Recognition Sovereignty Struggles And Indigenous Rights In The United States

Recognition, Sovereignty Struggles, and Indigenous Rights in the United States: A Sourcebook

This engaging collection surveys and clarifies the complex issue of federal and state recognition for Native American tribal nations in the United States. Den Ouden and O'Brien gather focused and teachable essays on key topics, debates, and case studies. Written by leading scholars in the field, including historians, anthropologists, legal scholars, and political scientists, the essays cover the history of recognition, focus on recent legal and cultural processes, and examine contemporary recognition struggles nationwide. Contributors are Joanne Barker (Lenape), Kathleen A. Brown-Perez (Brothertown), Rosemary Cambra (Muwekma Ohlone), Amy E. Den Ouden, Timothy Q. Evans (Haliwa-Saponi), Les W. Field, Angela A. Gonzales (Hopi), Rae Gould (Nipmuc), J. Kehaulani Kauanui (Kanaka Maoli), K. Alexa Koenig, Alan Leventhal, Malinda Maynor Lowery (Lumbee), Jean M. O'Brien (White Earth Ojibwe), John Robinson, Jonathan Stein, Ruth Garby Torres (Schaghticoke), and David E. Wilkins (Lumbee).

Sovereignty Matters investigates the multiple perspectives that exist within indigenous communities regarding the significance of sovereignty as a category of intellectual, political, and cultural work. Much scholarship to date has treated sovereignty in geographical and political matters solely in terms of relationships between indigenous groups and their colonial states or with a bias toward American contexts. This groundbreaking anthology of essays by indigenous peoples from the Americas and the Pacific offers multiple perspectives on the significance of sovereignty.

Long dismissed as relics of a primitive past, indigenous peoples are increasingly seeking international recognition and protection of their rights to land, water, and fundamental human freedoms. Anthropologist Bradley Reed Howard surveys the struggles of indigenous groups for self-determination in the United States and internationally, calling crucial attention to the urgent need for native social and political representation. Indigenous Peoples and the State presents an overview of the confrontation between tribal groups and both nation-states and international organizations. Howard places indigenous issues within the larger context of the work of nongovernmental agencies, United Nations initiatives on human rights, and national self-determination. Two specific case studies of indigenous legal status and rights--involving the Iroquois in the United States and the Maori in New Zealand--illuminate native peoples' claims to sovereignty, traditional culture, territory, and natural resources. Ethical problems inevitably arise in any attempt to define identity. Investigating the complex issues of colonialism and culture, Howard reveals that anthropologists have at times played a complicit role in tribal subjugation. He also emphasizes the contributions many cultural anthropologists have made to the progressive transformation of law and recognizes their efforts to preserve indigenous cultures and natural habitats. Anthropological approaches, Howard maintains, offer the best hope for understanding the magnitude of indigenous peoples' worldwide endeavors to attain human rights. Indigenous Peoples and the State draws extensively from native sources on questions of identity, rights, and sovereignty. North American Indians, the Maori, and numerous other native peoples assert international recognition of their independence and status as "peoples" through their treaties and agreements with Western nations. They further demand an accessible international forum through which they can achieve justice and promote national self-determination. Howard's bold analysis offers extraordinary anthropological and legal support for the declarations and aspirations of indigenous peoples.

Sovereignty Matters investigates the multiple perspectives that exist within indigenous communities regarding the significance of sovereignty as a category of intellectual, political, and cultural work. Much scholarship to date has treated sovereignty in geographical and political matters solely in terms of relationships between indigenous groups and their colonial states or with a bias toward American contexts. This groundbreaking anthology of essays by indigenous peoples from the Americas and the Pacific offers multiple perspectives on the significance of sovereignty.The noted Mohawk scholar Taiaiake Alfred provides a landmark essay on the philosophical foundations of sovereignty and the need for the decolonization of indigenous thinking about governance. Other essays explore the role of sovereignty in fueling cultural memory, theories of history and change, spiritual connections to the land, language revitalization, and repatriation efforts. These topics are examined in varied yet related contexts of indigenous struggles for self-determination, including those of the Chamorro of Guam, the Taíno of Puerto Rico, the Quechua of the Andes, the Mäori of New Zealand (Aotearoa), the Samoan Islanders, and the Kanaka Maoli and the Makah of the United States. Several essays also consider the politics of identity and identification.Sovereignty Matters emphasizes the relatedness of indigenous peoples' experiences of genocide, dispossession, and assimilation as well as the multiplicity of indigenous political and cultural agendas and perspectives regarding sovereignty.Joanne Barker (Lenape) is an assistant professor of American Indian studies at San Francisco State University. Her work has appeared in Cultural Studies, Wicazo Sa Review, Inscriptions, and This Bridge We Call Home: Radical Visions for Transformation.

While indigenous peoples make up around 370 million of the world’s population – some 5 per cent – they constitute around one-third of the world’s 900 million extremely poor rural people. Every day, indigenous communities all over the world face issues of violence and brutality. Indigenous peoples are stewards of some of the most biologically diverse areas of the globe, and their biological and cultural wealth has allowed indigenous peoples to gather a wealth of traditional knowledge which is of immense value to all humankind. The publication discusses many of the issues addressed by the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and is a cooperative effort of independent experts working with the Secretariat of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. It covers poverty and well-being, culture, environment, contemporary education, health, human rights, and includes a chapter on emerging issues.

Native Studies Keywords is a genealogical project that looks at the history of words that claim to have no history. The end goal is not to determine which words are appropriate but to critically examine words that are crucial to Native studies, in hopes of promoting debate and critical interrogation.

A provocative analysis of what "sovereignty" means to indigenous nations, challenging commonly held conceptions about the relationship between sovereignty and economic development.