With Ashley Smith and Jennifer Hamilton
This course introduces students to the critical study of settler colonialism in the United States and Canada by focusing on historic and continuing expansion of colonial and federal power into Indigenous territories. We begin in the eighteenth century in the Northeastern part of the continent looking at early treaties in the larger context of Indian-settler relations. We then trace westward expansion in the 19th and early 20th centuries to provide a context for understanding contemporary conflicts over land, resources, and sovereignty and self-determination. This course has no prerequisites but is geared towards students with preparation in Native American Indigenous Studies (NAIS), law and/or legal studies, and/or U.S. empire studies. Topics include law, colonialism, and nation-building; land and memory; law, science, and the emergence of Indigenous legal identities; and environmental justice.