Theorizing Native American Land Seizure: An Analysis of Tactical Changes in the Late Twentieth Century

Abstract

This paper advances the existing literature on tactics by analyzing the persistence of land seizure as a particular strategy in Native American political activism over five decades. It examines the different types of spaces seized and the claims made during three distinct historical periods: public spaces on reservations during the recuperative phase (1950–69), surplus federal lands away from reservations during the expropriative phase (1969–75), and high-profile locales on and off tribal lands during the demonstrative phase (1975–2000). Land seizures were often means to make material demands or articulate normative claims, but always served to complicate the state's exercise of power over Native peoples. Through case studies the paper demonstrates how spatial disruption, resource availability, and dynamism affected the continued viability of land seizure as a tactic to advance Native Americans' political demands.