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This thesis studies how courts encounter and engage with Indigenous environmental justice (IEJ) in litigation pursued by Indigenous communities in Australia, Brazil, and Canada. The thesis advances IEJ as a principle that may be framed, used and developed in juridical spaces. The research draws from existing scholarship, primarily Indigenous scholarship, and offers an intellectual map of IEJ that is a receptacle for, amongst others, plural sovereignties, Indigenous epistemologies, and land-environment-cultural relationships. To this end, the thesis proposes a conceptual understanding of law as a narrative and adjudication as knowledge production. It argues that legal knowledge production enables courts to be a part of epistemic communities that remedy present environmental harms and past injustices that are engendered in settler colonialism. Indigenous voices become paramount for such knowledge production. The thesis explores how Indigenous voices are received within adjudication through doctrinal analysis of Indigenous environmental litigation in the three jurisdictions. Further, it examines what implications such reception has for the outcome of the litigation and the framing of IEJ. The materials studied here testify to the innate ability of courts to draw from existing laws generously and innovate where necessary in order to answer the difficult questions of justice and sovereignty raised by Indigenous environmental litigation. Whilst courts are accustomed to certain forms of litigation, contemporary environmental pressures demand conceptual apparatus of a different kind. Although legitimacy and integrity are highly valued within juridical spaces, they are not immutable concepts. The thesis argues that IEJ provides an opportunity to reconfigure juridical integrity by including Indigenous voices and challenging settler colonial legality through settler courts. In addition, it also makes a case for juridical openness, where present courts may deal with questions of Indigenous sovereignty more sympathetically to allow future jurisprudence to assume more radical standpoints.

This study intends to perform a reappraisal of the efficacy of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. To this end, the thesis is structured around three fundamental questions that express the main objectives of this inquiry: (i) How should we account for the efficacy of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and its decisions as they impact the human rights regime and normative, institutional and social structures of global society? (ii) To what degree has the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and its aggregate jurisprudence contributed to the process of concretisation of human rights norms? (iii) Has the Inter-American Court and its decisions contributed to the redress of victims of human rights violations in the fields of amnesty laws, indigenous rights and rights of detainees? In order to provide a solid response to these questions, this study carries out a comprehensive empirical analysis of the efficacy of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights jurisprudence on amnesty laws, indigenous rights, and the rights of detainees. Assuming a victim-centred point of observation, this analysis will consider multiple dimensions of global society. The principle contributions of this thesis are two-fold: (i) the advancement of a model of “efficacy chain” to support comprehensive sociological and legal analysis of international court's efficacy and (ii) a revision, empirical supported, of the effects of decisions of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

This dissertation examines how conflicts between the Peruvian State and the indigenous Awajún people can be transformed and further escalation prevented by focusing on rights claims. This study analyses the Awajún's main rights claims, their perspective on their relationship with the Peruvian State including the main causes of conflict and their views on what the key aspects of conflict transformation with the State should be. The research is focused on the perspective of the indigenous people, not only in the light of the research objectives but also because a decolonized approach that gives voice to the indigenous perspective is the most culturally appropriate approach for an outsider researcher to carry out research with indigenous people. In order to ensure a decolonized research design, one-on-one, in-depth interviews were selected for data collection since these allow a maximum input of the participants and provide the kind of detailed and rich information that is required for this study. Findings illustrate that a rights-based conflict transformation approach, which applies the typical aspects of a rights-based approach focusing on the specific collective rights claims of the Awajún as well as the main principles of conflict transformation focusing on improving relationships, offers the best prospects of preventing violent confrontations.

This thesis offers an investigation of the indigenous politics of self-determination in the Peruvian Amazon. The starting point of the analysis is the ‘Baguazo’, a massive indigenous protest (June 2009) against governmental laws that favoured extractive industries within indigenous territories. Studies of indigenous peoples’ opposition to extractive industries in Peru have tended to focus on the economic, political or social aspects as if these were discrete dimensions of the conflict. This thesis aims to contribute with an integral and systematic understanding of indigenous resistance to extractive industries through a case study analysis and a multidisciplinary theoretical proposal. The thesis contains 9 chapters: introduction (Chapter 1); theoretical framework (Chapters 2, 3 and 4); methodology (Chapter 5); case study analysis and discussion (Chapters 6, 7, and 8); and conclusion (Chapter 9). The theoretical chapters explain how liberal legality recognises indigenous peoples as ethnic minorities with property entitlements, while self-determination goes a step further to recognise indigenous peoples as ‘nations’ with ‘territorial rights’. The case study chapters explore the struggle of the Awajun indigenous people for self-determination and examine the legal and political consequences of the Baguazo as well as the re-emergence of indigenous politics in Peru. The main argument provided in this thesis is that indigenous territorial defence against extractive industries expresses a politics of self-determination that confronts coloniality as the foundation of the extractive governance. Coloniality denotes that, even though colonial rule ended in formal political terms, power remains distributed according to colonial ontology and epistemology. Consequently, social and economic relationships regarding indigenous peoples still respond to an inclusion/exclusion paradox: indigenous peoples are either excluded from liberal capitalism or included into it under conditions that deny indigenous peoples’ principles. Thus, the struggle for self-determination locates many indigenous people beyond the inclusion/exclusion dialectic and promotes an extension of ‘the political’ with the aim of reconfiguring the state-form and its political economy.

This thesis critically examines the role of indigeneity in urban policies and planning in a context of constitutional changes that have taken place in Bolivia and Ecuador in the recent decade. It departs from previous academic and policy research which mainly studied indigenous rights in rural areas and focused on urban indigenous peoples as outlawed, excluded, or insurgent subjects. Instead, it conceptualises the translation of indigenous rights into urban policies as a complex process in which a multiplicity of social actors – including government officials and urban indigenous groups – are involved. Drawing on the practice-centric literature on urban policy and planning, it recognises that the work of government officials is influenced by multiple factors such as constitutional texts as well as their personal views, interest group demands, and the wider structural and political environment surrounding them. Government attempts to translate indigenous rights are contrasted to urban indigenous peoples’ own understandings of indigeneity and associated interests and demands. In addition, this thesis uses an asset accumulation framework as well as the concept of tactics to identify how urban indigenous peoples address and negotiate their interests and demands and try to influence decision-making processes from the bottom-up. The thesis relies on La Paz (Bolivia) and Quito (Ecuador) as ‘illustrative cases’ to study the role of indigeneity in urban policies. As both La Paz and Quito represent capital cities, it was possible to approach government officials operating at multiple scales – international, national and local – as well as ordinary urban indigenous residents. Methodologically, the thesis employs a qualitative, case study comparison and draws on information derived from semi-structured interviews, document analysis, participant observation and participatory focus groups conducted during eleven months of fieldwork. In terms of comparison, this thesis makes use of a variation-finding approach. By explaining variations between the cases through focusing on the unique processes and factors that shaped the translation of indigenous rights within each city, it intends to offer a more nuanced and context-responsive approach for studying urban indigeneity and addressing indigenous rights in cities. A central finding of this thesis is that the incorporation of indigeneity into urban policies and indigenous people’s own practices to fulfil their specific demands were characterised by a set of conflicting realities: First, for government officials the translation of indigenous rights into urban policies sometimes clashed with other priorities – such as addressing universal rights and interests of non-indigenous pressure groups – or with their own views of the city as a ‘white’, ‘western’, and ‘modern’ places. Second, urban indigenous peoples articulated multiple and contradictory identities. They mainly did this by voicing specific demands for land – an important asset which they associated with the preservation of a communal and traditional lifestyle but also with aspirations to lead a modern and capitalist life in the city. Third, the findings reveal that indigenous peoples – particularly their community leaders – had to enter in negotiations with governments to access different assets such as land, housing, or education. In these processes leaders manoeuvred between different worlds. They had to conform to political agendas and – particularly in the case of Bolivia – to official spatialized understandings of identity and rights which often conflicted with their own sense of being indigenous in the city.

