Inhabiting Indianness: Colonial Culs-de-Sac

This article outlines original research on the scale and scope of Indian-themed street names in white residential spaces across the United States, and theorizes how these forms of spatial production are implicated in contemporary forms of colonization and occupation. Given that place is crucial to indigenous identity, this research reveals how Indian-themed street names participate in the abstraction and incorporation of Indianness, and further dis-locate contemporary American Indian identity, presence, and claims to sovereignty. The study also contrasts these 'Indian’ spatial markers with those used for other racialized peoples (African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos), noting how street names referencing Native people are unique in that they have historically functioned to mark demographically white places, and to discursively reproduce white residential space.