Scholars@Duke
Courtney Lewis

Courtney Lewis

Crandall Family Associate Professor of Cultural Anthropology
Cultural Anthropology
courtney.lewis@duke.edu
Box 90091, Durham, NC 27708
1316 Campus Drive, Box 90677, Durham, NC 27708
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Selected Publications

Agency in Economic Justice: Typology of Native Nation Sovereignty and Settler-Colonial Acts of Economic Aggression

Journal Article Interventions · January 1, 2023 This essay expands upon the current theoretical construction of colonialism to make settler-colonial societies’ economic strategies more explicit. These strategies, which I term economic violence and economic hegemony, have been used by US federal and stat ... Full text Cite

Native Food Sovereignty

Chapter · 2022 While North Carolina's food heritage is grounded in core ingredients and the proximity of farm to table, this book reveals striking differences among food-centered cultures and businesses across the state. ... Cite

Brief Research Commentary: The US Indigenous Food Sovereignty Movement’s Impact on Understandings of COVID-19 in Indian Country

Journal Article Culture, Agriculture, Food and Environment · December 1, 2021 This research commentary provides an overview of contemporary anthropological research regarding the US Indigenous food sovereignty movement and demonstrates how it informs the impacts of COVID-19 on Indian Country. Past anthropological research on US Indi ... Full text Cite

Sovereign Entrepreneurs

Book · May 20, 2019 By 2009, reverberations of economic crisis spread from the United States around the globe. As corporations across the United States folded, however, small businesses on the Qualla Boundary of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) continued to thri ... Full text Cite

Banning Change: The South Carolina Heritage Act

Journal Article Museum Anthropology · September 1, 2018 Full text Cite

Frybread wars: biopolitics and the consequences of selective United States healthcare practices for American Indians

Journal Article Food, Culture and Society · August 8, 2018 The simplicity of American Indian frybread, composed only of flour, water, salt, and lard, belies a complex—and contentious—history and ecology. Tracing this bread’s ecology allows us to map the broader physical and epistemic violence levied by US settler- ... Full text Cite

Economic sovereignty in volatile times: Eastern band of cherokee Indians’ strategies supporting economic stability

Chapter · January 1, 2018 In this paper, I foreground the concept of economic sovereignty in order to clarify strategies that undergird the practices of, and hindrances to, political sovereignty. I argue that current critical discourses on sovereignty can be significantly furthered ... Full text Cite

Betting on Western North Carolina: Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort’s Regional Impacts

Journal Article Journal of Appalachian Studies · April 1, 2017 AbstractThe Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians’ (EBCI) launch of the Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort on their Qualla Boundary homeland marked the beginning of a new and flourishing industry for western North C ... Full text Cite