Plastics, which are a byproduct of the fossil fuel industry, disproportionately impact the lives, health, and environments of low-income and people of color communities throughout their lifecycle from production to disposal. Moreover, Knowing that 70% of global greenhouse gas emissions are embedded in the lifecycle of all products, it is undeniable that waste reduction strategies are fundamental to tackling the climate crisis (The Circularity Gap Report, 2019). The purpose of this Practicum, which involves three intersecting projects and a curriculum-building effort, is to bring visibility to grassroots solutions and advocacy efforts being put in place by frontline communities to address the global waste and plastics crisis and to uplift the benefits of such solutions. This report will take the form of a portfolio of the work that Cat Diggs has achieved during her three years in graduate school as a dual master’s degree student in Environmental Justice and Urban & Regional Planning. Having worked for 5 years as a community-based recycling educator in Detroit, MI, the last major city in the U.S. to implement a citywide curbside recycling program, and having experienced the recycling crisis in 2018 when China banned global scrap recycling exports from countries of the Global North, Cat knew that she wanted to pursue a career in the field of environmental justice as it relates to the global waste crisis. Shortly after beginning her graduate studies at the University of Michigan’s School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS), she obtained a position as one of the two Circular Economy Interns for the City of Ann Arbor’s Office of Sustainability & Innovations between January and October of 2022. The purpose of her work was to bring visibility to this brand new city-level sustainability program and to ensure that it centers equity and justice. Work methods included 20 virtual one-on-one interviews, video-making, as well as content and strategy-building. Through her Marshall Weinberg-funded internship, Cat supported the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) in co-producing their flagship report - Zero Waste to Zero Emissions: How reducing waste is a climate gamechanger (2022), especially the Detroit case study featured in the report. Research methods included municipal waste diversion data collection, gray literature review, and stakeholder engagement (e.g. interviews and community visioning sessions) with 40+ stakeholders during a period of 9 months. The Detroit case study found that the city has the potential to reach net negative waste sector emissions by 2030 through zero waste strategies, all of which have primarily been led by grassroots organizations and coalitions across the city. The case study can serve as an advocacy tool for municipal zero waste efforts in Detroit and beyond. Followed by this publication effort in the fall of 2022 and the winter of 2023, Cat started to work with GAIA’s Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) team to build the capacity of the Indigenous Peoples Caucus (IPC), the formation of Indigenous groups working to ensure their rights are heard and affirmed in the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) on Plastic Pollution, where a legally binding instrument addressing the full lifecycle of plastic is being conceived to reduce plastic pollution globally. To support the IPC, Cat has analyzed the Zero Draft of the Plastics Treaty as it relates to Indigenous demands. She has also supported the administrative capabilities of the Caucus as they have prepared for the last two rounds of negotiations. Cat attended the fourth round of negotiations (INC-4) in person in Ottawa, Canada between April 23 and April 29, 2024. Her work with the IPC emphasizes the capacity-building gaps that Indigenous Peoples’ are confronted with in the emerging multilateral environmental agreement space of plastics. More resources, both material and financial, need to be provided to the IPC by the INC Secretariat, member states, foundations, and other entities, to guarantee their effective and rightful participation in these processes that directly impact them as rights holders at the frontlines of the plastics crisis. Throughout all of these hands-on experiences, Cat has worked to continuously bring visibility to waste justice work and plastics at SEAS and Taubman College whether it’d be through a poster presentation, a workshop, guest lectures, or an expert panel. She did so in an effort to begin bridging the curricular gaps that exist within both of her programs as it relates to teaching classes on the environmental justice implications of the global waste and plastics criss.

Early in 2012, the Minister of Natural Resources Joe Oliver released an open letter to Canadians where he identified 'an urgent matter of Canada's national interest': 'radical groups' were 'threaten[ing] to hijack [Canada's] regulatory system' for major projects and argued they should 'be accomplished in a quicker and more streamlined fashion'. This came on the eve of the first day of oral hearings for the public review into the controversial Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline and tanker project that would allow for oil sands from Alberta to access outside markets other than the United States. A few months later, Canada's environmental decision-making process was dramatically reformed, resulting in a significant outcry across the country over the likely effects on environmental oversight and Aboriginal rights. In Haida Gwaii, a series of islands off of the north coast of British Columbia (BC) around which the proposed tanker traffic would navigate, a process of reconciliation is in its early stages. The forestry sector is now subject to a collaborative provincial and Haida (First) Nation planning and decision process and a Haida-owned company is the biggest tenure holder and forestry sector employer. However, the Government of Canada has refused to participate in this reconciliation process in any meaningful way. It has, instead, encountered the Haida Nation through the court-like environmental review process for the proposed Enbridge project, the very same process that has been used to justify the dramatic environmental planning reforms. This research constructs a framework for tracing the spatial and institutional dynamics of the reconciliation process in planning. A significant amount of the Crown's approach to reconciliation relies upon the consultation that takes place within and alongside planning and regulatory decision making for natural resource developments. While the process does not, in itself, lead to any meaningful engagement over reconciliation, a central research question is: What opportunities might exist for reconciliation to take place in planning? And, how do these opportunities change? Contributing to the Indigenous planning literature, this dissertation examines some of the discursive and institutional factors that led to (a) the collaborative planning taking place on Haida Gwaii today and (b) the 2012 federal planning reforms. For each case, the opportunities available in planning for modifying the dominant view of reconciliation are considered. The dissertation begins with an overview of the very initial discussions on reconciliation between the Haida Nation and the Province of BC. It is argued that this move was facilitated by the Haida Nation shifting their concerns to various venues that were more or less receptive to their interests: the courts, a road blockade, collaborative planning, and bargaining. On the other hand, Canada has attempted to regain control by actively modifying the venues available to the Haida Nation in ways that excluded them or moved them to a venue that was less receptive to their concerns. It is reasoned that while planning spaces operate in ways that tend to be colonial, certain conditions and mechanisms are available in these systems that can be used to open up (perceived) opportunities for changing the way reconciliation is implemented across this system. These spaces reveal information about Indigenous-state power relations that are usually not observable until a conflict arises, at which point analysts may observe how actors respond to these perceived opportunities. Evidence is collected from numerous sources. Interviews with key informants, observation, and policy document review composed the bulk of the data collection for both cases. Four days of oral hearings in Haida Gwaii were observed in 2012, offering a window into the encounter between the Haida and Canada just as a streamlined environmental review process was being developed and implemented. In contrasting the two cases, this research finds that planning is used both to control development and as an opportunity to engage with the Crown over the long-standing dispute about overlapping title to and, thus, jurisdiction over Haida Gwaii. The process by which one use prevails over another is the central research problem; indeed, there remains an important disconnect between Indigenous political actors and the Crown (and, in some examples, industry) on how environmental planning institutions ought to be used. This tension is present within a planning venue and across the planning system, opening up potential opportunities, such as those used by the Haida Nation to regain control over Haida Gwaii, or closing down these opportunities. For these reasons, planning is one of the most useful arenas for influencing and for understanding the politics of reconciliation in Canada.

