The Impact of Settler Colonialism on Non-Federally Recognized Tribal Women

• In Event: American Culture: Crime, Capitalism, and Imperialism

Abstract

The settler colonial state’s criteria for federal recognition of Indigenous peoples in the United States serves a general purpose: “to disappear the Indigenous peoples that are there” (Arvin, Tuck, & Morrill, 2013, p.12). The state’s insistence on controlling Indigenous identity negatively affects tribes that federal recognition criteria fails to include, along with it’s members. Through interviews of women members of these tribes, this paper explores the lives of those forced to navigate this hostile settler-colonial terrain. Specifically, how does the racist settler-colonial state’s obsession with controlling Indigenous identity affect the lives and identity of women members of non-federally recognized tribes? How does this identity crisis affect women members and their relationships with their tribal members and service providers, outside service providers, and members of other tribes? How does it affect their experiences with criminal offending and victimization? Future research and policy implications will also be discussed. By exploring this population, this research seeks to expand on criminological literature and bring awareness to a forgotten population that struggles to survive legislative eradication.

Author

• Brian Pitman, Old Dominion University