Walleye Wars and Pedagogical Management: Cooperative Rhetorics of Responsibility in Response to Settler Colonialism

Sustaining Tribal Fisheries: U.S. Economic Relief Policies during COVID-19

“…The rhetorical exclusion and erasure of Tribes that advances notions of state or federal supremacy in marine environments is an ongoing act of colonialism. Koban [120] argues that rhetorical erasure can be combatted with compassion. In this way, state governments embroiled in erasure discourses could build reconciliation pathways through compassionate approaches to Tribal fisheries finding ways to embrace "invitational rhetoric grounded in feeling, shared responsibility, and mutual respect, one that works counter to the resentment cultivated by settler colonialism" ( [120], p. 325).…”

“…This discursive theme articulated the least amount of support for Tribal sovereignty and did not meet the legislative mandate for fisheries relief for ceremonial and subsistence fishing. Erasure is a tactic of settler colonialism [120]. Indigenous Peoples and Tribes have a unique relationship to coastal areas and marine environments.…”

“…The erasure of Tribes in state spend plans monopolized fisheries relief funding for the benefit of the state. Koban (2020) notes, "When Indigenous sovereignty is recognized and respected, it fundamentally challenges settler colonial attempts to erase Indigenous life and lifeways" ( [120], p. 324). Following Koban's argument, the erasure discourse present within state spend plans by not mentioning Tribes propagates ideologies of Oceanus nullius and furthers settler colonialism.…”

“…In addition to not mentioning Tribal Nations or citizens, these spend plans were also absent of any mention of Tribal rights or uses including subsistence and ceremonial fishing. This discursive theme of erasure is often present in settler rhetoric due to ongoing impacts of colonialism on Tribes and Tribal fisheries [11,120,126,127]. As Tribal Critical Race Theory (TribCrit) scholar Bryan Brayboy contends, natural resource management (inclusive of fisheries) remains a racialized space through which Tribal Nations and citizens continue to experience colonialism ( [57].…”

“…The failures of state governments to recognize Tribes as sovereigns in marine environments with jurisdiction over fisheries is what Potawatomi scholar Kyle Whyte [115] identifies as "technologies of disappearance that feed into settler erasure of Indigenous persons" (p. 13). Thus, Indigenous erasure in U.S. fisheries management furthers settler-colonial attempts to remake Indigenous waters into settler property [120,128].…”