The dispossession of land has been devastating for the Indigenous peoples of the Americas. Against the violent theft of their lands, Indigenous people in the United States (defined legally as American Indian, Native Hawaiian, and Alaska Native people) have long fought to keep their land and, where it has been lost, to reclaim it. Though rarely framed through the lens of reparation, the repatriation and reclamation of land is a central issue for Indigenous people in the United States today. The readings by Deloria, LaDuke, Simpson, Trask, and Tuck provide context for understanding land as essential for Indigenous survival, as more than just property.

Land claims may be the issue that first comes to mind when thinking of Indigenous issues in the United States, but it is not the only Indigenous issue that is relevant to the category of reparations, repatriation, and redress. Kolkoff’s text deals with restitution for Unangax (Aleut) people relocated and interned during WWII, the repatriation of Indigenous remains and sacred items, and official apologies by national governments to Indigenous people. Dakota scholar Waziyatawin assesses some of the possibilities for reparations within the state of Minnesota and more broadly, and Eve Tuck and K. Wayne Yang discuss the need for decolonization in a material, non-metaphorical sense—the ultimate reparation.

 

Deloria, Vine Jr. “Reflections on the Black Hills Claim.Wicazo Sa 4, no. 1 (Spring 1988): 33-38.

Kohlhoff, Dean. “Victory and Redress.” In When the Wind Was a River: Aleut Evacuation in World War II. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1995.

LaDuke, Winona. “White Earth: A Lifeway in the Forest.” In All Our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life, 113-134. Cambridge: South End Press, 1999.

Nobles, Melissa. “To Apologize or Not to Apologize: National Histories and Official Apologies.” In The Politics of Official Apologies, 71-111. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.

Simpson, Leanne Betasamosake. “Land as pedagogy: Nishnaabeg intelligence and rebellious transformation.” Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society 3, no. 3 (2014): 1-25.

Trask, Haunani-Kay. “Restitution as a Precondition of Reconciliation: Native Hawaiians and Indigenous Human Rights.” Borderlands e-journal 1, no. 2 (2002). 

Trope, Jack F. and Walter R. Echo-Hawk. “The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act: Background and Legislative History.” In Repatriation Reader: Who Owns American Indian Remains?, edited by Devon A. Mihesuah, 123-168. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2000.

Tuck, Eve. “ANCSA as X-Mark: Surface and Subsurface Claims of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.Transforming the University: Alaska Native Studies in the 21st Century 1, no. 1 (2014): 240-272.

Tuck, Eve and K. Wayne Yang. “Decolonization is not a Metaphor.Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society 1, no. 1 (2012): 1-40. 

Waziyatawin. “Just Short of Breaking Camp.” In What Does Justice Look Like?, 119-165. St. Paul: Living Justice Press.