This thesis will address the impacts of Chilean neoliberal education reforms on students access to primary and secondary education. Across three body chapters, I will conduct a historical, policy, and comparative analysis, as well as case study on the Mapuche population within Chile, to exemplify neoliberal reforms' impact on students across differing socioeconomic statuses. Ranging from the 18th century to 2017, this thesis will provide a comprehensive image of how Chile's national education system has transformed from Catholic, missionary schools with majority state influence during heightened colonial practices to increasingly decentralized and marketized institutions during the 1980s. Through a series of analyses, I hypothesize neoliberal education reform has negatively impacted vulnerable students' access to education through exacerbating discriminatory, financial elements at the hands of the rise of privatized education. To support this, I will initially analyze neoliberal dictator Augusto Pinochet's education policies and reforms starting in 1980. To fully understand these lingering impacts, I also analyze 2005 socialist president Michelle Bachelet's education reforms as a method to further understand which 1980 neoliberal education policies were preserved during the restoration of democracy in Chile during the 1990s and early 2000s. The thesis closes with a final case study of the Mapuche population, the largest indigenous population in Chile. With the use of the methodological frameworks deployed in chapter two and chapter three, I attempt to expose the disproportionate impacts of neoliberal education policies on the Mapuche even as modern education and government administrations attempt to transform the education system away from oppressive and discriminatory policies implemented during the 1980s. Riddled throughout the entire thesis are discussions of social movements advocating for greater education equity, amplifying the call for increased attention on justice for students, teachers, and families.

This dissertation examines the overlooked experiences of dispossession among Rwanda's Indigenous Twa minority in the aftermath of genocide. Despite extensive scholarly attention on post-genocide Rwanda, little consideration has been given to the unique circumstances faced by the Twa, Rwanda's original inhabitants and only Indigenous micro-minority. Through a comprehensive ethnographic exploration, this research analyzes the intersecting dynamics of environmental governance, transitional justice, and nation-building projects that have shaped the Twa's marginalization. Drawing on over a decade of fieldwork in Rwanda, including more than 50 interviews and extensive participant observation, this study uncovers the systematic and multi-formed dispossession experienced by the Twa. Environmental governance and transitional justice policies have rendered the Twa invisible, denying them the right to identify ethnically or as an Indigenous group. Consequently, they face eviction from their ancestral lands, exclusion from conservation initiatives, and marginalization within Rwandan society. Despite Rwanda's ambitious goals to transform the nation into a "non-ethnic" luxury eco-tourist destination, the Twa remain excluded from these initiatives, perpetuating their impoverishment and dispossession. Furthermore, the legal limitations on Indigenous discourse hinders the Twa's ability to advocate for their rights and challenge state-sponsored expropriation. This research contributes to broader anthropological discussions of dispossession by analyzing the ideological underpinnings perpetuating marginalization and dispossession. By centering the experiences of the Twa, this study challenges dominant narratives of Rwandan history and ethnicity, highlighting the symbolic significance of the Twa in understanding identity formation and reconciliation processes.

Using theoretical frameworks from Indigenous scholars Dr. Anne Spice and Dr. Kyle Whyte, this paper seeks to demonstrate how Enbridge’s Line 5 dual oil pipeline and proposed tunnel project are forms of invasive infrastructure that enact environmental violence against Anishinaabe peoples, particularly in Michigan, by threatening their collective continuance. This environmental violence is justified and obfuscated by Enbridge and sanctioned by the settler colonial states of Canada and the United States by framing fossil fuel infrastructure as a critical public good that serves the national security, economic growth, and energy independence of the nation states. Despite this settler capitalist framing, the environmental violence of Line 5 and other fossil fuel infrastructure against tribal nations and Indigenous peoples occurs at each stage in the lifecycle of fossil fuel infrastructure, from siting to decommissioning. Situated within a long history of Indigenous resistance to invasive infrastructure, Anishinaabe tribal nations and communities have been asserting their right to a self-determined future free of oil snaking through the land and waters of Turtle Island. In collaboration with the Anishinaabek Caucus of the Democratic Party, the authors of this paper conducted several interviews at the 2022 Water is Life Festival to create a short documentary-style video centering visions for water protection and energy futures as told by Anishnaabe persons. Although not representative of the diverse tribes and peoples of the Anishinaabe, these voices illustrate some important perspectives, lived experiences, philosophies and cosmologies of the Anishinaabe. The visions for the future they shared align with concepts of collective continuance and assert a futurity that is sustainable for all–humans and non-humans, alike.

This thesis aims to clarify the concept of a just climate transition. I focus on the Aotearoa New Zealand context to illustrate how we might understand what is involved in a just transition and how we can measure if any transition is just. Within this context, the rights and interests of indigenous peoples, in Aotearoa New Zealand, Māori, are particularly relevant (Chapter Two). The thesis explores what a just transition for and with Māori should consist of in a multicultural society. Chapter Three introduces the capabilities approach as a useful tool for clarifying the substance of a just transition and addresses some challenges that it must overcome. Chapter Four begins the process of applying the conceptual aspects of the previous chapters to the Aotearoa New Zealand context. This chapter outlines some of the options for clean, renewable energy options in Aotearoa New Zealand, including some potential ethical concerns that might relate to them. The chapter also considers some cultural considerations and how these may influence what a just option ought to be. In particular, the chapter incorporates some Māori priorities and demonstrates how these might impact what is just for indigenous peoples in Aotearoa New Zealand. Finally, in Chapter Five I outline the principles that capture the nature of a just transition, using other frameworks and principles as a guide. This chapter also covers some other considerations for just transitions, such as why we might want to move away from a purely economic focus and how we might address issues of energy poverty. In addition, I discuss how to balance between the urgency to act on climate change and other imperatives of justice, which is an issue that has been raised by indigenous scholars.

The scramble for minerals, such as lithium, critical to renewable energy technologies is a feature of our race to decarbonise. At the same time, changing societal expectations are increasing pressure on companies to operate in a manner that respects human rights, including Indigenous Peoples’ rights. Situated at the nexus of these global trends, this thesis examines business and human rights (BHR) dynamics at rights-holder level in the context of extraction in South America’s ‘lithium triangle’. Examining how legal and non-legal factors translate to corporate behaviour and rights outcomes on the ground, the thesis addresses the research question: What are the key intersecting factors shaping corporate engagement with Indigenous communities and their rights in the lithium triangle? Based on extensive in-person empirical research in the region, it examines the complex dynamics between governments, companies and Indigenous communities. Empirical chapters reveal a broad range of factors influencing corporate engagement and thereby better rights outcomes. These can be distilled into four key themes: 1. Human rights pathways: state human rights commitments are transmitted to lithium triangle companies by more indirect means than traditional compliance with horizontal obligations would demonstrate. 2. Shifting dynamics: changing expectations of companies, particularly in the context of decarbonisation, has created a rapidly evolving landscape of pressure on companies from downstream customers and other actors in the lithium value chain. 3. Indigenous rights: Indigenous communities in the lithium triangle have become powerful advocates for their own rights, creating significant bottom-up influence and altering traditional corporate perceptions of risk. 4. State absence: partial absence and significant lack of capacity of the state has resulted in the effective ‘privatisation’ of certain rights, leaving companies to fill the gap. That lithium technology is potentially rights-enhancing at a global level while its extraction at local level may be rights-endangering is a juxtaposition foregrounding the need for a just transition and raising interesting questions about the realities of rights on the ground in the presence of a prevailing global economic imperative. The lithium triangle is a powerful case study highlighting the need for governments, companies and communities to work closely together to minimise negative rights impacts and maximise positive outcomes.

