Injustice in Indian Country

Jurisdiction, American Law, and Sexual Violence Against Native Women

About the Book

Amy L. Casselman

Today, due to a complicated system of criminal jurisdiction, non-Native Americans can commit crimes against American Indians with virtual impunity across much of Indian Country—the legal term for the more than 56 million acres of American Indian reservations and other lands held in trust for Native people. This has created a climate of impunity in which Native women are specifically targeted by non-Native men for sexual violence.

This book exposes the legal structures through which the American government has systematically divested Native nations of the basic right to protect the people in their own communities. A problem centuries in the making, this work examines race and gender in federal law to challenge the argument that violence against Native women in Indian Country is simply collateral damage from a complex but necessary jurisdictional regime. Instead, it demonstrates that what’s happening in Indian Country is part of a violent colonial legacy—one that has always relied on legal and sexual violence to disempower Native communities as a whole.

All personal proceeds from this book are donated to the White Buffalo Calf Women’s Society, a Native-led organization serving survivors of domestic and sexual violence.

Download Sample View Publisher Page Purchase

Praise for Injustice in Indian Country

Casselman reveals that the long, ugly and ignoble history of violence against indigenous people is not over, but continues today in the form of rampant sexual violence by non-Native men against Native women. Drawing deftly on ideas and analyses developed by a wide range of indigenous feminist activists and scholars and their allies, Casselman makes an astute and sophisticated case for a comprehensive decolonial and intersectional politics grounded in the direct experiences and articulated aspirations of Native women. – George Lipsitz, Professor Emeritus, UC Santa Barbara; author of How Racism Takes Place

This important work looks deeply into the dynamics of legal and sexual violence created by federal Indian policy. It reframes our understanding of the gendered nature of colonial violence in a poignant and compelling narrative. The author’s engaging outline of decolonial frameworks developed by American Indian women makes an essential contribution to anti-violence movements. – Donna Martinez

Professor and Chair, Ethnic Studies
University of Colorado Denver

Injustice in Indian Country is a stunning account of one of the most serious yet under-theorized public health crises in the United States. Casselman’s moving narrative brilliantly weaves together personal accounts, political analysis, and modern-day activism, giving us all hope that despite this crisis, justice is possible. – Alann Salvador

Program Director
Kedren Health

Simply a must-read! Casselman does an exceptional job of spelling out this complicated issue through her easy-to-read, yet intellectually profound, research. This book is a fabulous contribution to any scholar’s or student’s study of Indigenous people, violence against women, history, social work, or public policy.

Toni Brown-Crump, International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy Read the full review

Invited Book Talks (Selected)

Implications of the Violence Against Women Act

Federal Indian Policy Speaker Series

Gendered Violence in Indian Country

Stanford University Law School, Stanford, CA

View excerpt

Justice on the Reservation

Sexual Assault Awareness Month Speaker Series

Columbia University Medical School, New York, NY

The Violence Against Women Act: Past and Present

Organization Against Sexual Assault Speaker Series

University of Oregon, Eugene, OR

Jurisdiction and Sexual Violence Against Native Women

Carol Mukhopadhyay Feminist Lecture Series

San José State University, San José, CA

Featured Talk

Jurisdiction and Justice in Louise Erdrich’s The Round House

Fairhaven Lecture Series

University of Wisconsin–Whitewater, Whitewater, WI

VIEW EXCERPT

Beyond the Book

Connecting academic research to public scholarship and social change.

Women Are Sacred

A forthcoming documentary featuring my interview on violence against Native women and jurisdiction.

View Trailer

Media

Selected interviews in which I discuss my research on jurisdiction, gender-based violence, and Native sovereignty.

View Media Page

Advocacy

Advocacy and public engagement focused on gender-based violence.

View Advocacy Page

Positionality Statement

I have received an overwhelming amount of support from Native colleagues and community members as I have sought to leverage my privilege to provide a platform for voices and experiences that are often marginalized. At the same time, as a non-Native scholar, I recognize my positionality as someone who has benefited from the historical and ongoing colonization of Native people. The project was deeply shaped by Lavetta Elk, a Native woman whose experience with sexual violence and the jurisdictional failures surrounding her case helped inspire the book. I discussed the project with her as it developed, received her blessing to write about her experience, and confirmed with her that my representation of that experience respected her voice and agency. All personal proceeds from this book are donated to the White Buffalo Calf Women’s Society, a Native-led organization serving survivors of domestic and sexual violence, which Lavetta selected as the recipient of the book’s proceeds.

Full Citation

Casselman, Amy L. 2016. Injustice in Indian Country: Jurisdiction, American Law, and Sexual Violence Against Native Women. New York: Peter Lang. Reprinted 2022.