Alex Trimble Young

Explores Leslie Marmon Silko’s evolving role in discussions about liberal democracy and Indigenous sovereignty. Argues that her novel Gardens in the Dunes uses the Western genre to allegorically address Indigenous sovereignty and critique the relationship between law, violence, and democracy, presenting a vision of Indigenous cosmopolitanism that critiques both settler colonialism and the shortcomings of liberal ideals.

Analyzes survivalist right-wing speculative fiction and argues that this genre, which envisions a future civil conflict to restore Lockean property rights, should be viewed as settler colonial rather than anti-statist. Suggests that such fiction, depicting a dystopian future where public lands become a frontier, ultimately reaffirms rather than challenges the fantasy that produces the constituted power of the United States.

Provides an overview of what transnational settler colonial studies might offer to the study of Western American literature.

Examines Glenn Beck's NRA address, Antonio Negri's Insurgencies, and Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained to explore how European and Euro-American notions of power often reinforce, rather than challenge, settler colonial practices.

Argues that integrating critiques from western and borderlands history can enrich settler colonial studies by offering alternative perspectives on settler-indigenous interactions and conflicts.