Indigenous Nations Research Articles

Racial Capital, Public Debt, and the Appropriation of Epekwitk, 1853–1873

This article argues that public debt financing facilitated the appropriation of the territories of Indigenous nations in the British settler colonies and does so through a detailed examination of Prince Edward Island’s public debt. The island’s government used public debt financing as a technique to direct capital into the colony, but to receive loans, the colonial government first needed credit. Settler-colonial credit derived from colonial governments’ claiming the territories of Indigenous nations as government assets. This history highlights the deeply racial characteristics embedded in the expansion of global public debt financing that characterized finance capitalism beginning in the 1820s. In this way, the unique history of the island and its “land question” can be placed into the broader global context of debt markets and processes of racial capital. Specifically, the 1853 Land Purchase Act used public borrowing to purchase lands from British landowners so that the island’s government could hold the land title. British landowners had their ownership rights secured despite the eighteenth-century Peace and Friendship Treaties that guaranteed the Mi’kmaq nation rights to their territory, which included Epekwitk, what the British named Prince Edward Island.

Diversities of Design: Celebrating Plurality in the Anthropocene

Within an Australian context, the realisation of decarbonised and de-colonial futures requires scrutiny of the socio-political industrial complex upon which the contemporary Australian settler-colonial project was founded. Central to this scrutiny is the need to investigate, contemplate and address a history of systemic racial violence and its impact on Country. Diversities of Design explores the capacity for the entangled fields of design, architecture and environmental planning to celebrate and empower oppressed Indigenous and First Nations peoples and expertise. This article seeks to highlight the contemporary value of indigenous expertise through the lens of current projects in environmental design, exploring how contemporaneous and historical traditions, technologies and voices can coalesce within the context of net zero transitions and the emergent habitats of the Anthropocene.

Can State Offices Reclaim Kichwa? Intercultural Bilingual Education Politics and Policy in Ecuador Over Decades

Abstract What opportunities and challenges occur in reclaiming Indigenous languages within state institutions? This article considers the case of intercultural bilingual education in Ecuador. The school system is remarkable as a national-level initiative run by and for Indigenous pueblos and nationalities. Based primarily on two years of ethnographic research in the national directorate offices of the school system and in schools, I describe three challenges that have arisen for directors that are linked to national state offices and expectations. Ultimately, Kichwa is more prominent than ever even as national planning and support changes Kichwa. The case shows contradictions of institutions in language revitalization efforts.

Hegelian dialectics and ethnoclass differences

Difference is not an epiphenomenon of socio-spatial relations, but a genuine worldmaking driving-force, provided that it is the handling of difference that paves the way to specific interactions that end up shaping society and, ultimately, space. There exists not merely ‘a world of difference’ but a world because, and out of, differences. This article offers a neo-Hegelian analysis of the spatial basis of politico-economic and ethnic-social differences, making use of the striking example of anti-difference violence suffered by indigenous peoples under the hegemony of financial-rentier capitalism. There are two main pillars of socio-spatial difference, ethnicity and class, which co-determine each other and eventually result in hybrid, ethnoclass differences held by all humans and according to their specific and general circumstances. The socio-spatial trajectory of the Guarani-Kaiowa indigenous nation, in the center of Brazil, is emblematic of the dialectical basis of ethnoclass differences, and also of the political potentiality of difference.

State Recognition and the Dangers of Race Shifting

This article examines the claims to an Indigenous identity made by the four state-recognized Abenaki tribes in Vermont through an analysis of their petition for federal acknowledgement (1982–2005) and applications for state recognition (2010–2012). A detailed analysis of their claims demonstrates that the tribes are not Abenaki, but instead, represent the descendants of French Canadians who immigrated to the Champlain Valley of northwestern Vermont in the mid-nineteenth century. In this case study of what the anthropologist Circe Sturm has called “race shifting,” I demonstrate how the politics of recognition, which do not include the kin-making and relations of Indigenous nations, serve the interests of settler colonialism under the guise of decolonization. I attribute the emergence of race shifting along three vectors: the move away from white identity post-Civil Rights era; the lack of a tribal presence in Vermont; and the flaws in the state recognition process.

