Settler Colonialism (1)
Indian
As discussed in lecture, this term was first used by Christopher Columbus when he mistakenly believed he had landed India. As such, this term can be considered offensive.
Native American
As explained in lecture, this term brings together indigenous peoples in all of the United States which can build solidarity but at the same time ignores specific tribal and communal connections.
One-Drop Rule
The one-drop rule posited that anyone who had any amount of African ancestry would be considered Black and as such could enslaved.
Intersectionality
A term coined by legal scholar Kimberle Crenshaw which describes how different forms of oppression come to shape a person's experience.
Treaty of Velasco
As discussed in lecture, in 1836, Sam Houston launched a surprise attack and captured Santa Anna, and forced him to sign the Treaty of Velasco, stating that Texas no longer belonged to Mexico. The Treaty of Velasco is not recognized by Mexico but was recognized by the American and British governments.
Indigenous
Kehaulani Kaunaui explains that the term “indigenous” has increased in use because it connects with indigenous groups outside of the U.S., building solidarity in their claims for self determination and it is inclusive and less derogatory than “Indian.” At the same time, she states that the term can be vague.
Doctrine of Discovery
As Dunbar-Ortiz explains, manifest destiny is reinforced by the Doctrine of Discovery which stipulated that European nations could claim the lands that they “discovered” and that indigenous peoples lost their claims to those lands once a European nation had claimed it.
Resistance to Slavery
According to our in-class activity, resistance to slavery took various forms including running away, physical and verbal assault, songs with encoded messages, learning and teaching others to read and write, slowing down or refusing to work, and more.
Bacon's Rebellion
As discussed in lecture, Bacon's Rebellion marked a shift to race-based slavery dividing indentured white laborers and black enslaved laborers who had formed "the giddy multitude" and shook the elite by race.
Saint Patrick's Battalion
As discussed in lecture, Saint Patrick's Battalion was comprised of a group of Irish who were originally fighting on the US side but who abandoned it and joined the Mexican army. The Irish, saw themselves in the Mexicans because of their Catholicism and their own experience with British colonialism, in addition to not yet being racialized as white as they are today.
Indigenous Ways of Knowing
According to Kehaulani Kauanui, a common philosophy among Native Americans is: “The land does not belong to us; we belong to the land” (135). Similarly, as discussed in lecture, this connection to the land continues to shape contemporary Native American struggles.
Manifest Destiny
The idea that it was a god-given right and responsibility of Anglos to expand. Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz explains that manifest destiny depends on the idea of terra nulis—the idea that the U.S. was a land without a people (2).
Littoral
According to Smallwood, the littoral is the African coast where independent beings were transformed into human commodities whose most socially relevant feature was their exchangeability.
Racial Formation
According to Omi and Winant, racial formation is “the sociohistorical process by which racial categories are created, inhabited, transformed, and destroyed” (55).
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
According to Akers-Chacon and Davis, The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ends Mexican American War. The U.S. pays $15 million for the territories; Mexico is forced to accept Rio Grande as border of Texas; California, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, and parts of Colorado, Utah, and Oklahoma become US territories; in total, Mexico losses half of its land and 2/3 of natural resources.
Blood Quantum
As Wolfe explains, blood quantum established who is considered Native American based on how much “Indian blood” they have and as such, who has the right to claim benefits established through treaties. Promotes idea that Native American identity is not based on community and cultural ties but rather biological.
Dawes Act (1887)
This act divided communally owned Native lands into individual allotments of 60-180 acres and the U.S. government took what was leftover. The logic behind this act was that Native peoples were not using the land properly and that the practice of owning land communally was antithetical to the values of the U.S. which upholds individual property ownership.
Rice Cultivation
The information necessary to cultivate and harvest rice drew heavily on female West African expertise which had been passed down generationally. Enslaved women taught enslaved men this skill.
Racial Projects
According to Omi and Winant racial formation develops through competing racial projects which are competing struggles over how resources are allocated along racial lines.
Racialization of Mexicans
According to Horseman, Mexicans were racialized through the Mexican American War as a "hybrid" race consisting of Indigenous, African, and Spanish ancestry. He notes that they were considered inferior by Anglos many of whom were concerned about having them as a part of the United States.
The "Joyas"
As discussed in lecture, the Joyas were third gender people in California who were specifically targeted by colonizers because of their specific roles in Native societies, particularly ceremonial and religious events and tasks such as death, burial, and mourning rituals.
Logic of Elimination
Given that settler colonialism is first and foremost about settling land, it depends on the logic of the elimination of the native either through outright genocide, removal, or through assimilation, meaning the elimination of the native as the native.
Enslaved Women's Labor
As Morgan notes, the effort of reproducing the labor force occurred alongside that of cultivating crop. Enslaved women's labor was central to development racialist ideology where the supposed ‘natural’ differences between Africans and English was often evidenced by black women’s ability to do hard labor.
Gendering Racial Formation
Kandaswamy brings together intersectionality and racial formation to argue that race and gender are mutually constitutive.
Mexican American War
Mexico worried that U.S.'s expansionist tendencies meant that it was up next for expropriation and invited Anglo settlers in to settle in Tejas on peaceful terms. However, this backfired when they resented having to obey Mexico's laws and began revolting. These events laid the groundwork for the Mexican American War which lasted from 1846-48.