Settler Colonialism, Race, and the Law: Why Structural Racism Persists

Natsu Taylor Saito

Published by New York University Press 2020

Settler Colonialism, Race, and the Law

Why Structural Racism Persists

Natsu Taylor Saito

Volume 2 in the series Citizenship and Migration in the Americas

https://doi.org/10.18574/nyu/9780814723944.001.0001

Overview
Contents

About this book

2021 Outstanding Academic Title, Choice Magazine

How taking Indigenous sovereignty seriously can help dismantle the structural racism encountered by other people of color in the United States

Settler Colonialism, Race, and the Law provides a timely analysis of structural racism at the intersection of law and colonialism. Noting the grim racial realities still confronting communities of color, and how they have not been alleviated by constitutional guarantees of equal protection, this book suggests that settler colonial theory provides a more coherent understanding of what causes and what can help remediate racial disparities.

Natsu Taylor Saito attributes the origins and persistence of racialized inequities in the United States to the prerogatives asserted by its predominantly Angloamerican colonizers to appropriate Indigenous lands and resources, to profit from the labor of voluntary and involuntary migrants, and to ensure that all people of color remain “in their place.”

By providing a functional analysis that links disparate forms of oppression, this book makes the case for the oft-cited proposition that racial justice is indivisible, focusing particularly on the importance of acknowledging and contesting the continued colonization of Indigenous peoples and lands. Settler Colonialism, Race, and the Law concludes that rather than relying on promises of formal equality, we will more effectively dismantle structural racism in America by envisioning what the right of all peoples to self-determination means in a settler colonial state.

Author / Editor information

Saito Natsu Taylor :

Natsu Taylor Saito is a Distinguished University Professor and Professor of Law at Georgia State University’s College of Law in Atlanta. She is the author of Meeting the Enemy: American Exceptionalism and International Law (NYU Press, 2010), Settler Colonialism, Race, and the Law: Why Structural Racism Persists (NYU Press, 2020), and From Chinese Exclusion to Guantánamo Bay: Plenary Power and the Prerogative State (University Press of Colorado, 2006).Natsu Taylor Saito is a Distinguished University Professor and Professor of Law at Georgia State University’s College of Law in Atlanta. She is the author of Meeting the Enemy: American Exceptionalism and International Law (NYU Press, 2010), Settler Colonialism, Race, and the Law: Why Structural Racism Persists (NYU Press, 2020), and From Chinese Exclusion to Guantánamo Bay: Plenary Power and the Prerogative State (University Press of Colorado, 2006).

Reviews

An insightful analysis of the structural racism that continues to shape the lives of millions of people in settler societies like the US. An accomplished legal scholar, Saito traverses some familiar historical ground in reflecting on the tension between indigenous sovereignty and the rights discourse of liberal democracies ... This is an important addition to the literature.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1. Racial Realities Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	9
2. Unsettling Narratives Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	25
3. Settler Colonialism Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	41
4. Land and Indigenous Peoples Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	57
5. Enslaved Labor and Strategies of Subjugation Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	79
6. “Emancipated” African Americans: Rights and Redundancy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	94
7. Others of Color: Inclusions and Exclusions Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	111
8. Others of Color: Subordination and Manipulation Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	133
9. Constitutional Protection and the Dynamic of Difference Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	154
10. International Law and Human Rights Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	166
11. Decolonization and Self- Determination Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	186
12. Mapping New Worlds Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	201
Conclusion: We Won When We Started Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	215
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	219
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	221
Works Cited Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	281
List of Cases Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	347
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	351
About the Author Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	373