Indigenous Elders' Conceptualization of Wellbeing: An Anishinaabe Worldview Perspective

Language and cultural revitalization are vital in developing the self-healing capacity of Indigenous Peoples. This study emphasized the perspective of 1st language speaking Elders, our knowledge keepers and community leaders, to critically examine what it means to be well for one Indigenous Nation in the Midwest. Semi-structured interviews with Elders were administered in the Anishinaabe language by fluent second language speakers. The interviews were transcribed in Anishinaabe and translated into English with the guidance of the Elders. The Anishinaabe and English transcripts were used simultaneously in analysis. The conceptualization of wellbeing for these Elders was a complex and interrelated system grounded in spiritual connectedness and guided by Anishinaabe language and ways of life. The results broaden the perspectives available on Indigenous wellbeing and are important to consider as we study culture as healing and implement cultural-based health programs within Indigenous communities.

Understanding Resilience and Mental Well-Being in Southwest Indigenous Nations and the Impact of COVID-19: Protocol for a Multimethods Study.

Despite experiencing many adversities, American Indian and Alaska Native populations have demonstrated tremendous resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic, drawing upon Indigenous determinants of health (IDOH) and Indigenous Nation Building. Our multidisciplinary team undertook this study to achieve two aims: (1) to determine the role of IDOH in tribal government policy and action that supports Indigenous mental health and well-being and, in turn, resilience during the COVID-19 crisis and (2) to document the impact of IDOH on Indigenous mental health, well-being, and resilience of 4 community groups, specifically first responders, educators, traditional knowledge holders and practitioners, and members of the substance use recovery community, working in or near 3 Native nations in Arizona. To guide this study, we developed a conceptual framework based on IDOH, Indigenous Nation Building, and concepts of Indigenous mental well-being and resilience. The research process was guided by the Collective benefit, Authority to control, Responsibility, Ethics (CARE) principles for Indigenous Data Governance to honor tribal and data sovereignty. Data were collected through a multimethods research design, including interviews, talking circles, asset mapping, and coding of executive orders. Special attention was placed on the assets and culturally, socially, and geographically distinct features of each Native nation and the communities within them. Our study was unique in that our research team consisted predominantly of Indigenous scholars and community researchers representing at least 8 tribal communities and nations in the United States. The members of the team, regardless of whether they identified themselves as Indigenous or non-Indigenous, have many collective years of experience working with Indigenous Peoples, which ensures that the approach is culturally respectful and appropriate. The number of participants enrolled in this study was 105 adults, with 92 individuals interviewed and 13 individuals engaged in 4 talking circles. Because of time constraints, the team elected to host talking circles with only 1 nation, with participants ranging from 2 to 6 in each group. Currently, we are in the process of conducting a qualitative analysis of the transcribed narratives from interviews, talking circles, and executive orders. These processes and outcomes will be described in future studies. This community-engaged study lays the groundwork for future studies addressing Indigenous mental health, well-being, and resilience. Findings from this study will be shared through presentations and publications with larger Indigenous and non-Indigenous audiences, including local recovery groups, treatment centers, and individuals in recovery; K-12 and higher education educators and administrators; directors of first responder agencies; traditional medicine practitioners; and elected community leaders. The findings will also be used to produce well-being and resilience education materials, in-service training sessions, and future recommendations for stakeholder organizations. DERR1-10.2196/44727.

Acting locally, thinking nationally: layering Indigenous ontology within wellbeing frameworks.

There are hundreds of sovereign nations covering the modern nation-state of Australia.1 Noting the inadequacy of many contemporary terms to encompass Indigenous ontology, Indigenous nations have long practised what is now being expressed as 'wellbeing frameworks' in many nation-states. Unlike the sentiment expressed in contemporary wellbeing frameworks, Country - the complex web of relationships between the human and other-than-human that underpins everything2 - and relationality are fundamental to Indigenous 'wellbeing'. The philosophy of mabu liyan (good feeling), intrinsic to the Yawuru nation of North Western Australia, is only one example of Indigenous governance where Country-centred planning and relational wellbeing are 'business as usual'. Layering elements that are critical to Indigenous expressions of wellbeing, specifically Country and relationality, when developing wellbeing frameworks would broaden and deepen contemporary approaches to wellbeing while accommodating differences at the local scale.

