English Summary This dissertation primarily aims to synoptically place the theme of audiovisual representations of indigenous cultures within the context of cultural studies. With its interdisciplinary overlapping, the cultural studies approach is well suited to understanding the complex significance of visual representations of culture, which are both cultural artefacts and cultural interpretations and have an impact that is as artistic as it is scientific and political. The first part of the work describes the manner in which native cultures are audio-visually represented, especially in ethnographic photographs and films which emerged in the North American and European context. The mapping of "exotic others" intensified with the first modern overseas discoveries, first by means of exhibitions of living natives, illustrations and figurines, later through photographs, films and videos. These representations were significantly influenced by the socio-cultural conditions in which they arose. As late as the turn of the 20th century, there was a dominating conviction about the capability of photographs to present an objective record of reality. This technology was therefore used as an instrument for recording and classifying physical and cultural differences. The widespread acceptance of the doctrine of...

Extensive research suggests that the collective behavior of humanity is on an unsustainable path. As the evidence mounts and more people awaken to this reality, increased attention is being dedicated to the pursuit of answers for a just and sustainable future. This dissertation grew from the premise that effectively moving towards sustainability requires change at all levels of the dominant Western culture, including deeply held worldviews. The worldviews of many indigenous cultures offer alternative values and beliefs that can contribute to addressing the root causes of problems related to sustainability. In the bioregion defined by the Pacific Salmon runs of North America there is a rich heritage and modern day presence of diverse indigenous cultures. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 indigenous leaders from within this bioregion to explore their mental models of sustainability. These interviews followed a general structure that covered: (a) the personal background and community affiliation of each interviewee; (b) the meaning of the concept of sustainability from their perspective; (c) visions of a sustainable future for their communities; and, (d) how to achieve such a future. A content analysis of the interviews was conducted and summarized into a narrative organized to correspond with the general interview structure. A process oftestimonial validity established that most participants found the narrative to be an accurate representation of their perspectives. Participant feedback led to several phrasing changes and other identified issues are discussed, including one participant's critique of the narrative's use of a first-person plural voice. