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UPDATED: Nov. 20, 2020 at 11:44 p.m.

For 20 years, Michelle Schenandoah dreamed of creating a magazine that would amplify the voices of Indigenous women like herself. As a member of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, she felt that her story was erased from history and mainstream media.

This led her to found Rematriation Magazine, a multimedia publication for Indigenous women to gather for collective healing, storytelling and empowerment. The online publication consists of articles, short films and podcasts created by Indigenous women across the Haudenosaunee Confederacy.

But the publication goes beyond what people expect of a magazine because it is focused on creating community within the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, Schenandoah said.

“What we do within the close spaces is provide a lot around healing from those intergenerational traumas but then also helping to move us into more positive spaces where there is a lot of support for each other and building of community,” Schenandoah said.

In 2017, Schenandoah attended the Newhouse School of Public Communications for a master’s degree program in magazine, newspaper and online journalism. While studying at Newhouse she tailored her coursework to create a magazine that would educate the public about the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, which is made up of the Six Nations — Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca and Tuscarora — and is the Indigenous confederacy in Northeast North America.

Porter believes the magazine creates a safe place for Indigenous women to share their stories. Emily Steinberger | Photo Editor

Two years later, at an event at SKY Armory that 200 Indigenous men and women attended, she officially launched Rematration Magazine to tell the untold stories of her culture’s history, she said.

Schenandoah defines rematriation as “returning the sacred to the mother,” or the idea of Indigenous women reclaiming their identities after experiencing genocide and stereotypes. There is a lack of knowledge about Indigenous culture in mainstream media, she said.

“Surviving through hundreds of years of acts of genocide, forced removal and forced assimilation, to be able to stand on our own lands, maintaining our identity, language and ceremonies to this day is nothing short of a miracle,” Schenandoah said. “And is a testament of our people’s resilience.”

The magazine has three different parts — sacred, secret and shared — which Schenandoah said aim to create a community of Indigenous sisterhood across the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. She, along with 75 other Indigenous women, created these three focus areas at a summit Schenandoah held in 2018 at Newhouse.

Rematriation holds “sacred” events that focus on healing from the impacts of colonization. In addition, there are closed online safe spaces within the magazine’s website for Indigenous women to have open dialogue and share knowledge with one another. The website also has public “shared” spaces where women can share their knowledge and wisdom with those outside the Haudenosaunee Confederacy.

Their short film “An Indigenous Response to #MeToo” was featured in the Red Nation International Film Festival in 2018. In addition, Schenandoah said Rematriation just finished a short 10-part documentary film series called “Indigenous Women Voices.” Three of the films can be viewed online at this year’s festival.

“It’s a lot of positive networking and reclaiming our own voice as Indigenous women, because those colonial histories have largely erased us from history and also taken away our voice in the larger national narrative that happens,” Schenandoah said.

Afton Lewis, Rematriation’s new media creator, said the community the magazine has created for Indigenous women empowers her.

Lewis was born into the Mud People Clan, which is a Navajo clan. She was first introduced to the magazine through Schenandoah’s brother Cameron at the Institute of American Indian Arts in New Mexico, where she was studying filmmaking.

“Indigenous people have been silenced for so many years, and it feels great to finally be heard and to finally have allies — non-Indigenous people — understand and even give back to what was once ours,” Lewis said.

Rachel Porter, Rematriation’s editor-in-chief, also believes that the magazine creates a safe place for Indigenous women to share their stories.

Porter is deeply connected to Haudenosaunee culture and said women hold important knowledge that can restore our society. As editor-in-chief, she hopes to continue Schenandoah’s goal of uplifting Haudenosaunee women.

“It’s a unique voice, and I think that non-Native readers are really going to get an insight into some of the wonderful traditions but also solution making that Indigenous women are doing in response to our rapidly changing world,” Porter said.

In the future, Porter and Lewis said they hope to produce a physical copy of the magazine. Schenandoah’s vision for the magazine is that it continues “to grow and reach more Indigenous women” across the United States. She hopes to continue to “build connections and friendships with allies who also seek to employ and center our voices and to help the work that we’re doing,” she said.

But Schenandoah also believes her work extends beyond Rematriation. She said that there are Indigenous people throughout the world that are fighting for their right to be heard.

“In our rapidly changing world, humanity is now being called to a higher consciousness,” Schenandoah said. “As Haudenosaunee and Indigenous people, we offer a pathway to a restored balance between humankind and our Mother Earth.”

CORRECTION: In a previous version of this post, Afton Lewis was misidentified in a photo. The Daily Orange regrets this error.

Published on November 18, 2020 at 11:17 pm