Indigenous languages have immense cultural and social value, providing unique lenses to view reality and a means to bind together national identities. Unfortunately, these same benefits became a liability when Indigenous nations were conquered by settler societies, who have a vested interest in suppressing the national distinction and sovereignty of those they subjugated. Integration into settler societies and the global economy have added structural suppression of Indigenous languages to their deliberate erasure. Where Indigenous nations could formerly conduct all aspects of daily life in their languages, their economic and social livelihoods are now utterly entangled in national societies and transnational economies where their languages hold virtually no practical value. The result of these dynamics has been a precipitous decline in Indigenous languages. Nevertheless, Indigenous peoples across the world have successfully compelled settler governments to support language revitalization efforts, seemingly against the settler state's countersovereign interests. Nowhere has this process been more successful than in Aotearoa New Zealand, where the Indigenous Māori language enjoys official status and enormous financial and discursive support from the settler government. This thesis seeks to identify the factors that enabled the Māori to secure settler state support for language revitalization, and whether the lessons of Aotearoa New Zealand can be effectively and appropriately applied by Chumash communities in California. Though aimed specifically at serving the Chumash peoples, the comparisons made in this study should prove helpful in helping Indigenous peoples anywhere measure the costs, benefits, and viability of pressuring settler governments for support. Drawing on the insights of scholars of Indigenous studies, settler colonial studies, and norm entrepreneurship, as well as interviews with Chumash co-researchers, this thesis finds that the concessions won by the Māori owe a great deal to Māori political protest, electoral influence, autonomous educational initiatives, and unique norms stemming from the Treaty of Waitangi and Māori's relationship with the British Crown. Favorable norms provided a crucial fulcrum, but Māori victories ultimately depended upon leveraging these norms with credible threats to the statebuilding interests of the settler state. Chumash peoples lack the numbers and normative instruments that gave the Māori their victories, but I conclude that pro-Indigenous norm entrepreneurship, autonomous educational initiatives, and political protest could still successfully win concessions. I also warn that engaging with the settler state carries risks of repression and cooptation. If statebuilding interests are threatened without the requisite popular, electoral, or normative power to force concessions, then the state may further repress Indigenous languages, returning them to a “safety zone” where they cannot threaten national unity. If Indigenous communities align themselves too closely with settler state interests to cultivate support for revitalization, however, they might find themselves drawn into a form of neoliberal multiculturalism or politics of recognition, where the settler state’s cultural concessions "domesticate" the Indigenous challenge, trading limited concessions for legitimacy and stability. I draw on Chumash co-researchers to argue that any concessions not based on the principles of accessibility, relationality, and community control will be insufficient to revitalize Indigenous languages. I further argue that the settler state must bolster Indigenous institutional, material, and political power if Indigenous communities are to survive and thrive. Generations of state-led land theft and socio-political repression pushed Indigenous languages into marginality, so it will take generations of state-enabled Indigenous socio-political and economic empowerment to restore value to Indigenous languages. This aid combined with strengthened local identity and community institutions will be crucial to revitalizing languages that provide little global interconnectivity, which constitutes a serious structural limitation to language vitality in a globalized world.

Access Points explores the different relationships that humans have to land, focusing on the various ways that the area known as the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge is used, appreciated, and preserved by disparate groups. The natural beauty of this Wildlife Refuge and its striking appearance amidst encircling plains makes it a popular destination for many groups of people, including the local rock-climbing community and generations of indigenous peoples whose connection with this land is as deep as it is longstanding. While climbing organizations have long had to negotiate access and rules regarding climbing within the park, members of the Kiowa community negotiate a much different relationship to a natural area that is now managed by the United States government. These disparate voices, identities, and ways of thinking about land all impact the modern-day Wildlife Refuge in terms of its appearance, individuals' access to the land, and the conservation efforts happening there.

An electrified railway is being built east-to-west across Nepal, bisecting key ecological regions and carrying significant potential to disrupt wildlife connectivity and peoples’ land relationships. We worked with WWF Nepal to analyze various social and ecological consequences of the planned railway. Specifically, we evaluated (1) where wildlife occupancy is highest in Banke-Bardiya (BB) Complex, (2) where key endangered species moved within the landscape, (3) how habitat fragmentation and human-wildlife conflict can be mitigated through effective management and railway design, and (4) village fragmentation and Indigenous rights in Nepal. To address these topics, we used Geographic Information Systems, occupancy modeling using camera trap data, remote sensing, habitat selection modeling, and literature reviews. Our results revealed high biodiversity within key wildlife corridors, the active use of these corridors by these species, and the potential for human-wildlife conflict given the proximity of wildlife to developed areas. We found that the modeled movement overlapped highly with actual wildlife movement and identified two potential best crossing locations. We strategically designed crossing structures at these points to facilitate movement of key species. We determined approaches to maintain connectivity and minimize human-wildlife conflict in general, including crossing structure standards, fencing, and habitat management techniques, as well as approaches related specifically to key species. We also proposed a Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) protocol to support Indigenous peoples’ rights prior to railway construction in BB Complex. This study has the potential to mitigate harm to both humans and wildlife, presenting a good model for future projects in achieving sustainability and development goals.

Indigenous women in the United States experience disproportionately higher rates of intimate partner violence (IPV) compared to their non-Indigenous counterparts. Through a framework of settler colonialism, this article examines how settler colonial gender practices disrupted and eroded generational patterns of gender roles and power relationships within Indigenous communities, contributing over time to today's higher levels of IPV perpetrated against Indigenous women. I argue that future research on IPV must attend to the historical, contemporary, and legal impacts of settler colonial policies and laws that contribute to increased rates of violence within marginalized and racialized communities. In this article, I first review dominant theories of IPV, then review how a theoretical framework of settler colonialism expands our understanding of IPV in Indigenous communities, and, finally, address the impacts of federal policies on Indigenous sovereign rights regarding violence against women.

Abstract: This dissertation examines the first development phase of the Alberta oil sands industry from the 1960s to the early 1990s. It draws on public and private records from archives in Canada and the United States, the results of collaborative research with the Fort McMurray Métis, and oral history interviews with members and administrators from Fort Chipewyan Métis, Fort McKay First Nation, and Mikisew Cree First Nation. It argues that conflicts between Indigenous peoples, the state, and the oil sands industry were rooted in an evolving system of control and regulation of land and resources, which marginalized Indigenous land use and encouraged bitumen extraction with limited environmental regulation. I show how bitumen exploration influenced the Dominion of Canada’s use of cartography, resource regulations, and Treaty 8 to extend sovereignty over the Athabasca region. The global energy and economic crises of the 1970s drove the Alberta Progressive Conservative government to invest in developing the oil sands, which created a conflict of interest that undermined environmental policy. Meanwhile, Indigenous peoples resisted the environmental destruction of bitumen extraction and fought for economic benefits. The Mikisew Cree First Nation, the Indigenous communities centered on Trout, Peerless, Whitefish, Loon, and Lubicon Lakes, and the Indian Association of Alberta used land claims processes to interfere with development to force government to guarantee Indigenous employment and resolve land claims. Bitumen extraction destroyed Indigenous environments and traplines, and the Town of Fort McMurray forcefully evicted the Moccasin Flats Métis settlement and other Métis and First Nation settlements. The Fort McKay community used an array tactics in the 1980s to resist the environmental impacts of bitumen extraction and negotiate new economic relationships with industry.

From the Missouri River, passing through the Sonora Desert, all the way down to the Amazon Forest and the Andean Mountains, drills and pipelines are crossing over indigenous lands. In an energy-thirsty continent, there is no land left to spare, not even tribal land. Many of these energy infrastructure projects involve international investments that are protected by treaties and enforced by arbitral tribunals. At the same time, tribal communities have an internationally recognized right to receive prior and informed consultation before they are affected by projects of this nature. The Article focuses on the clash of rights between energy extraction companies investing abroad, and persons in indigenous communities whose lands are being condemned or disturbed to facilitate these companies’ extraction activities. As the Article explains, international treaties force the State to protect both these interests and set up norms, backed by international judicial interpretations, that prioritize the economic benefits of resource extraction in the name of public benefits. Consequently, when the rights of investors and communities clash, governments almost categorically side with the interests of foreign investors, at the sacrifice of the interests of local communities. The Article sees this course as endorsing a societal view that elevates economic considerations over noneconomic considerations and advocates a more pluralistic societal view that sees noneconomic considerations on par with (and at times, of superior importance to) economic considerations.

