued to speak on her own opinions on the founding of USD, and more on how USD builds on this popular myth that it was founded on unused land.

“I feel like a lot of people, when they think about the founding of USD, think more about how beautiful of a campus we’ve built on this land, when the land was already beautiful before,” Lewis said. “Roses don’t make something beautiful, but western ideas of beauty have shaped what we get to decide is beautiful.”

Lewis spoke on how inclusion of more indigenous plants on campus could be a huge step in the right direction toward respecting Indigenous culture.

“Indigeneous plants sustain indigenous animals and they’re going to be easier to take care of,” Lewis said. “However, western ideas of beauty and what beautiful landscaping looks like does not support respective indigenous plants in the same way as the surplus of plants planted on campus.”

In order to gain more recognition and respect for indigenous plants, Native American culture, and Native American history by the USD community, Lewis advocated for a campus-wide initiative as the most necessary action step.

“I think the incorporation of the land acknowledgement statement is great and the first step, but we are ready for the second step now and now it’s time for students to understand what it truly means to be guests in a traditional territory and the responsibility attached to that,” Lewis said. 

The American Indian Student Organization (AISO) is the epitome of student voices influencing change. Rhonda Papp, Chair of AISO, expressed how important it is to her that USD moves towards educating students on Native American history.

“I truly believe that universities are where students should be learning about the world and the history of the land and the native communities,” Papp said.

In order to gain more representation and respect for Native American history. Papp continued to explain that there are several initiatives she has thought about for the past two years that she wants to bring to the university’s attention.

“It would be incredible if during Olé Weekend, when Resident Assistants (RAs) have their mandatory meetings with their residents, the RAs had a talk about recognizing the land’s importance as well as respecting the people who were on this land before them,” Papp said. “Maybe there could be an activity where students go and connect with the land, learn more about AISO, and learn about the ethnic studies courses they could take centering around Native American culture.”

Papp believes that not only is it imperative to recognize the land that USD is on, but it is equally important for individuals to stay curious about the history and background of the land wherever they may travel in the U.S.

“There is something missing in U.S. culture; it’s that complete fascination with where everything started and where the roots of the land we stand on lie,” Papp said.

Lewis and Papp speak to the same sentiment that change begins with the students.

“You (students) all are the most powerful people on campus, I know it might not feel like it, but students’ voices matter,” Lewis said.  

Garden of the sea + sunset photo caption: USD is known for its beautiful campus, previously holding the #1 spot for most beautiful campus according to The Princeton Review. The San Diego sunsets and views of the bay are the cherry on top. Photo courtesy of Office of Undergraduate Admissions.  
Kumeyaay garden photo caption: Lewis co-teaches a course in Biology called “Integrating Indigenous and Western Science” where students adopt plants within the Kumeyaay garden because they play a big role in taking care of it. A lot of the time, gardeners don’t know how to take care of the plants since they are not used to taking care of native plants, according to USD Tribal Liaison Persephone Lewis. Taylor DeGuzman/The USD Vista

AISO photo caption: AISO spearheaded the movement of the renaming of Serra Hall to the now Saints Tekakwitha and Serra Hall. AISO works to help bring better representation and recognition of American Indians on campus. Photo courtesy of AISO.