Recognition, Acknowledgment, and Stewardship: The Challenges and Opportunities for Rematriating Tovaangar

The Tongva have long struggled to gain acknowledgment on their ancestral land of Tovangaar, located in the Los Angeles basin, and to be able to fulfill their responsibility to be stewards to the land, plants, and animals of the region. While the community gained state recognition in 1994, the struggle to gain federal recognition is ongoing. Land acknowledgments and other forms of institutional recognition have helped make the Tongva more visible and have encouraged city, county, and state authorities to engage with the Tongva community on some critical issues. But as Wallace Cleaves, associate professor of teaching and associate director in the University Writing Program at UCR will outline, too often the process is flawed, limited and not relational. The Tongva now look beyond these sometimes performative and incomplete acts to develop meaningful agreements with these institutions and have formed their own land conservancy to protect their heritage and Tovaangar.