CJ 305 : FEDERAL INDIAN LAW AND NATIVE COMMUNITIES

This course provides students with an introduction to federal laws and policies governing federally-recognized Indian tribes and individual Native people within the United States, from the colonial era to the present day. Through lectures, activities, discussions, and course readings, we will examine the unique relationship Native peoples have with the United States government. To begin, we will situate Indian law in the sociocultural context of sovereign Indigenous communities prior to European conquest, focusing especially on the diverse Indigenous understandings of authority and justice. We will explore topics such as the federal trust relationship between the government and tribes, Indian removal, assimilation and allotment, Native civil rights, tribal sovereignty, Indian gaming, child welfare, repatriation, and the criminal justice implications of overlapping jurisdictions. Throughout the course, we will consider the ways that settler colonial crime control, policing, and punishment impact Indigenous communities. At the end of the semester, students will have a contextualized and nuanced understanding of tribal sovereignty and Native experiences within the American political, juridical, and justice systems.