Corey Snelgrove

Corey Snelgrove is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science within the Faculty of Arts at the University of Alberta. Trained in political theory with a background in critical theory, he works as a settler scholar in the areas of Indigenous-Settler Relations, Settler Colonialism and Decolonization. His academic journey includes a PhD from the University of British Columbia, an MA from the University of Victoria, and a BA from Queen's University.

Dr. Snelgrove's research takes a theoretical approach to Indigenous Politics, examining settler colonialism and the struggle for Indigenous self-determination in relation to social formations as a whole. He argues that these social formations are complex, contradictory, and crisis-prone, creating openings for fundamental transformation despite ongoing dispossession. His work emphasizes understanding how forms of domination—capitalism, colonialism, heteropatriarchy, and white supremacy—interrelate within these social wholes.

His primary research project, The Politics of Reconciliation after the Blockade, challenges the separation of political and economic dimensions in understanding settler colonialism. He develops the concept of 'implication' to analyze non-Indigenous complicity as 'alienated participation in injustice' that can ground solidarity with Indigenous peoples. His scholarship bridges Marxist political theoretical traditions with Indigenous critical theory to develop transformative approaches to decolonization.

Dr. Snelgrove teaches POL S 305 (Contemporary Political Theory), POL S 327 (Indigenous Politics in Canada), and POL S 532 (Indigenous Engagement, Governance, and Policy). His teaching examines critical approaches to political theory, Indigenous politics in Canada, and public policy related to Indigenous peoples.

His publications reveal consistent engagement with legal theory, political economy, and Indigenous resurgence. Key themes across his work include treaty interpretation as de-fetishizing critique, the limits of legal form in settler colonial contexts, and the relationship between capitalism and settler colonialism. His scholarship consistently argues that meaningful decolonization requires addressing the connections between these systems of domination while recognizing the possibilities for transformative solidarity.