Connects California cannabis production to the violence and dispossession of Indigenous land and people
Young countercultural back-to-the-land settlers flocked to northwestern California beginning in the 1960s, and by the 1970s, unregulated cannabis production proliferated on Indigenous lands. As of 2021, the California cannabis economy was valued at $3.5 billion. In Settler Cannabis, Kaitlin Reed demonstrates how this "green rush" is only the most recent example of settler colonial resource extraction and wealth accumulation. Situating the cannabis industry within this broader legacy, the author traces patterns of resource rushing?first gold, then timber, then fish, and now cannabis?to reveal the ongoing impacts on Indigenous cultures, lands, waters, and bodies.
Reed shares this history to inform the path toward an alternative future, one that starts with the return of land to Indigenous stewardship and rejects the commodification and control of nature for profit. Combining archival research with testimonies and interviews with tribal members, tribal employees, and settler state employees, Settler Cannabis offers a groundbreaking analysis of the environmental consequences of cannabis cultivation that foregrounds Indigenous voices, experiences, and histories.

Kaitlin Reed (Yurok/Hupa/Oneida) is assistant professor of Native American Studies at Humboldt State University.

Kaitlin P. Reed's profile page

Charlotte Coté is a professor in American Indian Studies at the University of Washington. She is the author of Spirits of Our Whaling Ancestors: Revitalizing Makah and Nuu-chah-nulth Traditions (University of Washington Press, 2010).

Charlotte Coté's profile page

Coll Thrush is professor of history at the University of British Columbia. He is the author of two books: Native Seattle: Histories from the Crossing-Over Place (University of Washington Press, 2007), and Indigenous London: Native Travelers at the Heart of Empire (Yale, 2016). He is also the coeditor of Phantom Past, Indigenous Presence: Native Ghosts in North American Culture and History (University of Nebraska Press, 2011). He serves as a series editor for the University of Washington Press's Indigenous Confluences series.

Coll Thrush's profile page

• Winner, Labriola Center American Indian National Book Award

"Although the book focuses on the experiences of Native Americans in California, it contains insight that will enrich and inform any reader interested in natural resources."

Natural Resources Journal

"[S]hatters the illusory "green idyll" mythology hiding behind the Redwood Curtain in the cannabis-laden watersheds of Northern California. . . Dr.Reed's work is groundbreaking, in the tradition of academic historians preceding her, like Howard Zinn. Zinn's A People's History of the United States and Reed's Settler Cannabis both expose the state-sanctioned genocide of New World People and Native Americans."

EcoLit Books

"Brilliant and meticulously researched. . . Settler Cannabis is an impressive exploration of settler colonialism's impact on Indigenous lands, waters, and human and nonhuman kin, and [Reed's] focus on expanding ideological constructs of genocide remains centered on Indigenous futures."

H-Environment

"Reed presents the views of many Indigenous People, sets the record straight regarding the history of California, and suggests a realistic future for Indigenous People in the state of California. . . This book will give an intense yet truthful course on the state of California and how events bleed into one another because of settler colonialism. The book is a strong addition to the historiography of Indigenous history and will be a great source to use in both high school and college courses."

History in the Making

"A virtually unexplored perspective that needs to be examined. . . While Reed speaks about potentially controversial topics others are unwilling to acknowledge and discuss, she leaves the reader with an accurate portrayal of California Indigenous history, a wealth of knowledge, and hope for the future. She fills in the gaps of the forgotten, potentially erased, and otherwise untold history of California."

News from Native California

"This book may interest a variety of audiences as it covers topics such as environmentalism, Indigenous history, decolonization, California history, and more. It is an important inclusion in the current scholarship, but it is also important for a broader audience as it shows the steps forward for a better future in a time where we have no choice but to make changes to survive."

Western Historical Quarterly

"[Reed] compellingly writes about California's violent history while prioritizing Indigenous voices and perspectives. This is only possible because of her fantastic prose and storytelling. Scholars and students interested in how extractive violence shapes Indigenous bodies and lands should read Settler Cannabis."

Labriola Center American Indian National Book Award committee