Native Studies Colloquium

Please join Sarah Stach, UO political science, for a discussion of her dissertation research.

Abstract:

Between Every Two Pines: The Settler Colonial Politics of Recreation examines the relationship between settler colonial and capitalist logics in the United States, specifically in national parks as a political institution. This project engages two main inquiries: first, it describes the significance of Indigenous dispossession as a central animating force for the development of capitalist relations in the 19th and 20th centuries. Second, it analyzes U.S. national parks in the context of progressive era state-building projects in a genealogical critique of American political development. The dissertation argues that settler colonial and capitalist logics were fundamental to park-building practices, which have shaped a settler colonial politics of recreation. Ultimately, this research shows how U.S. national parks function to reproduce both Indigenous dispossession and racial capitalism.

Sarah Stach is a PhD Candidate in Political Science at the University of Oregon. Her research focuses on the intersection of settler colonialism and capitalism with a specific interest in Indigenous-settler relations in the context of public land.