Dr. David E. Wilkins
Professor, E. Claiborne Robins Distinguished Professor in Leadership Studies
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Profile
David E. Wilkins is a citizen of the Lumbee Nation of North Carolina. He earned his Ph.D. in political science (comparative politics) from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He concentrates much of his work on Native politics and governance, with particular attention on the transformations that Indigenous governments have both coercively and voluntarily engaged in from pre-colonial times to the present.
The concepts of Native sovereignty, self-determination, and diplomacy are at the heart of Wilkins' research and teaching. He has focused much of his work on the political and legal relationships between Native nations and the intergovernmental affairs between Native peoples and states and Native peoples and the federal government. He has been a visiting professor at Dartmouth College, Harvard University, and Wake Forest University.
Wilkins is the author or editor of a number of books, including "Documents of Native American Political Development" (Oxford, 2019), "Red Prophet: The Punishing Intellectualism of Vine Deloria, Jr." (Fulcrum, 2018), "Dismembered: Native Disenrollment and the Battle for Basic Human Rights" (with Shelly Hulse Wilkins, University of Washington Press, 2017), and "Hollow Justice: Indigenous Claims Against the U.S." (Yale, 2013).
Before coming to the University of Richmond, Wilkins was the McKnight Presidential Professor in American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota, where he also held appointments in law, political science, and American studies.
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Awards
Daniel Elazar Distinguished Federalism Scholar Award, the American Political Science Association, 2019
College of Liberal Arts Dean’s Medal, University of Minnesota, 2007
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Awards
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Selected Publications
Books
Documents of Native American Political Development: 1933 to Present. Edited by David E. Wilkins (New York: Oxford University Press, 2019).
Red Prophet: The Punishing Intellectualism of Vine Deloria, Jr. (Golden, CO: Fulcrum Publishing, 2018).
American Indian Politics and the American Political System. 4th ed. (co-authored with Heidi Stark) (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2018).
Dismembered: Native Disenrollment and the Battle for Human Rights (co-authored with Shelly H. Wilkins) (Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press, 2017).
The Navajo Political Experience. 4th ed. (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2013).
Hollow Justice: A History of Indigenous Claims in the United States. (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2013).
The Legal Universe: Observations on the Foundations of American Law. Co-authored with Vine Deloria, Jr. (Golden, CO: Fulcrum Publishing Co., 2011).
The Hank Adams Reader: An Exemplary Native Activist and the Unleashing of Indigenous Sovereignty. Edited by David E. Wilkins (Golden, CO: Fulcrum Publishing Co., 2011).
American Indian Politics and the American Political System. 3rd ed. Co-authored with Heidi Stark (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2011).
Documents of Native American Political Development: 1500s-1933. Edited by David E. Wilkins (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009).
Journal Articles"Indigenizing the U.S. Constitution," Starting Points (Nov. 23, 2020).
"Breaching Barriers: The Fight for Indigenous Participation in Water Governance," with Ryan Emanuael. Water, vol. 12 (July 2020): 1-37.
“American Indian Politics,” Oxford Bibliographies in Political Science. Ed. EIC. New York: Oxford University Press, February 2017). http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com.
“Absence Does Not Make the Indigenous Political Heart Grow Fonder,” Perspectives on Politics, vol. 14, no. 4 (December 2016): 1-2.
“A Tribute to Vine Deloria, Jr.: An Indigenous Visionary,” in Marine Le Puloch and Celine Planchou, ed’s Les nations dans la nation. A special issue of Revue Francaise d’Etudes Americaines, no. 144 (2015): 109-118.
“`A Most Grievous Display of Behavior:’ Self-Decimation in Indian Country,” Michigan State Law Review, vol. 2013, no. 2 (2013): 325-338.
“Depopulation in Indian Country—Twenty-First Century Style: The Dismembering of Native Nations,” The American Mosaic: The American Indian Experience (ABC-CLIO, 2012 Web. 16 July 2012).
Book Chapters“Re-Membering Native Citizens in an Age of Termination: Ideas on How to Restore Indigenous Community.” In Making Citizenship Work: Culture and Community, edited by Rodolfo Rosales, 160-76 (New York: Routledge, 2022).
"Indigenous Peoples in the USA: At the Crossroads of Race and Sovereignty in Trump's Divided States of America," with Shelly H. Wilkins. In Legal Status of Indigenous Peoples in Russia and Foreign Countries, edited by A. F. Maly, S. V. Bukhmin, and R. Sh. Garipov (Moscow: Prospekt LLC, 2021).
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In the News
United Nations watchdogs raise concerns about Nooksack evictions, again (Seattle Times)
Sat., May. 20, 2023Sauk-Suiattle disenrollment saga threatens dozens in 314-member tribe (HeraldNet)
Sat., Apr. 29, 2023Vine Deloria Jr., 1933 - 2005 (Perspectives on History, the newsmagazine of the American Historical Association)
Thu., Mar. 30, 2023Reappraising the Doctrine of Discovery (The Doctrine of Discovery website)
Wed., Feb. 15, 2023The Nooksack tribe in Washington is attempting to evict people from tribal homes (NPR)
Sun., Dec. 11, 2022Grand Ronde citizens vote to limit disenrollment (Indian Country Today)
Sun., Dec. 4, 2022Native farmers push for more equitable training and support in the Farm Bill (Civil Eats)
Tue., Nov. 1, 2022Cherokee Nation is fighting for a seat in Congress (New Republic)
Mon., Oct. 31, 2022Through the decades: The 1970s (Native America Calling)
Wed., Jul. 13, 2022'Jim Crow, Indian style': How Native Americans were denied the right to vote for decades (Washington Post)
Sun., Nov. 1, 2020Polluted in Arizona (Made to Fail podcast)
Mon., Sep. 14, 2020Make No Bones About It podcast (SoundCloud)
Wed., Aug. 5, 2020Opinion: Lethal contagions in Indian country: Termination by DNA (Indian Country Today)
Thu., Apr. 30, 2020Disenrollments on the rise? (Native America Calling)
Tue., Feb. 11, 2020Custer died for your sins, tributes from Indian country (Indian Country Today)
Fri., Oct. 11, 2019Nothing less than consent: Consultation and the diminishment of Indigenous rights (Indian Country Today)
Wed., Apr. 3, 2019How to honor the seven generations (Indian Country Today)
Thu., Jun. 18, 2015Deconstructing the doctrine of discovery (Indian Country Today)
Fri., Oct. 24, 2014Two possible paths forward for Native disenrollees and the federal government? (The University of Arizona Native Nations Institute)
Tue., Jan. 1, 2013