An interview with Avigail Eisenberg: “Reasoning about the Identity of Aboriginal People”

Martin Blanchard

doi:10.7202/1044702ar

Abstract

Avigail Eisenberg is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science, University of Victoria. She was also a fellow of CRÉUM during the 2004-2005 academic year. She has written important work on the issues of identity, race, gender, minority rights, and in particular, Aboriginal claims. Her writing displays intelligent and acute commentaries in which she demonstrates an ability to tackle difficult questions in a refreshing way. A list of her publications is available at http://web.uvic.ca/polisci/eisenberg/pubs.htm. Martin Blanchard of CRÉUM asked Professor Eisenberg if she would be willing to be interviewed via email on the subject of an article she had just finished writing, entitled “Reasoning about the Identity of Aboriginal People”. (This text is forthcoming in Accommodating Cultural Diversity: Contemporary Issues in Theory and Practice, Stephen Tierney ed., London: Ashgate.) She kindly accepted to answer his questions.

Highlights

Martin Blanchard of CRÉUM asked Professor Eisenberg if she would be willing to be interviewed via email on the subject of an article she had just finished writing, entitled “Reasoning about the Identity of Aboriginal People”. (This text is forthcoming in Accommodating Cultural Diversity: Contemporary Issues in Theory and Practice, Stephen Tierney ed., London: Ashgate.) She kindly accepted to answer his questions
I have just finished reading your excellent paper, “Reasoning about the Identity of Aboriginal People” and I would like to ask you a few questions about the subject of Aboriginal identity and how this affects our understanding of politics and, in particular, what this means in terms of making space for identities in political institutions
An approach that focuses on the ways in which rules, practices, institutions, and regulations happily sustain some identities and undermine or threaten others is bound to draw into question the fairness of Canadian political and legal institutions in relation to Aboriginal peoples

Summary

Introduction

The more difficult question, at least for public institutions that aim to treat people as equals within diverse societies, is when such restrictions ought to apply and what sort of reasoning procedure ought to be followed in order to determine whether to prohibit a controversial practice. Doing this is a means to learn information about the DOCUMENTS minority in question, and to learn about the dominant group and the DETRAVAIL ways in which rules and practice may sustain and shape their identity-

Results

Conclusion