Land means the world: narratives of place and colonial ecological violence in the media framing of the Bears Ears National Monument

ABSTRACT

Settler colonialism shapes the governance of public land in what is now called the United States, contributing to eco-social disruptions for Indigenous populations. The Bears Ears National Monument was established in December 2016 in an unprecedented collaboration between the federal government and an inter-tribal coalition. Less than a year later, in December 2017, the Trump administration issued a presidential proclamation removing and bisecting 85% of the protected land for energy exploration. I analyze media coverage of Bears Ears National Monument from December 2016 to December 2017 to observe the effects of this framing on elimination projects of the settler state in public land conflicts. I find through the repeated erasure and redirection of Indigenous narratives, local media coverage centralizes the interests of the settler state by classifying land as an asset, making settler political concerns the central contentious issue. To understand how colonial ecological violence shapes the governance of public land, like the case of the Bears Ears National Monument under the Trump administration, scholars should attend to how the media advances narratives of place and contributes to cultural elimination.

KEYWORDS:

• Colonial ecological violence
• settler colonialism
• Bears Ears National Monument
• public land
• media

Acknowledgments

I would like to extend thanks to Raoul Lievanos, Kari Norgaard, Ryan Light, Claire Herbert, and the members of the Janet Smith Cooperative, whose comments and support made the writing of this article possible.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

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Amanda Ricketts

Amanda Ricketts, MS, is a PhD student at the University of Oregon. Their research focuses on social movements, space and environment, and narratives of place and colonial ecological violence in public land management.