From the beginning, the institutions of new world colonialism have been built upon legal foundations. Indeed, dating back to the development of the Canon Law of Crusade during the Middle Ages, the Western world has invested tremendous energy and creativity in developing legal systems and discourses that defined and subordinated "others." Even in post-1960s America, where Indian sovereignty has been acknowledged to a much greater degree than in the past, Indian rights continue to rest on shaky legal ground; numerous court decisions acknowledge the ever-present "plenary power" of Congress to abrogate or change those rights at will. Bearing in mind this larger context, it should come as no surprise that much of the writing done by and about American Indians deals, at least indirectly, with matters of law.
When considering the connections between Indian autobiography and the law, it is important to recognize that the centerpiece of "Indian law" in the United States has historically been a set of definitions about Indian identity, definitions imposed from the outside and employing epistemological frameworks quite foreign to the people being described. Autobiography, in this respect, becomes the genre perhaps most directly engaged with the discourse of colonialism. Indian autobiographers have variously accepted, accommodated, challenged, and revised legal definitions of "Indianness" though their own autobiographical acts. From William Apess's canny manipulations of classic liberal definitions of self to N. Scott Momaday's subversion of "bloody quantum" in favor of "blood memory," we can thus trace a long and fascinating history of creative adaptation to colonial legal models of self.
To begin to understand the nature of this engagement and adaptation, however, some legal historical background becomes necessary. The links that follow will direct readers to pages that include a summary overview of the history of legal definitions of "Indianness" in the United States, a list of key legal documents in that history (along with some excerpts), and brief discussions and listings of some of the relevant scholarship. This material, necessarily, represents only a starting point for inquiry into this complex subject area. Links to other sites have been provided to faciliate further study.