Bartolome de Las Casas (c. 1484-1566) is often seen as the father of modern international law because of his long fight against the institutions that treated indigenous peoples as sub- human. He worked for more than 50 years as a voice for the voiceless, defending the indigenous people of the Americas. During his time in Latin America, Las Casas was an advocate for indigenous people, frequently speaking about their treatment to the Kings of Spain and to Popes. His writings called for the end to the colonial systems that ruled the New World and for the peaceful conversion of the indigenous peoples to the Christian faith. The rights Las Casas fought for are the rights that would be spoken of in "Pacem in Terris" and “The Universal Declaration of Human Rights.” His debate with Juan Gines de Sepulveda at Valladolid (1550-1551) began a conversation throughout Europe about the treatment of human beings regardless of class, religion, or geography; a conversation that continues today.

This paper examines how the Wixárika, or Huichol, as they are more commonly known to the outside world, have successfully engaged in a decade-long struggle to save their ceremonial homeland of Wirikuta. They have fended off a Canadian silver mining company’s attempts to dig mines in the habitat of their most important sacrament, peyote, using a remarkable combination of traditional and modern resistance techniques. This thesis proposes that a significant actor in their successful resistance and cultural survival is the regular, ritualized consumption of peyote that has provided the Wixáritari with psychological and social benefits. Specifically, recent research has shown that supported psychedelic use aids in novel problem solving and resilience to stress, increases feelings of connectedness, and stimulates noetic insight, and these benefits appear to support the Wixáritari's fight against a multinational corporation which has the support of the federal government. The thesis then broadens its scope to explain the relevance of the Wixáritari case for social theory more generally. I describe how the recent neuroscientific paradigms which are resulting from this research such as that of the “entropic brain” cohere well with anthropologist Victor Turner’s conception of structure and anti-structure. The thesis then goes one step further to suggest that all societies once had methods of inducing this type of anti-structural/entropic experience as a means of ensuring psychological and social health, and that the Wixáritari are just one example of a culture which has maintained these rituals into the present day. It then speculates that these ritualized uses of psychedelics may point to a biological and cultural basis for the foundation and persistence of religious and mystical experience in general, as a producer of social solidarity and inhibitor of mental illness, and a means for ensuring flexible and creative solutions are crafted against whatever existential or environmental threats may arise in human experience.

At its core, this dissertation is concerned with the widespread failure of liberal democratic citizenship to uphold rights and facilitate social membership for ethno-racial minority groups and Indigenous peoples. Specifically, this dissertation takes stock of Australian reconciliation, in particular its flagship Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) program, after a quarter of a century of formal, state-sponsored reconciliation. On one hand, the wide spectrum of opinions about reconciliation as a failure versus an ongoing national project presents an interesting sociological puzzle— how do some social actors come to partner with the state on conciliatory citizenship project of reconciliation whereas others reject reconciliation as a framework for intergroup relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people? At the same time, my dissertation presents a clear and rigorous analysis of state-driven reconciliation: how does Australian reconciliation ask citizens to conceptualize and practice citizenship and Australian identity? And how does reconciliation imagine, enable and constrain relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians? Above all this dissertation strives to lay a strong empirical foundation for debates about the future of Australian reconciliation in the post-Uluru era. The dissertation introduces citizenship project as a useful concept for understanding and comparing large-scale collaboration between the state, other collective social actors, and individuals to change an existing citizenship regime in accordance with a set of socio-political ideals. I find that the conciliatory norms and narratives of Australia’s reconciliation citizenship project promote the acknowledgement and celebration of Indigenous history, culture and people in public life and emphasize voluntary, private action to ameliorate Indigenous / non-Indigenous socio-economic inequalities. At the same time, I find that Australia’s conciliatory citizenship project obscures the role of political and economic structures in ongoing racialized hierarchies and has constrained structural reform as a strategy for combatting racialized injustice. I further argue that conciliatory norms and priorities of the Australian citizenship project of reconciliation are so thoroughly institutionalized that they will continue to influence Australian conceptualizations of Indigenous / non-Indigenous difference and aspirations for intergroup relations for many years, easily decades, to come. I base these claims on a rigorous empirical study involving 70 semi-structured interviews, over 100 contact hours with case study organizations and extensive documentary research on Australia’s globally unique RAP project.

A number of Canadian laws underwent mass revision in 2010 with the passing of Bill C-10 – an expansive piece of legislation that amended a variety of laws, including the Canadian Criminal Code, lengthened sentences, and introduced a range of mandatory minimum sentences. Since its passing critics have noted the tension between Bill C-10’s mandatory minimums, and affirmative active legislation contained in Section 718.2(e) of the Canadian Criminal Code, requiring that judges consider the background and unique circumstances surrounding Indigenous offenders, and when appropriate, use discretion when sentencing. This thesis analyzes the feasibility of a safety valve for mitigating the conflict between Bill C-10 and Section 718.2(e) of the Canadian Criminal Code. In part, the thesis seeks to determine whether a safety valve option was considered during the framing of Bill C-10. The research focuses on the Canadian government’s role in the formation of the Canadian Residential School Program, and analyzes the long lasting impacts of the programs associated trauma in connection with 718.2(e) of the Canadian Criminal Code. Further, the study explores the conflict between Bill C-10’s mandatory minimums, and 718.2(e) of the Canadian Criminal Code’s judicial discretion requirement, ultimately suggesting that implementation of a safety valve may reduce the tension between the two pieces of legislation.

In the Southern Mexican State of Chiapas, plans to implement an environmental policy known as REDD+ could provide sustainable development opportunities to indigenous and forest dwelling communities by compensating them for preventing deforestation. At the same time, REDD+ (which stands for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation through conservation, sustainable management of forests, and enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countries) hopes to provide a market-based solution to combat global climate change. But detractors of REDD+, including indigenous groups like the Zapatistas argue that the policy is in conflict with indigenous peoples’ rights of self determination and pulls communities into capitalist social relations. In a world that increasingly needs solutions to combat global climate change, is REDD+ a saving grace, or is it doomed to failure?

This thesis examines how Japan internalizes international Indigenous rights norms. The application of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (DRIP) in Japan relating to Ainu Indigenous rights provides a narrow case study for my analysis. On July 6, 2008, the Japanese government recognized the Ainu as Indigenous. Utilizing the five-phase spiral model, I find that the DRIP acted as an impetus for change within the context of Indigenous rights in Japan. In the first section of this thesis, I describe the current international development of Indigenous rights norms. In doing so, I introduce the spiral model as a constructivist analysis of norm internalization. The spiral model provides a nexus between two popular Indigenous law perspectives—social movements and the legalist rational model, which provide pressures for governmental reform from below and above, respectively. This thesis ultimately demonstrates how these pressures cooperated to progress Japan further through the spiral model. The rest of this thesis examines the Japan-Ainu case study within the framework of the spiral model. I begin my spiral model analysis with Phase 1 (repression and activation of networks) at the end of World War II. From there, I systematically pinpoint Japan’s progression through Phase 2 (denial) and Phase 3 (tactical concessions). Near the end of Phase 3, I demonstrate how the DRIP assisted Japan’s transition into Phase 4 (prescriptive status), where it remains currently. I also discuss what changes are necessary to shift Japan into Phase 5 (rule-consistent behavior). In conclusion, I determine that cooperative domestic-transnational pressures can use non-binding international documents such as the DRIP to bring about moderate change in a state’s Indigenous policies.

