While some may suggest that “everyone is indigenous to some place,” as if people are flora or fauna, this common universalizing, whether intentional or not, can end up erasing the political history of specific Indigenous struggles over land claims. Moreover, it cannot account for the wide range of relations to region and nation of the more than 476 million indigenous people who are spread across 90 countries worldwide.

This Olio will focus on select historical moments, geographical sites, and case studies to explore the complexities of life for indigenous peoples in the Pacific Islands and North America subject to the authority of the United States. Related themes to be presented include an examination of Indigenous peoples' varied political status in relation to questions of sovereignty and self-determination, structures of settler colonialism and resistance, and diverse forms of indigenous agency.

Topics include: the recognition and assertion of collective rights, treaty and land rights, self-governance under U.S. federal and international law, decolonization, and the land back movement sweeping across the country.

What are current examples of settler colonial domination affecting Indigenous peoples today? How can non-Indigenous people stand in solidarity with Native Americans and Native Pacific Islanders? How can we enact forms of decolonization outside of the legal realm and in relation to land resurgence movements?

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