Passaic Today

Montclair State University's Native American and Indigenous Studies (NAIS) program has received a $1 million grant from the Mellon Foundation. The three-year funding will be used to establish the New Jersey Center for Indigenous Justice (NJCIJ) and expand NAIS programming.

The NAIS program is focused on Indigenous rights, racial justice, decolonization, and eco-justice. It prioritizes the needs of New Jersey's state-recognized Native American tribes: the Ramapough Lunaape, Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape, and Powhatan Renape nations. These priorities include environmental justice, political recognition, cultural heritage, and language revitalization.

The NJCIJ aims to serve as a hub for communication, fundraising, events, and gatherings that address issues facing Montclair’s Indigenous students and New Jersey’s tribal communities. It will also work to change public narratives about Native people in the state.

“The NJCIJ will give focus to the varied work Montclair faculty and students are doing in partnership with New Jersey’s tribal communities,” stated Chris Matthews, Anthropology Department Chair and co-director of NAIS. “[It] will be the first and only university-based project in New Jersey that aims to transform public understanding of Native people and to do so in partnership with Indigenous communities across the state.”

Co-Principal Investigators of the grant include Religion Professor Mark Clatterbuck, Anthropology Professor Maisa Taha, and Educational Foundations Professor Lisa Lynn Brooks. The grant will support interdisciplinary collaboration within NAIS by providing additional resources. It will also fund a digital repository of tribal knowledge accessible to both tribal members and Montclair affiliates.

Furthermore, a director for NJCIJ will be hired to enhance engagement with New Jersey tribes while recruiting more tribal members at Montclair University.

Montclair State University is committed to raising awareness about New Jersey's Native American tribes through initiatives such as celebrating Indigenous Peoples Day and hosting an annual NAIS Summer Field School.

“The Mellon Foundation grant will significantly increase Montclair’s ability to fulfill our commitment to addressing the historical legacies of Indigenous dispossession,” said Clatterbuck. “The new center...is focused on Indigenizing New Jersey while decolonizing educational, social and political legacies.”

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation supports arts and humanities initiatives nationwide. Since 1969, it has promoted human understanding through these fields.