#AbolishCanada: Breaking Down the 2022 Freedom Convoy

The 2022 Freedom Convoy in Ottawa, Canada, raises questions about the meaning and tactics of decolonial abolition. To call for the police of a colonial state to crack down on unruly settlers on stolen Indigenous land is both hypocritical and ineffective. And yet, it isn't clear how to organize effective grassroots resistance against a well-funded group of possibly armed right-wing protesters in trucks. This essay situates the Freedom Convoy in the longer durée of capitalist extraction and colonial state violence in so-called Canada, arguing that the convoy was not an anomaly but an expression of the global logic of carceral racial capitalism. It then engages with teachings shared by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson about the beaver's practice of building dams that sustain life and, in some cases, threaten it. If we understand Canada as both a liberal democracy and a “criminal empire” willing to destroy the earth and the Indigenous nations that care for it, then Robyn Maynard is right: abolition means Land Back. The question for decolonial abolitionists then becomes not just how to shut down prisons or dislodge right-wing occupations, but rather how to staunch the flows of colonial racial capitalism, deepening pools that support diverse forms of life.

Chapter 4 Good Medicine: Prescriptions for Indigenous Archaeological Practice

ABSTRACTWhile the history of North American archaeology points to a long engagement with tribal elders and scholars, these encounters largely consist of unequal, extractive relationships wherein Indigenous collaborators and Indigenous archaeologists have been treated more as objects of study and pity—what Bea Medicine refers to as “creatures”—rather than as equal research partners. As an Indigenous woman and a settler Chicanx woman, we reflect on the life journey and scholarship of Bea Medicine, a Lakota scholar‐activist and mentor to Indigenous anthropologists. Dr. Medicine's work has provided generations of Indigenous anthropologists with the means to participate in the discipline with their whole selves and, importantly, on their own terms. We argue that Medicine's contributions provide good medicine for the field in the form of concrete strategies for continuing to decolonize the discipline and for doing work that centers the direct needs and perspectives of Indigenous peoples. When read alongside Indigenous archaeologies’ often overlooked grandmothers, mothers, and aunties, Medicine's work also highlights continuing disparities in archaeological practice, from our relationships with and to Indigenous nations to the relations we cultivate in the Academy as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color.

Assessing the Representation of Ethnic and Madeshi Communities in Nepal's Federal and Provincial Parliament: A Study of 2022 Election

Without political representation it is impossible to participate in policy formulation procedure so that political representation is important for inclusion. Nepal also follows the inclusive democratic political system and constitutionally guaranteed political representation of women, minorities, Dalit and indigenous nationalities through adopting mixed (direct and propositional) method of election system. In this context, the study concentrates on the political representation of Indigenous nationalities and Madeshi in 2022 general election, mainly in the house of representation in federal and province assembly. The main objective of the study is to analyze the situation of political representation of indigenous Dalit, and Madeshi people as well as women in both federal and province assembly province parliament. Qualitative method was used to analyze the data and information collected from secondary sources. Conclusion and findings of this study are based on data presentation and analysis. Constitutional provision which could not properly work in the direction of inclusive representation in Nepal is the main finding of this study.

Towards Settler Responsibility in Conservation

This conceptual paper reviews recent efforts to confront colonialism in conservation, with an emphasis on the challenges and complexities that have emerged among settler organizations engaged in this work. We consider recent academic and grey literature in the field in order to map different approaches to conservation, including the emerging interface of Indigenous and western approaches. We also map different approaches to Indigenous engagement undertaken by settler conservation organizations, including representation, recognition, redistribution, and reparation. We suggest that regardless of their approach, in order to create the conditions for truly reciprocal collaborations with Indigenous Nations, settler conservation organizations would need to accept their responsibilities to interrupt and redress western conservation’s colonial foundations, support Indigenous sovereignty, rights, and resurgence (including by supporting Indigenous approaches to conservation), and commit to the difficult, long-haul work of reorienting their approach to relationships away from patterns of paternalism and extraction toward trust, respect, reciprocity, consent, and accountability.

