Colonial Genocide in Indigenous North America

This important collection of essays expands the geographic, demographic, and analytic scope of the term genocide to encompass the effects of colonialism and settler colonialism in North America. Colonists made multiple and interconnected attempts to destroy Indigenous peoples as groups. The contributors examine these efforts through the lens of genocide. Considering some of the most destructive aspects of the colonization and subsequent settlement of North America, several essays address Indigenous boarding school systems imposed by both the Canadian and U.S. governments in attempts to "civilize" or "assimilate" Indigenous children. Contributors examine some of the most egregious assaults on Indigenous peoples and the natural environment, including massacres, land appropriation, the spread of disease, the near-extinction of the buffalo, and forced political restructuring of Indigenous communities. Assessing the record of these appalling events, the contributors maintain that North Americans must reckon with colonial and settler colonial attempts to annihilate Indigenous peoples.

Contributors. Jeff Benvenuto, Robbie Ethridge, Theodore Fontaine, Joseph P. Gone, Alexander Laban Hinton, Tasha Hubbard, Kiera L. Ladner, Tricia E. Logan, David B. MacDonald, Benjamin Madley, Jeremy Patzer, Julia Peristerakis, Christopher Powell, Colin Samson, Gray H. Whaley, Andrew Woolford

Andrew Woolford is Professor of Sociology and Criminology and Social Justice Research Coordinator at the University of Manitoba.

Jeff Benvenuto is a Ph.D. student in the Division of Global Affairs at Rutgers University, Newark.

Alexander Laban Hinton is the Director of the Center for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights; Professor of Anthropology and Global Affairs; and the UNESCO Chair on Genocide Prevention at Rutgers University, Newark.

Theodore Fontaine is the author of Broken Circle: The Dark Legacy of Indian Residential Schools: A Memoir.