North American Genocides
Indigenous Nations, Settler Colonialism, and International Law

When and how might the term genocide appropriately be ascribed to the experience of North American Indigenous nations under settler colonialism? Laurelyn Whitt and Alan W. Clarke contend that, if certain events which occurred during the colonization of North America were to take place today, they could be prosecuted as genocide. The legal methodology that the authors develop to establish this draws upon the definition of genocide as presented in the United Nations Genocide Convention and enhanced by subsequent decisions in international legal fora. Focusing on early British colonization, the authors apply this methodology to two historical cases: that of the Beothuk Nation from 1500?1830, and of the Powhatan Tsenacommacah from 1607?77. North American Genocides concludes with a critique of the Conventional account of genocide, suggesting how it might evolve beyond its limitations to embrace the role of cultural destruction in undermining the viability of human groups.

Introduction; 1. North American genocide denial; 2. The legal case for historical genocides: a retrospective methodology; 3. Settler colonialism and Indigenous nations; 4. A legal primer for settler colonial genocides; 5. The Beothuk (1500–1830); 6. The Powhatan Tsenacommacah (1607–1677); 7. The conventional account of genocide: from a restrictive to an expansive interpretation; 8. Toward an account of systemic genocide; Appendix A. Secretariat's draft convention; Appendix B. Ad hoc Committee Draft Convention; Appendix C. United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide; Index.

Laurelyn Whitt is Professor of Native Studies at Brandon University, Manitoba, Canada. The author of Science, Colonialism, and Indigenous Peoples (Cambridge, 2009), and co-author with Alan W. Clarke of The Bitter Fruit of American Justice: International and Domestic Resistance to the Death Penalty (2007), she has published widely in issues at the intersection of Indigenous Studies, Science Studies and Legal Studies.
Alan W. Clarke is Professor of Integrated Studies at Utah Valley University, and was a fellow of the Nathanson Centre for Transnational Human Rights, Crime and Security. He is co-author, with Laurelyn Whitt, of The Bitter Fruit of American Justice: International and Domestic Resistance to the Death Penalty (2007), and is the author of Rendition to Torture (2012).