Encountering Ndakinna: Abenaki History in Vermont and New Hampshire

This talk highlights new research into deeply-rooted Indigenous histories in Vermont and New Hampshire, a region collectively known to Abenaki people as Ndakinna (“our homeland”).

The seasonal and strategic flexibility of family bands and homesites in the region enabled communities to quickly relocate when climates changed or warfare threatened. The interventions of English settlements, French Catholic missions, and antiquarian historians have, however, confused the picture of the past. The talk features new research that highlights examples of Abenaki persistence and survivance, despite past and present attempts at erasure.