Unity in Diversity: Federalism in Multiethnic Country Nepal

Federalism, in general and multiethnic federalism, in particular is supposed to be a device to create unity in diversity in multiethnic country. Multiethnic federalism, a form of federalism, in which the territorial government or state is carved out based on nation or ethnic category to enable national minorities to exercise indigenous and ethnic minority rights like self-rule and autonomy is supposed to be a device to create unity in diversity in multiethnic country like Nepal. In Nepal, indigenous nationalities, and Madhesi communities who, historically, have been excluded in state’s institutions, have demanded multiethnic federalism, identity-based federalism on their own term, as an institutional device for their inclusion in the state. They have argued that it is a device to generate unity in diversity through accommodating diversity in the state. But there was no consensus on this issue while making the constitution through the constituent assembly. Some have argued that it would be a 'castist' (Jatiya) state if ethnic-based federalism is adopted. In this article, I have argued that multiethnic federalism is a device to end the nature of the age-old exclusionary Nepali state and an institutional mechanism of healing the inter-ethnic rupture of Nepali society. Indigenous nationalities in Nepal have demanded separation within a state to protect and promote their identity based on democratic values rather than separate from a state of their own. For this purpose, I have reviewed theoretical articles and critically analyze how it creates unity in diversity in a multiethnic country like Nepal.

Indigenous Philosophies of Land and Their Importance for Anticolonial Camaraderie

Abstract: This article argues that sustainable and robust Indigenous philosophies of land on Turtle Island predate colonial impact and are characterized by active regard for land as a relative, as a material or maternal provider, as a person, and as an origin of identity, ethics, and religion. These philosophies continue to inform political resistance to settler colonialism today of radical resurgence and decolonizing praxis. Conceptual and experiential linkages between Indigenous philosophies convey strong intercultural values characterized by dovetailing yet self-determined "systems of responsibilities," illuminating the ability of Indigenous nations to live prosperously alongside each other and unite against the common threat of colonialism. Understanding the independent legitimacy of Native worlds is an initial step to meaningful listening within intercultural philosophical contexts. For Western philosophical research, which often fails to center the significance of land as a philosophical concept , understanding the sophisticated nature of Indigenous philosophies of land is pivotal for disrupting practices that further erase Indigenous nations, peoples, thinkers, and worldviews and approaching the possibility of "meaningful solidarities" and camaraderie in decolonizing action and resistance.

A Cotton Mather Reader

A Cotton Mather Reader

Vaccination, Dispossession, and the Indigenous Interior.

This article explores a poorly understood smallpox vaccination campaign targeting Native Americans in the 1830s. While previous scholars have addressed the motivations of U.S. officials in launching the campaign, the author focuses on Indigenous people's interest in disease prevention and their reception of American physicians and vaccine technology across a broad swath of North America. Resistance to vaccination was not uncommon among Native people, yet many were open to the new form of preventive medicine, including some who sought it out and others who demanded it from the government. Departing from a scholarly consensus, the author argues, first, that the federal vaccination program should be viewed as a successful public health intervention in Indian Country and, second, that this success owed to Indigenous nations' desire for protection against a singularly destructive pathogen.

Disrupting and diversifying the values, voices and governance principles that shape biodiversity science and management.

With climate, biodiversity and inequity crises squarely upon us, never has there been a more pressing time to rethink how we conceptualize, understand and manage our relationship with Earth's biodiversity. Here, we describe governance principles of 17 Indigenous Nations from the Northwest Coast of North America used to understand and steward relationships among all components of nature, including humans. We then chart the colonial origins of biodiversity science and use the complex case of sea otter recovery to illuminate how ancestral governance principles can be mobilized to characterize, manage and restore biodiversity in more inclusive, integrative and equitable ways. To enhance environmental sustainability, resilience and social justice amid today's crises, we need to broaden who benefits from and participates in the sciences of biodiversity by expanding the values and methodologies that shape such initiatives. In practice, biodiversity conservation and natural resource management need to shift from centralized, siloed approaches to those that can accommodate plurality in values, objectives, governance systems, legal traditions and ways of knowing. In doing so, developing solutions to our planetary crises becomes a shared responsibility. This article is part of the theme issue 'Detecting and attributing the causes of biodiversity change: needs, gaps and solutions'.

