"It is here our footsteps / we must trace:" Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act Anxiety Reflected In Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Literature Post-1980

Abstract

The Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act of 1980 forced Maine residents to redefine their identities in relation to land, ownership, and heritage. The Act, built upon centuries of colonialism, disregard for legislature dictating protections for Indigenous peoples in the now United States of American, and illegal land transactions, struck fear in all Maine inhabitants as white Mainers feared their homes, and rights as American citizens, would be forfeited by a distant federal government, and members of the Wabanaki Confederacy – the Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, Mi’kmaq, and Maliseet – recognized the Act as colonialism in the modern-day. This thesis studies the cultural reaction of Maine residents by analyzing five works of literature by white and Indigenous Maine authors who discuss their outrage, anxiety, and interpretations of the MICSA post-1980 to determine how residents, rather than scholars or government officials, understood the implications of the legislation in their daily lives.