Attorney George Pappas lectures on history of Native American dispossession Feb. 9 at UNC Asheville

From University of North Carolina Asheville:

Attorney George Pappas to Speak at UNC Asheville on the Legal History of Native American Dispossession

Attorney George D. Pappas will offer a lecture, The Literary and Legal Genealogy of Native American Dispossession: From the Marshall Trilogy to Standing Rock, at noon on Thursday, February 9 in UNC Asheville’s Karpen Hall, in the Laurel Forum. This talk, part of the university’s American Indian and Indigenous Studies Series, is free and open to everyone.

Pappas says he will offer “a unique interpretation of how literary and public discourses influenced three U.S. Supreme Court rulings written by Chief Justice John Marshall with respect to Native Americans.” Known collectively as the Marshall Trilogy, these three decisions issued between 1823 and 1832 “formed the legal basis for the dispossession of indigenous populations,” according to Pappas. Claiming that the rulings “blurred the distinction between literature, especially colonial literature, and law,” Pappas will draw upon the ideas of Michel Foucault, Edward Said and Homi Bhabha as part of his analysis.

Now based in Asheville, Pappas represents clients in immigration and criminal cases, and in family and civil litigation. He is also a member of the Cherokee Supreme Court (Eastern Band), and since 2002 has been executive director of the International Center for Legal Studies (ICLS), a registered center of the University of London International Programmes.

Pappas is the author of the book, The Literary and Legal Genealogy of Native American Dispossession – The Marshall Trilogy Cases 1823-1832, and holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from Birkbeck College, University of London, as well as degrees from the London School of Economics and Political Science; The University of London International Programmes and Delaware Law School at Widener University. 

For more information, email cultural@unca.edu or call 828.251.6674.