Anapamu Alliance

Brief

‘Anapamu’ Alliance, is an indigenous-led land trust within Chumash territories. ‘Anapamu’ Alliance derives its name from several sacred sites in Southern California on the Santa Barbara coastal lands. ‘Anapamu’ is a Sʰamala word for a place of rising / the ascending place. At the Barbareňo site, there is a stone slab with a large carved void which aligns perfectly with the sun’s descent on the winter solstice. This site was used by our ancestors as a point of connection between this realm and the sky realms. Our mission is to facilitate a continuation of local Chumash indigenous arts, wellness, and culture. As a grassroots effort, we believe that the return of culture, arts, land, and language are necessary aspects of indigenous intergenerational healing.

Land Clinic contributes to this work through legal strategy and support for land returns within cultural context, relationship memorialization, reparative mapmaking, and storytelling.