Ranco talks with News Center Maine about Penobscot signage on campus
Darren Ranco, associate professor of anthropology and coordinator of Native American research, talked with News Center Maine about Penobscot language being added to signage on campus. The University of Maine is on Marsh Island, which Ranco says was the most important residential island, especially before the 19th century, for Penobscot people. “That sense of recognition, I think, is a real important step forward in being like, yes, finally someone is recognizing this is our territory,” Ranco told News Center. “It would be great to see the rest of the university community respond to that deep cultural history and feel connected to it in a way that Penobscot people do.” WABI (Channel 5) and the Bangor Daily News also reported on the new signage. Ranco told the BDN that the Penobscot words aren’t exact translations of the English words. “It’s something else. It’s interpretation. It’s an act of creation. It was a very thoughtful process. We really had to think about what each place means within the context of the landscape.” The Penobscot Times published a UMaine news release about the new signage.