The Indigenous Commons

The concept of the commons is central to an argument that connects indigenous people and their struggles both to global politics and to radical reconceptualizations of the relationships among knowledges, resources, and human communities. This article considers the use of the idea of a commons in water and atmosphere in the 2016 protest on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation against the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. It also contextualizes the concept of the commons in relation to the historical expropriation of land from native peoples in North America.