xučyun

xučyun is a region within the homeland of the resilient East Bay Ohlone people. This ancient place—rich with dense marshes, old-growth oak groves, utilized willow thickets and fragrant bay forests—extends from what we know today as the Berkeley Hills to the San Francisco Bay Shoreline, from Downtown Oakland northward to El Cerrito. The region is composed of what we know today as five Bay Area cities -  Berkeley, Emeryville, El Cerrito, and parts of Oakland and Alameda.

UC Berkeley sits on Ohlone land. In the East Bay, Ohlone people have always gathered, celebrated, and cared for the land—despite UC and the federal government erroneously declaring the Ohlone people “extinct” which led to loss of recognition of land rights for the Verona Band of Alameda County in 1927. Despite the University’s egregious, false declaration that affected all East Bay Ohlone people, their forebears persisted and carried on, even without a recognized land base. Because of their tenacity and undeniable strength, the East Bay Ohlone people have never left their homeland and maintain an unbroken relationship to this beloved place with their enduring culture intact.

Our campus extends to areas of xučyun that held a tuppentak (a traditional roundhouse), a place of celebration and ceremony, as well as a shellmound, traditional Ohlone burial sites. So as we view Berkeley as a special place, we were not the first to recognize, make our lives in, or celebrate the unique and exceptional place that we have the privilege to stand on.