ABSTRACT
The plant genus Cannabis— encompassing both the textile fiber known as hemp and the medicinal flower— was instrumental in the colonization of North America. Columbus’s so-called discovery of the New World would have been impossible without sails and ropes made of hemp. Native American Studies (NAS) is an academic discipline born of political activism and drawn from Indigenous intellectual traditions developed over millennia. Settler colonialism is a form of colonialism wherein settlers create a new home for themselves. Tribal sovereignty is a key concept of Native American Studies. Tribal sovereignty— much like how settler colonialism is continually reproduced— is continually asserted, contested, and reconfigured. In northwestern California, the Yurok Tribe has lived along the Klamath River since time immemorial. Water diversions for cannabis cultivation have dewatered entire streams on the Yurok Indian Reservation and impacted tribal drinking water; evidence of water diversion is evident at numerous abandoned cultivation sites.
