Consent has long been used to establish the legitimacy of society. But when one asks - who consented? how? to what type of community? - consent becomes very elusive, more myth than reality. This is particularly true when the spotlight is on the relationship between indigenous and nonindigenous peoples. In this volume, leading and emerging scholars in legal and political theory explore the various meanings that have been attached to consent as the foundation for political community and law, especially in indigenous contexts. From explorations of specific historical examples - such as consent in Gitksan society in the early years of the fur trade or relations between indigenous and nonindigenous Australians in the 1950s and 1970s - to a reconsideration of consent in political and legal theory, the authors examine the language of consent and how it has ordered indigenous societies and shaped their relationships with governments. Between Consenting Peoples explores the kind of consent - the kind of attachment - that might ground political community and establish a fair relationship between indigenous and nonindigenous peoples. In doing so, it draws perspectives from indigenous relations into the heart of political theory.
During the 19th century, British and American settlers acquired a vast amount of land from indigenous people throughout the Pacific, but in no two places did they acquire it the same way. Stuart Banner tells the story of colonial settlement in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Tonga, Hawaii, California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, and Alaska. Today, indigenous people own much more land in some of these places than in others. And certain indigenous peoples benefit from treaty rights, while others do not. These variations are traceable to choices made more than a century ago - choices about whether indigenous people were the owners of their land and how that land was to be transferred to whites.Banner argues that these differences were not due to any deliberate land policy created in London or Washington. Rather, the decisions were made locally by settlers and colonial officials and were based on factors peculiar to each colony, such as whether the local indigenous people were agriculturalists and what level of political organization they had attained. These differences loom very large now, perhaps even larger than they did in the 19th century, because they continue to influence the course of litigation and political struggle between indigenous people and whites over claims to land and other resources."Possessing the Pacific" is an original and broadly conceived study of how colonial struggles over land still shape the relations between whites and indigenous people throughout much of the world.
In The Elusive Promise of Indigenous Development Karen Engle considers the strategies used by indigenous rights advocates as they have organized around, lobbied for, and deployed international legal models in their various pursuits of justice since the 1970s. She describes the ongoing tension between the right to self-determination and the right to culture as rubrics for indigenous organization, and the emergence of the cultural rights model as the dominant framework for international indigenous rights advocacy in the 1990s. Foregrounding the unintended consequences of the uses of culture in indigenous rights advocacy, she examines the appeal of the right to culture model, and its replication in many claims by Afro-descendant peoples in Latin America, specifically in Colombia. Engle argues that the cultural rights paradigm has largely displaced or deferred the issues that initially motivated much indigenous advocacy, including issues of economic dependency, structural discrimination, and lack of autonomy. Cautioning against compromising critique for the sake of pragmatism, she calls for attention to the nuances of indigenous identity, politics, and economic needs and desires that advocates often believe they must ignore to achieve success. The Elusive Promise of Indigenous Development suggests that by eliding complexity, indigenous rights advocates have made concessions that threaten to exclude many rights claimants, force others to perform their cultural cohesion, and ultimately limit indigenous economic, political, and territorial autonomy.
In her latest book, award-winning scientist and activist Dr. Vandana Shiva argues that genetic engineering and the cloning of organisms, far from being socially useful, are "the ultimate expression of the commercialization of science and the commodification of nature."
"In the era of genetic engineering and patents, life itself is being colonized," says Shiva. She describes the hidden history of genetically engineered organisms, from Herman the transgenic dairy bull, to Tracy, the genetically engineered sheep that "lays golden eggs."
"Delgamuukw. Mabo. Ngati Apa." These cases and others have in recent years created a framework for litigating Aboriginal title in countries such as Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The contributors to this path-breaking book argue that our understanding of where the concept of Aboriginal title came from -- and where it may be going -- can also be enhanced by exploring legal developments in these former British settler colonies in a comparative and multidisciplinary framework. "Aboriginal Title and Indigenous Peoples" brings together a distinguished group of scholars who trace how the doctrine of Aboriginal title evolved as indigenous peoples and their laws interacted with settlers and the legal systems that developed in these three common law countries. Part 1 reveals the historical role that legislatures and courts played in the extinguishment and acquisition of Aboriginal title and land. Part 2 shows that although each country's development was distinctive, common issues and legal developments shaped -- and continue to inform -- indigenous peoples' struggle for recognition of their rights. These tightly integrated essays offer a perspective on Aboriginal title and land rights that extends beyond national borders to consider similar developments in common law countries.
