Future States and States of Exception: Native Sovereignty, Land, and "Incorporated" Territories

Fall 2016 Legal History Workshop
When
December 9, 2016, 9:00 to 10:30 am
Where
Walter F. Mondale Hall
Room 473

University of Minnesota Law School
229 19th Ave S
Minneapolis, MN 55455

This chapter examines how the transition of Alaska from a territory into the 49th state reveals fundamental tensions between U.S. settler colonial and imperial projects, the contingency of statehood for "incorporated" territories, and the implications for land and sovereignty struggles of Native people at the edges of empire. The legal and territorial construction of statehood for both Alaska and Hawaii belies the assumptions of "incorporated" territories as future states, exposing vulnerabilities that Native people leveraged in as they negotiated their relationship with the federal government.

Note: This is a discussion based workshop of work-in-progress with the expectation that those attending have read the workshop materials. Please contact Jacquelyn E. Burt at ruppx077@umn.edu for a copy of the materials.Â