As part of the Mellon-grant funded distinguished lecture series, Kim TallBear (Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate citizen) will give a public talk entitled “The Indian’s Death to Make Settler “Indigenous” Life: Genetics, Ancestry, and Self-lndigenization in the USA and Canada.”

For centuries, European trespassers and their descendants have perpetuated the “Vanishing Indian” narrative that predicts Native nations’ inevitable death in the face of European and American progress. This narrative has justified colonial resource extraction and violation of Native nation sovereignties. This talk presents several prominent cases in the USA and Canada to demonstrate their role in ongoing white supremacist appropriation of Native nation resources, this time in the form of employment, artistic, business, and leadership opportunities.

Dr. TallBear is a professor of American Indian Studies at University of Minnesota – Twin Cities.