The academic study of American Indian law and policy is, I suspect, not a way to get ahead in the world. Being a highly-regarded Indian law and policy law prof or polisci prof is like being a highly-regarded minor league baseball player.

There was a decent sampling of Indian law profs on the latest survey of top scholars at top 70 law schools, but only a small number of the top 70 law schools even offer Indian law classes on a regular basis, let alone cultivate Indian law scholarship. I think the disinterest in Indian law scholarship in elite law schools contributes in some way to the disinterest in Indian law cases at the appellate level, where a goood number of cases seem to be decided on gut reaction, indicating a lack of engagement with the legal questions raised.

A new paper by political scientist Kevin Brunyeel suggests that “settler colonialism” is significantly to blame for the lack of scholarly interest and engagement. Despite what I say below, I like the paper and recommend it. Regardless of the merits of the argument, the paper has quite the opening:

The discipline of political science does not take indigenous politics seriously. To be sure, there are political scientists who have made important contributions to the study of indigenous politics. However, the bulk of the discipline either does not place indigenous politics in its field of vision or it analyzes it through frameworks that forestall adequate analysis. The worst offender in this regard is American political science, both in the sense of the sub-field that studies the United States and the scholarship and institutions (i.e. political science departments, associations, journals) of the country.

I’m tempted to substitute law schools for political science departments in the above paragraph but I can’t, not completely. First, there are thousands of Indian law papers published every decade, and to say there isn’t a venue for Indian law scholarship is laughable. Second, the American Law Institute is about to start a project on American Indian Law, which is an excellent sign that Indian law is growing up and gaining respectability in the legal world. Continue reading →