Human perceptions of competing interests in springs ecosystem management on public land in southwestern United States

Spring ecosystems provide vital services to humans and wildlife in northern Arizona. Management of springs presents unique challenges due to the diversity of stakeholders and the multiple uses of springs. We employ two methods of data collection to understand the perceptions of springs ecosystem management: interviews and focus groups with stakeholders of springs in Coconino National Forest (CNF) and Kaibab National Forest (KNF) and a national survey aimed towards public perceptions. We analyze the human perceptions of springs to understand variations between stakeholders and how perceptions of stakeholders and the public vary. Our results indicate differences between human perceptions and current management practices. The main competing interests of springs management are cattle grazing, recreation, and Indigenous Nations' cultural significance. The survey respondents, representative of public perceptions, indicate springs management for Indigenous Nations' cultural significance is important. We see positive correlation between concern for threats to springs from grazing and management to prioritize cultural significance indicating respondents prefer springs to be managed for cultural significance. Cattle grazing and other high impact human uses are viewed less favorably than other management scenarios. Stakeholders' perceptions varied and non-Indigenous stakeholders suggested management should be based on multiple uses and management focused on specific attributes of springs valuable to humans. Our results of the survey respondents’ perceptions for management of Indigenous culture and some support from stakeholders show a joint management concept might be beneficial for springs management in the CNF and KNF. Using the information we collected on the perceptions of spring ecosystems management, we discuss mechanisms for springs management to increase the ability for springs to provide cultural significance values to Indigenous Nations by potentially limiting high impact and degrading uses of springs. We provide results and examples of how all stakeholders can have the ability to benefit from the resources springs provide.

Indigenous Political Representation in Canada

AbstractDespite long-standing academic interest in Indigenous peoples and the Canadian state, there has been little study of Indigenous elected officials as representational actors. We ask: What are the distinctively Indigenous forms of representation practised by Indigenous elected officials in Canada? And how does clarifying the role of Indigenous elected officials as representatives both contribute to and enhance our overall understanding of Indigenous politics, governance and sovereignty? We draw on the existing literatures on substantive representation as well as original interviews conducted with current and former Indigenous elected officials to develop an original conceptualization of Indigenous representation. These actors differ in their perceptions of themselves and their roles as representatives, the representational behaviours they engage in and the outcomes they seek. Our conceptualization of Indigenous representation engages with four themes: Indigenous perspective, Indigenous advocacy, balance with other imperatives including constituency representation and party discipline, and Indigenous nationhood.

The Navajo Nation Healthy Diné Nation Act: Community Support of a 2% Tax on Unhealthy Foods.

The Healthy Diné Nation Act (HDNA) of 2014 included a 2% tax on foods of little-to-no-nutritious value ("junk foods") on the Navajo Nation. The law was the first ever in the United States and any Indigenous nation worldwide with a population at a high risk for common nutrition-related conditions. To date, research on community support for food tax legislation among Indigenous nations is entirely lacking. To assess the extent of support for the HDNA and factors associated with support including sociodemographic variables, knowledge of the HDNA, nutrition intake, and pricing preferences. Cross-sectional survey. The Navajo Nation. A total of 234 Navajo Nation community members across 21 communities. The percentage of participants who were supportive of the HDNA. Participants were 97% Navajo, on average middle-aged, 67% reported an income below $25 000 annually, and 69.7% were female. Half of the respondents said they "support" (37.4%) or "strongly support" (13.0%) the tax, while another 35% of people said they were neutral or somewhat supportive; 15% did not support the tax. Participants with higher income ( P = .025) and education ( P = .026) and understanding of the legislation ( P < .001 for "very well" vs "not at all") had increased odds of greater support, as did people who believed that the HDNA would make Navajo people healthier (vs not, P < .001). Age, gender, language, and reported nutrition intake (healthy or unhealthy) were not associated with HDNA support, but participants willing to pay 5% or 12%-15% higher prices for fast food and soda had increased odds of greater support ( P values range from .023 to <.001). The majority of Navajo community members surveyed were moderately supportive of the Navajo Nation tax on unhealthy foods. Higher income and education and understanding of the law were associated with greater support, but nutrition intake was not.