Gathering Together, We Decide: Archives of Dispossession, Resistance, and Memory in Ndé Homelands (Critical Issues in Indigenous Studies)

In 2007, the Department of Homeland Security began condemnation proceedings on the property of Dr. Eloisa Tamez, a Lipan Apache (NdÉ) professor, veteran, and title holder to land in South Texas deeded to her ancestors under the colonial occupation and rule of King Charles III of Spain in 1761, during a time when Indigenous lands were largely taken and exploited by Spanish colonizers.Crown grants of lands to Indigenous peoples afforded them the opportunity to reclaim Indigenous title and control.The federal government wanted Tamez’s land to build a portion of the “border wall” on the U.S.-Mexico border.She refused. In 2008, the Department of Homeland Security sued her, but she countersued based on Aboriginal land rights, Indigenous inherent rights, the land grant from Spain, and human rights.This standoff continued for years, until the U.S. government forced Tamez to forfeit land for the wall. In response, Dr. Eloisa Tamez and her daughter, Dr. Margo Tamez, organized a gathering of Lipa