This is Indian land: a call to museums in addressing mass incarceration of American Indians

ABSTRACT

This essay seeks to explore why inclusion of Indian people is fundamental in the difficult histories and dialogues regarding mass incarceration and to challenge the role of museums in ensuring that Indian people are centrally located in the discussion. I argue that the inherent roots of mass incarceration are historically situated in Indian dispossession and the obtainment of Indian land, and to omit this from any narrative is irresponsible. I employ the use of three stories – a piece of street-art by Native artist Jaque Fragua, the occupation of Alcatraz Island, and the current resistance in the Standing Rock Sioux Nation to the Dakota Access Pipeline – to discuss the inherent ties between sovereignty, land, settler colonialism and how they connect to mass incarceration in the United States.

KEYWORDS:

• Indigenous
• settler colonialism
• mass incarceration
• land
• sovereignty
• museums

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributor

Amber A. Annis is currently a PhD candidate in the American Studies department at the University of Minnesota. She received her BA in history and American Indian studies and her MA in history from the University of North Dakota. Amber is mnicoujou Lakota and a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe in South Dakota.

Notes

1 Since this article was written the DAPL has been approved, the Oceti Sakowin camp has been forcefully evacuated, and conditions on the ground evolve while the legal fight continues. Readers can follow updates at Indigenous Environmental Network (http://www.ienearth.org/) and Stand With Standing Rock (http://standwithstandingrock.net/).