In their rather challenging article, “‘Our Bodies Are Not Terra Nullius’: Building a Decolonial Feminist Resistance to Gendered Violence,” Ashley Noel Mack and Tiara R. Na’puti assert that “a commitment to decolonization is necessary when addressing gendered violence within settler colonial nation-states” (18). They further argue that settler colonialism is not a bygone structure of power but one that continues “to enact violence against Native women and Two-Spirit individuals with impunity” in the present day (4). Moreover, because the U.S. government has repeatedly violated the trust of Native communities, “self-determination and community-led coalitions are key components of Indigenous organizing around sexual violence” (5). According to Mack and Na’puti, how do Indigenous organizations such as Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women (MMIW) and Violence on the Land, Violence on Our Bodies (VLVB) promote healing and justice for murdered and missing indigenous women, LGBTQQIA+, and non-binary people?
