Indians on Indian Lands: Intersections of Race, Caste, and Indigeneity

Part of our Fall 2026 Humanities Forum

Indians on Indian Lands: Intersections of Race, Caste, and Indigeneity

Nishant Upadhyay unravels Indian diasporic complicity in its ongoing colonial relationship with Indigenous peoples, lands, and nations in Canada. From resource extraction in British Columbia in the 1970s through the 1990s to present-day Alberta, Upadhyay examines spaces that illuminate the dispossession of Indigenous peoples and simultaneously reveal how labor formations are affected by race, gender, and caste. This talk explores stories of everyday proximity and intimacy between Indigenous and South Asian communities and how to hold Indian diasporas accountable for acts of violence within a colonial settler nation.

Co-sponsored by the Asian Studies Program.

Biography: Nishant Upadhyay is an associate professor in the Department of Ethnic Studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder. They hold a PhD in Social and Political Thought from the York University, Toronto. Upadhyay is the author of Indians on Indian Lands: Intersections of Race, Caste, and Indigeneity (University of Illinois Press, 2024). Their research and teaching focuses on settler colonialism and empire, intersections of race, caste, and indigeneity, queer and trans of color studies, and South Asian diaspora.

This public forum is open for full participation by all individuals regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or any other protected category under applicable federal law, state law, and the University's nondiscrimination policy.