Meet Michelle D Schenandoah: The Wisdom of Rematriation

For Michelle D Schenandoah, the wisdom needed to navigate this moment has existed for generations. A member of the Onʌyota':aka (Oneida Nation) Wolf Clan of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, her work centers Indigenous matrilineal leadership, rematriation, and the responsibility to care for life seven generations into the future.

As part of Kripalu’s Amplify Voices of the Global Majority series, Kaitlin brings a thoughtful and deeply human perspective to questions of grief, belonging, and collective healing. Through her books, retreats, and conversations, she invites people to practice presence in uncertain times and to remember that healing happens most powerfully in relationship—with our bodies, our communities, and the world around us.

1. Can you share a bit about your work and what guides it?

I am a member of the Onʌyota':aka—the Oneida Nation Wolf Clan—of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. I was raised on unceded Oneida territories, within the teachings of the Longhouse, among a family of traditional leaders. That foundation is everything.

I founded Rematriation in 2016 to uplift Indigenous women's voices and to support the movement of rematriation across Turtle Island—returning the sacred to the mother. Our work spans media, public education, and community gatherings, all in service of raising human consciousness toward living in balance with Mother Earth.

Most recently, I directed and produced Rematriated Voices, a first-of-its-kind five-part talk show that is streaming on PBS. The series brings together some of the most influential Indigenous voices of our time—knowledge keepers, scholars, Clan Mothers, activists—to share wisdom with a society grappling with division, ecological crisis, and social upheaval.

My work is about sharing and receiving wisdom. Indigenous women's and peoples’ voices have been silenced for hundreds of years, and our presence has been excluded for far too long. What guides me is the knowledge that the teachings I carry, passed down through my family and people. They are living instructions for living in balance with each other and in respect of Mother Earth.

2. What guides, traditions or lineages most shape the way you approach this work?

The Haudenosaunee Confederacy is recognized as the oldest continuous, participatory democracy in the world. Our matrilineal system—in which family lineage, clan, name, and nation are passed through women—has sustained us for over a millennium. Our Clan Mothers hold political, economic, and spiritual authority. They also select and have power to remove chiefs, and are the ones to decide whether our nations go to war or not.

Culture, traditions and the teachings of my people shape everything I do. Women are foundational to a nation’s governance, democracy and continuance. Our decisions as humans must account for seven generations into the future—this is perspective. Peace is not passive, but an act that must be nurtured in our minds and actions, daily. As a member of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, I have come to know that peace is built, intentionally, together. It is not about a lack of war, but being able to be content with our life, our family relations and with those around us.

3. What feels most important for people to understand about this work right now?

As the United States marks 250 years since its founding, we have an opportunity (perhaps obligation is a better term) to reckon with what power has been omitted in the nation’s foundation.

When the founding fathers drew inspiration from Haudenosaunee governance to draft the Constitution, they chose to exclude matrilineal leadership. Benjamin Franklin openly urged the colonists to model their government after the Haudenosaunee and yet, the colonial settlers could not reconcile themselves with the idea of women holding central authority in governance and political affairs. That omission has reverberated across centuries.

Today's political, social, and ecological turbulence reflects a departure from the governance that has sustained the Haudenosaunee for over a millennium, a governance that centers life.

What I most want people to understand is that rematriation is not only an Indigenous concept. It is an invitation to bring human consciousness toward living in balance with Mother Earth by placing life in the center of all we do. It is an understanding that our first obligation is to life: to the children, the land, the water, the generations yet unborn. Non-Indigenous people can embrace this practice by bringing Indigenous knowledge and thinking into their daily family and work life. Mother Earth is the mother to all of us, in order for life to continue, we must prioritize the gift of life that she gives to us through the land, water, plants and animals—it’s a responsibility, not just a kind or thoughtful act.

4. What do you hope people carry with them after spending time with you in Amplify?

I hope they leave with a sense of responsibility that feels alive, not abstract. The Haudenosaunee understand that all human beings hold a sacred obligation, for seven generations into the future, to care for each other and the well-being of all life.

I also hope people leave my presentation feeling curious to learn more about what rematriation looks like in practice, and that they seek out our series Rematriated Voices to go deeper and learn more about Indigenous values and the wisdom that can be incorporated and enhance our daily lives.