Prof Authors Book on American Colonialism and Indigenous Resistance

Newswise — Babson professor Kevin Bruyneel has written The Third Space of Sovereignty, The Postcolonial Politics of U.S. " Indigenous Relations (University of Minnesota Press, Indigenous Americas Series, 2007), an account of the struggle between indigenous resistance and American colonialism.

Bruyneel is assistant professor of politics at Babson where he teaches and writes about American politics and political theory, with a research focus on indigenous people's politics in the United States. Another interest is race and ethnicity politics in and beyond the American context. Bruyneel also teaches advanced courses on Native American Politics, the American Presidency, and Justice, Revenge and Defeat.

The Third Space of Sovereignty offers fresh insights on: "¢ the crucial importance of the formal end of treaty-making in 1871, "¢ indigenous responses to the prospect of U.S. citizenship in the 1920s, "¢ native politics during the tumultuous civil rights era of the 1960s, "¢ the question of indigenousness in the special election of California's governor in 2003,"¢ and the current issues surrounding gaming and casinos.

Bruyneel shows how native political actors have effectively contested limits the United States has imposed on indigenous people's ability to define their identities and to develop economically and politically on their own terms.

The imposition of modern American colonial rule has defined U.S."indigenous relations since the time of the American Civil War. In resistance, Bruyneel asserts, indigenous political actors work across American spatial and temporal boundaries, demanding rights and resources from the government while also challenging the imposition of colonial rule over their lives. This resistance engenders what he calls a "third space of sovereignty," which resides neither inside nor outside the U.S. political system but rather exists on its boundaries, exposing both the practices and the limitations of American colonial rule.

University of Oregon professor Gerald Berk calls the book, "Stunning and provocative. Seen from the border, where Native Americans are neither fully citizens nor independent nations, many settled categories of American political development dissolve. Students of state building, social movements and constitutional development will find a compelling narrative that challenges us to rethink canonical distinctions in productive ways."

Bruyneel earned a B.A. from Simon Fraser University, and M.A. and Ph.D., New School for Social Research.

Babson College in Wellesley, Mass., is recognized internationally as a leader in entrepreneurial management education. Babson grants BS degrees through its innovative undergraduate program, and grants MBA and custom MS and MBA degrees through the F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College. Babson Executive Education offers executive development programs to experienced managers worldwide. For information, visit http://www.babson.edu.