Environmental Repossession and Indigenous Resurgence

This volume introduces and develops the concept of environmental repossession to examine how Indigenous communities across Canada, Aotearoa New Zealand, and Hawaiʻi reclaim their relationships with land in the face of colonial dispossession and environmental degradation. The authors—Indigenous scholars and community leaders—emphasize that repossession is more than the recovery of territory; it is the recovery of a set of cultural, social, and political practices rooted in relational ontologies. These practices connect people, land, and more-than-human kin. By drawing on case studies such as resistance to the Thirty Meter Telescope on Mauna Kea, Māori urban gardening initiatives, and Biigtigong Nishnaabeg hunting and gathering practices, the book demonstrates how repossession manifests through protest, ceremony, pedagogy, and everyday acts of care. Written collaboratively and grounded in Indigenous geography, the text positions repossession as a mode of resurgence, self-determination, and healing. The volume serves as a critical resource for scholars, policymakers, and activists interested in Indigenous rights, environmental justice, and decolonial futures.