Theft Is Property!: Dispossession and Critical Theory - Paperback

Theft Is Property!: Dispossession and Critical Theory

Drawing on Indigenous peoples' struggles against settler colonialism, Theft Is Property reconstructs the concept of dispossession as a means of explaining how shifting configurations of law, property, race, and rights have functioned as modes of governance, both historically and in the present. Through close analysis of arguments by Indigenous scholars and activists from the nineteenth century to the present, Robert Nichols argues that dispossession has come to name a unique recursive process whereby systematic theft is the mechanism by which property relations are generated.

Critical Theory Meets Indigenous Scholarship

This Duke University Press publication brings long-standing debates in anarchist, Black radical, feminist, Marxist, and postcolonial thought into direct conversation with the frequently overlooked intellectual contributions of Indigenous peoples. Nichols provides a rigorous theoretical framework for understanding how property rights emerge through processes of dispossession rather than preceding them.

Key Themes and Contributions

The book examines the intersection of law, property, and Indigenous land tenure across multiple centuries. By analyzing legal frameworks and property relations through the lens of settler colonialism, Nichols offers scholars and activists a comprehensive understanding of how governance structures have perpetuated systematic dispossession. The work addresses Indigenous legal status, land rights, and resistance movements while engaging with critical legal studies and political theory.

Academic Significance

Part of the Radical Américas series, this paperback serves as an essential text for courses in ethnic studies, political science, social science, and law. The analysis spans American colonial history to contemporary Indigenous resistance, making it relevant for understanding ongoing debates about race and law, social justice, and decolonization efforts.