The Intersection Between Laws and American Indian Life
this paper will demonstrate the student's exploration of the intersection between laws and American Indian life from any period studied over the course of the semester. Each paper must
address the “task” and Outline prompts below, have a clear thesis statement, analysis, “So
What?” and conclusion.
Use "Settler Colonialism as Structure: A Framework for Comparative Studies of U.S. Race and Gender Formation" by Evelyn Nakano Glenn to support your claims in the “Historical Context”. Here is a link to this reading https://blackboard(dot)learn(dot)fresnostate(dot)edu/bbcswebdav/pid-1821739-dt-content-rid-12844761_1/courses/AIS50-01-70901-2177/NakanoGlenn_Race.GenderFormation.pdf
Use "Bad Indians" and "All Our Relations" readings to support the “Body of the Paper”.
Use "Key Indian Laws and cases" reading to support your “So What?” Here is a link to this reading https://blackboard(dot)learn(dot)fresnostate(dot)edu/bbcswebdav/pid-1839543-dt-content-rid-12890568_1/courses/AIS50-01-70901-2177/Churchill.Morris_KeyCasesLaws_SNA.pdf
Here is a guideline you can follow:
I. Introductory Paragraph: Introduce and explain your topic, noting any particular tribes you discuss and where they are situated geographically. Introduce one major
reading, including the author, that will be used in your paper, and clarify the main
arguments in the reading support your own topic of interest. End the introduction with
a thesis statement and mapping statement (two to three points that you will argue in
your paper to prove that your thesis is true).
II. Historical Context: In one paragraph, choose one reading from weeks 1 or 2 to
explain how the social construction of “the Indian” is a racial trope. Include an
explanation of the time period the social construction emerges, how “the Indian,” as a
racial trope, is related to your paper's topic, and what you would argue is the impact
that the trope of “the Indian” has on the justice served to American Indians you
address in your paper.
III. Body of the Paper: Here, each of the points in the mapping statement are used as
topic sentences. The topic sentences serve as the first sentence of a new point of
analysis. Each of your body paragraphs will have at least one quotation from your
required readings to illustrate the author's actual point of view and to support the
claims you make about their point.
IV. “So What?”: As a final argument, you will make one last point about the broader
importance of the topic of your paper. Consider explaining how and why the topics
you have covered matter to a larger audience of people. Make a few claims you
believe and explain why they are true to you and support these claims with quotes
from the reading.
V. Conclusion: Provide a brief synopsis of your paper's main arguments and conclude
by paraphrasing your thesis and any additional final points you wish to make.
VI. Complete bibliography of readings quoted and paraphrased or referenced should be
the last page of your paper.
Your Name
Course
University
12th DEC 2017
The Intersection Between Laws and American Indian Life
I: Introduction
Native Americans are among the 500 federally recognized indigenous tribes of the United States that includes the native Hawaiians and Alaskans. These indigenous tribes were adversely affected by colonization of the America’s as their population drastically declined due to diverse atrocities that they were subjected to by their European colonial masters. Even after the founding of the United States, Native Americans continued to be discriminated through lopsided policies and treaties. Subsequently, the Native American emancipation movements emerged and begun pushing for their rights. According to Glenn (2015), the colonialists resorted to the use of different policies to eliminate them from their native land. He state that almost throughout the United States history, continuous wars were used by white settlers to eliminate the indigenous tribes. These wars occurred between 17th and 19th centuries as the white settlers pushed to evict Indian Americans from their native land in the East, Mid-west and lastly, in the West (Glenn, 2015, p.58). Ethnic cleansing was conducted by the official military Metropole and settler organized vigilantes. American Indians endured brutality and slavery in the hands of their colonial masters including displacement from their native land in the eastern and western hemisphere, notwithstanding the American law and justice system which often favored the white settlers in spite of the atrocities committed
This paper will focus on the Native Americans also referred to as Indian Americans and explores the intersection between laws and American Indian life. The paper will rely on settler colonialist, race and gender formation comparative study as a guiding framework to support claims made in the historical context section of the paper. The discussion in the body of the paper will be based on the “Bad Indians” and “All Our relations” readings while the “So what? Section will be based on “ Key Indian Laws and Cases”.
* Historical Context:
This paper argues that the social construction of the Native Americans is a trope. The social construction was shaped through their interaction with their colonial masters which was largely ridden with violence, enslavement brutality. The brutal force meted upon the Indian Americans by the white settlers has largely effected their social construction to date. This trope has had a significant impact on the Indian way of life and thinking. As a result of this trope, American Indians have been denied access to justice. The colonialists used racisms and sexism to successfully execute their colonial agenda, despite the existence of laws and justice system that was meant to promote them. Nevertheless, long after the formal declaration of emancipation, and numerous gains that include the entrenchment of Civil Rights in the constitution to protect minority groups, racism is still prevalent particularly targeted at the native tribes that include the Native Americans. A significant number of studies have focused on racism and racial inequality especially on the white-black conflict thereby ignoring the plight of other minority groups such as the native tribes. However, these focus must change given the increased subjugation and racism targeted at the native tribes as evident from different sociological studies focused on racism and inequality. According to Glen (2015), there is a great danger in taking settler colonialism more seriously arguing that doing so only advances decolonization as the only option in trying to achieve racial and gender justice (p.55). Although this assertion may appear to be justified, there is still a problem. The Indian Americans, just like other native tribes are protected through Civil Rights and their continued subjection to racial and gender injustices is unwarranted. Unlike their American counterparts, other scholars have underscore the importance of taking an “….indeterminacy of racial categories and the fluidity and hybridity of the racial identities” (Glenn, 2015, p.56). Although this approach is more welcome, it however must also endeavor to unearth the underlying issues of colonialism and how they continue to impact these groups today.
* Body of the Paper:
White settlers throughout the Americas sought to enslave the Native Americans through direct slavery on agricultural farms where the provided labor, or were sold to finance the development of southern plantations (Glenn, 2015, p56). Nevertheless, the colonialists could not amass sufficient labor from the indigenous tribes to provide workforce on settler farms since most of them succumbed to the atrocities of enslavement and European diseases. Only those that managed to escape survived in the wild. Although the natives provided slave labor power, they remained poor and impoverished as they were exploited for the exclusive benefit of the settler owners. Additionally, white settlers made every effort to make profit from the native land from which they native Americans had been forcibly displaced or killed. Settlers released great return from occupied land through extensive cultivation, extraction of resources and construction of infrastructure to aid both land cultivation and resource extraction. Therefore, sett...