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"Biopiracy raises serious issues pertaining to the conservation of biological diversity and genetic resources in agriculture, the integrity of plant life forms, a just international economic order, and development. Since the emergence of the biotechnology industry, 'biopiracy' has become a lightning rod for activists."-from the Introduction The appropriation of plants and traditional knowledge by corporations and other entities is often called biopiracy. Such practices arise from a cultural milieu that systematically marginalizes non-Western forms of knowledge, which are devalued as "folk knowledge" or characterized as inferior. Global Biopiracy rethinks the role of international law and legal concepts, global patent systems, and international agricultural research institutions as they affect legal ownership and control of plants and the knowledge that makes them valuable. Ikechi Mgbeoji first examines the Western assumptions and biases that inform the patent system, international law, and institutions affecting farmers around the globe. He next analyzes the cultural and economic traits that divide the industrialized world and the developing world. Finally, Mgbeoji confronts the phenomenal loss of human cultures and plant diversity that has already occurred and that will continue in the future unless protective measures are implemented and enforced.
In 2008 the Canadian government apologized to the victims of the notorious Indian residential school system, and established a Truth and Reconciliation Commission whose goal was to mend the deep rifts between Aboriginal peoples and the settler society that engineered the system. In Unsettling the Settler Within, Paulette Regan, a former residential-schools-claims manager, argues that in order to truly participate in the transformative possibilities of reconciliation, non-Aboriginal Canadians must undergo their own process of decolonization. They must relinquish the persistent myth of themselves as peacemakers and acknowledge the destructive legacy of a society that has stubbornly ignored and devalued Indigenous experience. With former students offering their stories as part of the truth and reconciliation processes, Regan advocates for an ethos that learns from the past, making space for an Indigenous historical counter-narrative to avoid perpetuating a colonial relationship between Aboriginal and settler peoples. A powerful and compassionate call to action, Unsettling the Settler Within inspires with its thoughtful and personal account of Regan's own journey, and offers all Canadians -- Indigenous and non-Indigenous policymakers, politicians, teachers, and students -- a new way of approaching the critical task of healing the wounds left by the residential school system.
This exciting new book is the only one of its kind. International Human Rights and Indigenous Peoples (Aspen Elective Series) will be the first published compilation of materials and commentary intended for use in courses focusing on the subject of indigenous peoples within the international human rights system. S. James Anaya, co-author of the well-known casebook, International Human Rights: Problems of Law, Policy and Practice, uses carefully edited material from varied sources to illustrate the major issues facing indigenous peoples today. This unique addition to the Elective Series features: complete or edited versions of all the major contemporary international documents concerning indigenous peoples--declarations, treaties, decisions, and interpretive statements by international human rights and other institutions on the topic--placed in the context of relevant historical antecedents. materials highlighting the major issues concerning indigenous peoples, including issues of self-determination, culture, lands and resources, collective rights, state responsibility for historical wrongs, and the meaning of the "indigenous" rubric. The issues are then linked to actual cases concerning or situations faced by indigenous groups. edited materials from a range of authors along with insightful commentary providing in-depth discussion of the issues and developments discussion of the international and domestic mechanisms by which human rights norms concerning indigenous peoples are implemented. This provides students with an understanding of the practical implications of the norms and their potential strategic value. background material on the authority and workings of the various international institutions that are addressing indigenous issues, enabling students to understand the legal or political significance of the relevant developments and place those developments within the broader context of the international human rights system An invaluable resource for any cours
This text sets forth in succinct form the essentials of this very complex body of law, with attention to the governmental policies underlying it. Some specialized matter that falls within this field has been omitted, such as the special problems in Oklahoma or New York, the serious problems of urban Indians, and the subject of the Native Hawaiians.
