Settler Colonialism Introduction

Reversing Manifest Destiny by Native artist Charles Hilliard

Lara A. Jacobs, also a Mvskoke citizen and an incredibly gifted Native scientist, was kind enough to allow me to republish her incredible introduction to settler colonialism. At the end of this page there will be more information soon.

An educational for settlers on #IndigenousPeoplesDay

What is settler colonialism? What is colonization? What happened when settlers arrived? What did they bring with them?

An Indigenous version of US History

America’s “Greatest Ideas” the National Park Service— In reality they were created as a tool of dispossession.

Parks as tools of dispossession continued; other land dispossessions; UNDRIP

Genocide and tools of assimilation

Dispossessions of bodies by universities and museums

#LandBack

Lara A. Jacobs is a Citizen of Muscogee (Creek) Nation and in the final year of her Forest Ecosystems and Society Ph.D. program at Oregon State University. Her research focuses on the pathogenic and ecological impacts of outdoor recreation activities and how such impacts may pose issues for Tribal Peoples and outdoor recreationists. Lara blends Indigenous Sciences (e.g., Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Indigenous Value systems) with western scientific methods (e.g., visitor monitoring and mapping, geographic information systems, cellular and molecular biology, etc.) as a means to resolve socio-ecological issues. Lara has worked with large groups of Indigenous scholars to publish manuscripts about how land management entities can work through co-equity-based managerial frameworks to support Tribal sovereignty and Indigenous Peoples’ rights, and has also published manuscripts that focus on COVID-19 in parks and protected areas and the need to center Indigenous Peoples’ and Tribal Nations in climate change discourse and research. Lara is currently editing a book called Indigenous Voices: Critical Reflections on Traditional Ecological Knowledge that should be published in 2024. Lara holds a B.S. in Women Studies from Oregon State University, an M.A. in Environmental Studies from Prescott College with a concentration in Conservation Science, Environmental Education, and Sustainability, and a Certificate from the University of Toronto in GIS, Mapping, and Spatial Analysis Specialization.

Lara’s original thread on Twitter | Lara’s publications