Contemporary Rapa Nui is formed by a multiple and complex set of interactions, encounters, and circumstances that comprise the core of their indigenous identity, like many other indigenous people's realities. In this dissertation, I argue that there is not a simple or straightforward way of thinking about indigenous identities without falling into the trap of essentialism and stereotyping. Indigenous people are not what remained of ancestral civilizations, nor are they either invented nor folklorized commodities produced by “neo-shamanism” discourses. Recent theoretical contributions to the understanding of the relationship of native peoples with their territories have been fundamental to rethinking the meanings of indigeneity, but I argue that they continue to essentialize indigenous people relations with their past and the ways in which they are understood in the present. That is why in this dissertation I propose thinking about indigeneity through a notion of "multiple relationalities" as crucial for constructions of indigenous identity. In this dissertation, based on an extended fieldwork in Rapa Nui (which was formerly known as Easter Island), I contribute to the ways of thinking about indigeneity and ancestrality, especially concerning the manner in which is the relation of the indigenous peoples with their territories is understood. Indigenous territory is framed in multiple ways, constituting notions of landscapes that overlap, creating the unique and unrepeatable space of indigenous people's lands. This dissertation focuses on understanding how these landscapes are configured in Rapa Nui, and how they relate to configurations of indigenous identities Rapa Nui. Consequently, I argue that looking closely at the diverse and complex maps that have been constructed of Rapa Nui landscapes will allow us to analyze the nature of the Rapanui territoriality. I refer to these landscapes as the landscape of the ancestors and the Rapanui nation (chapter 3), the landscape of Chile and the State (chapter 4), and the landscape of tourism and collapse (chapter 4). Understanding how these landscapes are created, overlapped and contradicted, allows us to bring closer Rapanui identities and realities, and at the same time, to complicate broader indigeneity discourses that circulate globally

The current U.S. government policy of Indian Self-Determination is determined by the principle of tribal sovereignty, which defines how issues identified in Indian Country are addressed. However, tribal sovereignty represents an ideal that has regularly been ignored or contested by private and corporate entities, as well as state and federal government agencies. My research explores this case study of the successful assertion of tribal sovereignty by the Pyramid Lake Paiute tribe as they worked to save Pyramid Lake, the spiritual and economic heart of their reservation. The Pyramid Lake Tribe employed several strategies to secure water for Pyramid Lake and to save the endangered endemic species of fish, the cui-ui and Lahonton cutthroat trout, from extinction. They were opposed by an iron triangle composed of the Nevada Group, an interest group of Nevada water users, the Bureau of Reclamation, and Nevada's congressional delegation which tried to monopolize the waters of the Truckee River. Through numerous court cases and lobbying Congress, the Pyramid Lake Tribe was able to establish that no water issues could be settled without their input. With this nearly all stake holders entered into negotiations to reach an agreement that would serve the needs of every group: the Truckee-Carson-Pyramid Lake Negotiated Settlement Agreement, or PL101-618. The Truckee River Operating agreement was then worked out over the next eighteen years to operationalize PL101-618. I also explore the question of "where sovereignty lies," which has important implications for legitimacy of government. For the U.S. government, sovereignty on the Pyramid Lake Paiute Indian reservation lies with the enrolled members of the tribe; however, there is evidence that for some of the people at Pyramid Lake, sovereignty lies with the families. I suggest this disconnect may drive factional conflict within the Pyramid Lake Tribe, which interferes with tribal governance. The members of the Pyramid Lake Tribe and their council are actively working to find solutions to issues created by the limitations of tribal sovereignty and resolutions to the internal conflict that creates animosity among the tribal members. They favor solutions that do not limit their sovereignty.

My thesis examines whether dialogue is useful for negotiating Indigenous rights and solving intercultural conflict over Indigenous claims for recognition within Australia. As a social and political practice, dialogue has been put forward as a method for identifying and solving difficult problems and for promoting processes of understanding and accommodation. Dialogue in a genuine form has never been attempted with Indigenous people in Australia. Australian constitutionalism is unable to resolve Indigenous claims for recognition because there is no practice of dialogue in Indigenous policy. A key barrier in that regard is the underlying colonial assumptions about Indigenous people and their cultures which have accumulated in various ways over the course of history. I examine where these assumptions about Indigenous people originate and demonstrate how they have become barriers to dialogue between Indigenous people and governments. I investigate historical and contemporary episodes where Indigenous people have challenged those assumptions through their claims for recognition. Indigenous people have attempted to engage in dialogue with governments over their claims for recognition but these attempts have largely been rejected on the basis of those assumptions. There is potential for dialogue in Australia however genuine dialogue between Indigenous people and the Australian state is impossible under a colonial relationship. A genuine dialogue must first repudiate colonial and contemporary assumptions and attitudes about Indigenous people. It must also deconstruct the existing colonial relationship between Indigenous people and government.

This thesis examines how the dispute over the Bolivian government’s plan to construct a highway through the TIPNIS indigenous territory and national park in Amazonian Bolivia crystallizes the divergent visions and politics at play in realizing development projects in the TIPNIS. While progressive indigenous and environmental rights were inscribed in the 2009 Bolivian constitution, I argue that the government’s plan to impose the TIPNIS highway is a settler colonial project to dispossess the TIPNIS communities of their lands. This is facilitated by a national government—civilian colonist complicity that undermines the TIPNIS sovereignty and brings the TIPNIS territory under increasing governance and regulation under a post-frontier governance regime. I furthermore employ a framework I call knowledge articulation to examine the struggles of different actors to resist and/or implement varying development visions, which sometimes overlap and at other times compete with each other, in the TIPNIS. All of these projects demonstrate that the Bolivian decolonial path is fundamentally an amalgam: articulated knowledges, hybrid economies, and development outcomes that are resisted, contested, and negotiated configurations of various actors’ uneven authority, expertise and power.

As the era of decolonization comes to a close, few overseas territories remain. Among them is New Caledonia, a territory of France, situated in the Western Pacific. Lagging behind in the race for independence that followed the Second World War, the diverse population of New Caledonians will vote on their independence starting in 2018. Representative of numerous other internal conflicts, the indigenous group on this island has increasingly pressed for self-determination through full sovereignty. However, self-determination can be realized through multiple systems of governance: electoral politics, federalism, democracy, consociationalism, and liberal multiculturalism. This research explores three questions: What are the dominant narratives underlying the independence debate? How are these narratives defined? How does the framing of these narratives and the narratives themselves promote or hinder certain outcomes? By interviewing and collecting news articles from a variety of political actors I identified the party objectives and concerns that will influence the course of the political transformation of New Caledonia. Central to this examination are methods for governing culturally diverse populations, the representation and participation of marginalized groups, and how the concept of (re)balancing shapes the independence debate. The struggle for self-determination can take many forms, but it is a pervasive and widespread issue facing many marginalized groups in today’s globalized society.

With the passing of the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act, a series of public land proposals also went into effect including the Southeast Arizona Land Exchange and Conservation Act. This particular act trades 2,400 acres of federal forest land to Resolution Copper, a mining company, for 5,300 other acres with various significances. Within the 2,400 acres, Resolution Copper plans to mine the largest copper deposit in North America today. However, the 2,400 acres are also home to San Carlos Apache sacred sites known as Oak Flat and Apache Leap. The goal of this thesis is to understand whether or not the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is being used to express opposition to such environmental and cultural destruction. Documentary review was used to determine if the sentiments and language in the Declaration were reflected in stakeholder-issued legislation and/or comments. The result is that the wording of the Declaration is not being explicitly repeated by the stakeholders. Reasons why the Declaration is not being actively engaged and what this means for future U.S.-indigenous relations are discussed in the conclusion.

There is a gap in the literature that does not explain the circumstances under which Latin American governments allow MNCs to expand and violate indigenous protection laws. I examine how the capacities of indigenous groups, economic autonomy, and pro-indigenous policies impact government decisions in regards to indigenous land rights. In recent years, indigenous rights are increasingly recognized in Latin America, but with the pressure for economic development to compete internationally, Latin American governments sometimes violate indigenous rights in order to attract multinational corporations. I hypothesize that high economic autonomy, pro-indigenous policies, and strong indigenous groups lead to a higher likelihood that governments will hold meaningful consultations. I compare case studies in Ecuador, Bolivia, and Brazil. The results demonstrate that there is a positive, causal relationship with economic autonomy and meaningful consultations. Research of this phenomenon is imperative to furthering our understanding about the conflict between economic development and indigenous rights.

