Identity Between Police and Politics: Rancière’s Political Theory and the Dilemma of Indigenous Politics

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis article argues that Rancière’s paradoxical account of identity formation through political conflicts can highlight dilemmas facing indigenous political movements across the globe. The article first locates Rancière’s theory within the broader political theory of recognition and briefly describes some of Rancière’s key political concepts (politics; police; demos; ethnos). The article then moves on to a description of several indigenous political movements with a particular emphasis on indigenous people from New Zealand, Chile and Mexico and highlights some key conceptual differences in the political strategies and ideologies of these movements. I conclude by relating the differences between these indigenous political movements to Rancière’s key theoretical concepts and argue that Rancière’s theory allows political theorists to shed some light on the internal contradictions and struggles of indigenous people when these try to use indigenous identity with the goal to radically challenge the social order of colonial societies.