American Studies ETDs

Publication Date

Spring 5-16-2026

Abstract

This dissertation examines the Indian Health Services as a Cold War biosecurity apparatus, showing how infectious disease was weaponized to dismantle treaty obligations, reorganize tribal lands into “service areas,” and reclassify Indigenous nations as surveilled populations. Against this carceral health economy, Indigenous nations refused. From the 1969 Alcatraz occupation to the 1976 Puyallup takeover of Cushman Indian Hospital, Native activists reclaimed health facilities as sovereign spaces, insisting that care is not a discretionary service but a treaty right grounded in land and kinship. Methodologically, I combine historical-legal analysis of congressional debates, Public Health Service reports, and IHS data with counter-archives of tribal resolutions, movement publications, and oral histories. Theoretically, I draw on Critical Indigenous Scholars and Carceral Studies to trace how “Indian Health” is a category curated by the State and framed as pathology and subversion. I conclude by linking these histories to COVID-19, the diabetes epidemic, and contemporary struggles over health sovereignty.

 

Language

English

Keywords

Critical Indigenous Studies, Carceral Studies, Cold War, Indian Health Services, Tribal Health, Tribal Healthcare Law

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

American Studies

Level of Degree

Doctoral

Department Name

American Studies

First Committee Member (Chair)

Kathleen Holscher

Second Committee Member

David Correia

Third Committee Member

Alyosha Goldstein

Fourth Committee Member

Laura Harjo

Download

Share

COinS