Indigenous societies in the Americas and Australasia experienced many transformations following European colonisation, one of which has been a widespread shift from ancestral languages to the coloniser's languages. Factors contributing to such change in linguistic practices have ranged from the violence’s of conquest, through classroom prohibitions on native tongues as part of assimilatory efforts in new nation-states, to modern-day social and economic forces that privilege the dominant language. Based on the premise that extinction of a community's traditional language represents a significant cultural loss, this thesis proposes a concept of linguistic reparative justice (LRJ). LRJ would require states to undertake reparative measures aimed at redressing the loss or decline of indigenous languages. By exploring state practice in providing reparations to victims of wrongful acts in the recent past, and the debate among legal and political theorists regarding redress to indigenous peoples for the wide range of historic injustices committed against them, the analysis finds justification for a moral obligation to provide redress for language loss. It then examines international human rights law to determine that, at least in some circumstances, there may also be a legal obligation for states to provide language-related reparations. The conceptualisation of LRJ concludes with a postulation of its practical content, being the actions state institutions could take to support indigenous communities in efforts to maintain or revitalise their languages. The second part of the thesis is a case study of the situation in Colombia, where threats to a diverse collection of native languages are exacerbated by the country's armed conflict. In 2008, against the backdrop of a purported state commitment to multiculturalism, the Culture Ministry developed a protection program for ethnolinguistic diversity, followed by a law on languages and linguistic rights of indigenous, creole and gypsy communities. The research reveals how crucial deficiencies in the law coincided with a range of contextual impediments, including a lack of bureaucratic and political will, that interrupted implementation of the legislative measures. The thesis concludes that the new Colombian policies have potential to be a starting point for LRJ. However, further progress towards this objective may require indigenous communities to seek compliance through the courts.

The intent of this thesis is to explore how community radio in Guatemala is used as a tool for community development. The concept of development I use is based off the idea that in order to build and maintain a sustainable quality of life there must be a solid community foundation for social capacity. Approaching radio as a conduit for change, I examine the various roles the radio takes on in order to enhance the overall quality of life by serving as (1) a channel for community knowledge; (2) a platform for indigenous rights; (3) a pillar for community solidarity; (4) an arena for empowerment of all community members, especially youth. Using an asset-based approach to development, I frame radio as a facilitator of collaborative civic engagement networks at the local, national, and international scale. It is this creative appropriation of technology by which Indigenous communities are operationalizing ideologies of decolonization.

Presented herein are the findings from an ethnographic analysis of the perceived efficacy of Canada’s transitional justice framework; an approach being used to address human rights violations that occurred via the Indian residential school system. With these findings and archival research, I argue that transitional justice is not perceived as an effective solution for nation-states with long histories of colonialism and institutional violence. From the 1840s until 1996, Canadian Aboriginals suffered forced assimilation, sexual abuse, and physical abuse in government-sponsored and church-administrated boarding schools. The Canadian government began to actively address these crimes in 2006 with the negotiation of the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement. The agreement utilizes transitional justice tools (e.g. monetary reparations, investigative truth and reconciliation commission, grave excavation) typically employed in countries undergoing a transition in political regimes or from war to peace. Using a transitional justice framework and based on data gathered primarily in the lower mainland of British Columbia, this research 1) uses critical discourse studies to analyze the use of "reconciliation" by various stakeholders, and how varying definitions affect perceptions of transitional justice, 2) discusses how knowledge production influences perceptions of transitional justice on the ground and the associated research; 3) uses a lens of structural violence to argue that transitional justice is not perceived as an effective tool in and of itself by marginalized groups when employed in a colonial context; and 4) contends that when applying a universal transitional justice framework to local contexts, structural violence and neocolonialism can be used to problematize the narrative that is produced. Contributing to critical anthropological debate, this research investigates the sociopolitical factors that influence transitional justice in a non-transitioning society that operates with a legacy of institutionalized discrimination and colonization of Native peoples. Broadly, these findings can inform the applied work of transitional justice facilitators, including government officials, lawyers, and anthropologists.

I examined the social content of the United Nations (UN) policies that aim at the protection of "traditional knowledge" (TK) of populations classified by international law as indigenous peoples. The UN category "traditional knowledge" embraces a wide range of products of the indigenous cultural and intellectual activities. I conjectured that while the TK policies were ostensibly aimed at protecting indigenous peoples from the misappropriation of these products, the major factor leading to creation of TK protection measures were the interests pursued by the third parties to benefit from indigenous intellectual resources. I examined the policies produced since 1992 by the UN agencies working on the issues of (1) economic development and conservation (CBD, UNEP, FAO, World Bank, UNCED, UNDP), and (2) protection of intangible heritage (WIPO, UNESCO, WGIP) to test my conjecture. I complemented this examination by a study of 100 conservation projects conducted on the territories of indigenous peoples (2002-2012). Informed by the archival theory perspective I learned that the TK protection measures focused significantly on a necessity to develop indigenous expertise as tools of sustainability/conservation. Despite the use of indigenous practices in conservation projects only certain indigenous groups benefitted from these projects, where most groups experienced negative consequences. The TK policy approach remained foreign to indigenous positioning on the TK protection issues: indigenous collective rights claims received little political recognition; currently proposed mechanisms of protection -"the prior informed consent" and "fair benefit sharing"- responded to the indigenous needs only partly. Next I examined indigenous participation at the UN drawing on the sociology of knowledge perspective, and used the history of indigenous engagement with WIPO IGC (2001-2012) as a case study. Although the degree of indigenous political influence at IGC was low, the positive changes indigenous work produced in the positioning of the indigenous caucus at IGC could be considered unprecedented in the history of the UN agencies. I concluded that despite that the work on the TK protection can be considered to some extent as the step toward easing the access to indigenous forms of knowledge by interested parties, such as scholars and researchers working in the area of development and conservation (vs. address needs and interests of indigenous peoples), it had the unintended consequence of the growth of indigenous engagement in making these policies. Substantively the study advances scholarly understanding (1) of the social context of the UN policy making and the significance of records as tools of institutional and political practices; and (2) of the forms of indigenous advocacy. Methodologically it complements research across sociological and archival studies of records and political settings. As a praxis-oriented endeavor it may contribute to more effective indigenous advocacy.

This article advocates for the development of American Indian tribal legislation as a focal point, regardless of jurisdiction limitations to protect cultural property, focusing in particular on the problem presented in this project through the active appropriation of sacred Tewa ceremonies. By drawing a contrast to the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, in which the various Pueblo villages coordinated a successful rebellion to expel Spanish missionaries, the article urges Tewa governments and other American Indian tribes to draw on their long history of religious oppression to formulate modern tribal laws to protect against religious and cultural appropriation. Protection of cultural property is essential for American Indian tribes because cultural knowledge, practices, and ceremonial items are central to tribal identity and religious beliefs. Cultural properties also form the basis for tribal sovereignty as it is recognized by the U.S. government today. These ceremonies are the binding social structures for indigenous communities and kinship that establish the sovereign capacity in which they operate and the authority of indigenous legal claims. The appropriation of these ceremonies directly threatens Tewa survival. It facilitates harmful misuse and misunderstanding of the life-affirming rituals through which the Tewa people ensure their continued existence. It also threatens to erode the cultural and religious distinctions on which the tribal-federal relationship is based. At a representative level, it erases Tewa tribal identity, replacing it with historicized representations of Indians in popular culture. This thesis focuses on explaining why the organized protection of Native American cultural properties must be a paramount concern for modern tribal governments. My primary audience is modern tribal leaders. Faced with a wide variety of governmental concerns, including economic development, land management, natural resource management, and administration of social welfare programs, tribal leaders today do not always prioritize protection of cultural properties.

