Description: The impact of empires and the lingering presence of colonialism continue to be major preoccupations for scholars in the twenty-first century. This concise text explores the spread of settler colonies within the British Empire over the course of the nineteenth century, specifically those in New Zealand, Canada, South Africa, and Australia. In Building Better […]

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Excerpt: In a 1973 article, Mormon scholar Eugene England described the decision of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to deny the priesthood to black men as a “cross” that white Mormons had to bear. England saw it as an Abrahamic sacrifice. God, he wrote, “asks us to sacrifice not only our political […]

Abstract: Verdesio discusses the shortcomings of a central category in the theoretical repertoire of the decolonial option: “coloniality of power.” By focusing on Uruguay as a case study, a country where the colonial legacies typical of settler colonialism are still alive, Verdesio shows the limited explanatory power of categories like coloniality of power, that were […]

Abstract: This article explores historical processes of land dispossession through an in-depth case of the Narragansett Indians of present-day Rhode Island. Using an eventful historical methodology, I uncover three primary mechanisms, each temporally situated, that dispossessed the Narragansett tribe of their land: violence, debt, and state governance. I proceed by first considering Narragansett life before […]

Abstract: Based on anthropological and historical considerations, this paper analyses the evolution of the relationship between Western law and aboriginal custom in Latin America by focusing on the most tangible and problematic issue in customary law: land tenure. My aim is to provide a critical review of the impact of the rule of law in […]

Description: Kennewick Man, known as the Ancient One to Native Americans, has been the lightning rod for conflict between archaeologists and indigenous peoples in the United States. A decade-long legal case pitted scientists against Native American communities and highlighted the shortcomings of the Native American Graves and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), designed to protect Native remains. […]

Abstract: This dissertation explores the role women and diasporic families played in the settlement of colonial and early republic Liberia. While the majority of African Americans actively fought against Liberian colonization, over ten thousand African Americans settled in Liberia over the nineteenth century. It argues that from the very first moments of colonization, negotiating kinship […]

Excerpt: On March 17, 1775, Richard Henderson procured a deed from several Cherokee chiefs for lands that included more than half of modern-day Kentucky. However, questions persisted over the legality of the treaty within the laws of the British Empire and the right of the Cherokee to sell the land. Nevertheless, Henderson’s Transylvania Company quickly […]