"Land-Grant" Universities on Stolen Indigenous Land: Power, Possibilities, and Accountability in Public Higher Education

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 31
  In Roundtable Session: Entanglements of Citizenship and Place-Ing the Nation

Abstract

This paper analyzes the formation of the University of California, Berkeley, the founding campus of a lauded network of public land grant institutions. I argue that the racial-colonial logics that were foundational to the state likewise reverberated into the imaginaries of the leaders and faculty who shaped UC Berkeley. I situate this historical-theoretical analysis as an illustrative example to consider broader questions about the power, possibilities, and accountabilities of public "land grant" universities which are on stolen indigenous lands (Patel, 2016). I argue that the physical presence of public universities on indigenous lands engenders distinctive ethical responsibilities to indigenous communities both materially and in the curricular responsibilities of educational researchers.

Author

• Sheeva Sabati, California State University - Sacramento