Indigeneity and US Settler Colonialism

Abstract

Written for the field of philosophy, Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Race: In the US context, Indigenous identity presents many difficulties, ranging from problematic understandings of blood degree to peculiar census definitions to accusations of identity fraud. I will discuss in this essay a brief outline of my view that these difficulties are oppressive dilemmas and disappearances that are built into those structures of US settler colonialism that seek to erase us in our own homelands. Looking forward, I will appeal to Kim TallBear’s work, which I will interpret in relation to my own work on environmental justice, to suggest at least one possible alternative for addressing issues associated with Indigeneity and settler erasure.