Roundtable: No More Nations Within Nations: Indigenous Sovereignty after the End of Treaty-Making in 1871

Summary:

A roundtable discussion that focuses on the 150th anniversary of the end of treaty-making between the U.S. government and American Indian nations.

Main questions addressed:

How does the 1871 Indian Appropriations Act (IAA) impact Indigenous peoples and how did they respond to this legislation? How did the law speed up and facilitate movement and incursions into Indian spaces—in Indian Territory and the Southwest and elsewhere? Why and in what ways does the 1871 IAA matter in the present?

How might the topics covered discussion affect policy?

American Indian treaties will always create policy discussions and influence the direction of policy in the U.S., as government agencies, individuals, and especially corporations attempt to exert their will on places, land, resources and Native communities and sovereignty. Consider Standing Rock, or Bears Ears, or Mount Graham, or Oak Flat.

Additional authors:

Michael Oberg, SUNY Geneseo; Alaina E. Roberts, University of Pittsburgh; Julie L. Reed, Pennsylvania State University; Kevin Bruyneel, Babson College.