Based on a study of the semi-autonomous Carib Territory of Dominica, this thesis proposes that we think of access to the land in terms of land security, a concept that bridges productive, cultural, and political dimensions of the land. Interviews revealed an identification with the land deeper than issues of ownership usually address and at odds with proposals for individual and collective land titling. The consideration of land security is offered as a way to expand our disciplinary language to fit indigenous realities, by connecting the adjudication of property rights directly to the heritage and environmental rights of residents.

The global economy is growing competitive, yet poverty and illiteracy prevail in rural Guatemala where indigenous cultures fight extinction. Peasants struggle for freedom from a system of corrupt law that has bound them to practices that do not celebrate their own traditions and culture. The place in the landscape itself bespeaks intensity - of color, of weather and of climate - that requires a sensitive built approach. Locals can exploit their existing materials and methodologies to arrive at more sensible strategies, relating back to native practices of weaving, harvesting, following sun movement, and gathering in communal workgroups. Tulan, a non-profit organization working to educate indigenous adults in the rural areas, has limited funding but is in need of an insightful, meaningful space to strengthen their mission. This thesis proposes strategies they can use to establish building workshops for their own students to come together and fabricate the new building. Through empowerment and education in a new headquarters for indigenous-run Tulan, their own cultural colors can shine through, weaving new patterns across Guatemala.

In the early twentieth century in Peru, there was an explosion of formal petitions to the state, many of which were brought personally by indigenous “messengers.” The messengers traveled by foot from their distant communities to the capital city of Lima to denounce abuses occurring in their home communities, such as forced labor, land usurpation, torture, murder, and sexual assault. While in Lima, the messengers interacted with indigenista activists (generally white or mestizo pro-indigenous intellectuals, feminists, artists, and journalists) to pressure government officials to respond to specific complaints. As a result of these interactions, a fervent national debate emerged among politicians, intellectuals, and artists on the place of indigenous people in the nation. Furthermore, the activism of the indigenous messengers and their advocates resulted in the passage of some pro-indigenous legislation and the development of a new national aesthetic emphasizing indigeneity. Many landowners and members of the traditional elite, however, rejected these challenges to the status quo, which created a battleground in the early twentieth century where Peruvians of all sectors fought over the meaning of citizenship, nationhood, and national identity. This dissertation demonstrates that issues of gender and family were a prevalent subtext in the fervent political and cultural debate on the integration of indigenous people into the nation during this period. Specifically, some male indigenous messengers framed their claims for justice, protection, and equal rights by highlighting their familial responsibilities as fathers, husbands, and leaders of their community. Furthermore, it shows how specific forms of state paternalism at times conflicted with indigenous claims for equality and at other times worked to empower indigenous people to make greater demands on the state.

The Ejrcito Zapatista de Liberacint of the Zapatista platform. It will demonstrate that external conditions have influenced and frustrated realistic improvements in Zapatista gender relations. Finally, this thesis will assess the future of female participation within the Zapatista movement, and illustrate the limited social and political changes in indigenous communities.

"Part of this speech is taken from an earlier publication, 'Indian Givers: What Indigenous Peoples Have Contributed to International Human Rights Law' (2006) 22 Wash. U. J.L. & Pol'y 107."

The indigenous of the Amazon region of Ecuador unite against the petroleum industry and destructive resource extraction practices in order to preserve environment and indigenous cultures. Since the 1990s, the indigenous movement of Ecuador has played out in the international arena and become a transnational movement, which includes social actors from the international legal, human rights, and environmental communities. This transnational movement exemplifies identity politics through the projection of ethnicity and essentialized signifiers of indigenousness. Indigenous actors, Ecuadoran nongovernmental organizations, international filmmakers, and US nongovernmental organizations all use ethnic identity and signifiers via documentaries and cyberspace as symbolic resources to represent the movement. This thesis explores the intersection of external actors (international community of filmmakers and NGOs) and internal actors' (the indigenous themselves and Ecuadoran NGOs) projection of ethnicity as symbolic resource. Utilizing resource mobilization theory and new social movement theory as a syncretic to understand the movement and theoretical contributions of identity and representation to explore the process of mobilization, the study explores the question of ethnic identity as symbolic resource in four documentaries and on fifteen websites. The discourse analysis of the four documentaries and content analysis of the fifteen websites illustrate that there is consistency in the message within the transnational social movement community of actors who strive to work for and on behalf of the indigenous of the Ecuadoran Amazon.

In this thesis, I draw attention to how representations of indigenous peoples and knowledges in the rhetoric of bioprospecting weave the people into multiple coordinates of discursive control. Bioprospecting, or the exploration of biological resources in search of valuable genetic and chemical material for commercial use, is portrayed by proponents as an ideal project which benefit all of its stakeholders. I challenge such perception by exposing the power relationships underlying bioprospecting proposals as well as the various interests built into their rhetoric. My particular interest lies in exploring the implications for indigenous peoples whose appearances in bioprospecting proposals are less than voluntary. I make three claims: (1) that the representation of indigenous peoples as stewards of the environment is a role assigned to them, which is then circulated and mobilized within the bioprospecting rhetoric in order to support its arguments concerning biodiversity conservation; (2) that indigenous knowledges of the environment, of medicinal plants in particular, are taken out of their original socio-cultural contexts, utilized, appropriated, and valorized by bioprospectors who construct the rhetoric; (3) that the visibility of indigenous peoples and knowledges, which was heightened as a result of the increased interest taken in controlling them, opens up new opportunities for the people to resist misappropriation and struggle for self-definition. In short, this project takes indigenous peoples and knowledges as the intersection of forces and interests comprising an intricate web of power relationships, within which any participant can attempt to empower oneself either by resisting or manipulating the control to which one is exposed.

Assessment of Environmental Effects are prepared by the applicant of a resource consent. The problem that I have identified is that as the applicant has no mandatory responsibility to recognise the rights of tangata whenua in their application, tangata whenua concerns may not be recognised in AEEs. Uncertainty as to the anticipated outcome of interaction between the applicant and tangata whenua adversely influences the recognition of indigenous rights in AEEs. The consent authority plays an important role in ensuring tangata whenua rights are recognised in the consent process. Similarly, regional and local authorities have a statutory responsibility to take into account the principles of the Treaty when preparing policies and plans. How indigenous values are recognised in policies and plans will influence the recognition of indigenous rights in AEEs. The purpose of this study is to determine how to promote the recognition of indigenous rights in Assessment of Environmental Effects (AEEs). I have the following project objectives: 1. Identify the legislative framework for indigenous rights in Assessment of Environmental Effects under the Resource Management Act. 2. Using the case study, identify what variables influence recognition of indigenous rights in an Assessment of Environmental Effects. 3. Identify why outside factors and/or legislative requirements are affecting the variables in Objective 2. 4. Develop criteria in order to promote and/or safeguard the recognition of indigenous rights. 5. Recommend a strategy to better coordinate and recognise indigenous rights in Assessment of Environmental Effects. AEEs can be used to encourage cooperation between the applicant and tangata whenua, by establishing pre-application contact. Lack of an agreed protocol for communicating between the applicant, tangata whenua and the consent authority adversely influences recognition of indigenous rights in AEEs. The consent authority's role is vital as they have access to pertinent information regarding the details of a consent application. They also act as a contact between affected parties. Initiatives to promote recognition of indigenous rights in AEEs are required by regional and local authorities to fulfil provisions of Section 12.15 of the Ngai Tahu Deed of Settlement. How indigenous values are recognised through the application of the principles of the Treaty in policies and plans will influence the recognition of indigenous rights in AEEs. Regional authorities' substantiation of perceived effects from activities on the environment must 'have particular regard to kaitiakitanga', thus integrating sociocultural and spiritual values with biophysical effects. An agreement on consistent application of the principles of the Treaty will help both parties set criteria to substantiated environmental effects.