Hilde Eliassen Restad (@herestad.bsky.social)

What’s at Stake in the Indigenous Empire Debate I have a new open-access article out in Global Studies Quarterly, “What’s at Stake in the Indigenous Empire Debate,” in which I argue against historian Pekka Hämäläinen’s claims that the Comanche and the Lakota constituted empires. Many others have provided reasons why we ought not to think of the Comanche or the Lakota polities as empires, but as I argue, this debate has been inconclusive because it has been lacking any clear definition of “empire” according to which we might assess Comanche or Lakota practices. https://www.duckofminerva.com/2026/04/whats-at-stake-in-the-indigenous-empire-debate.html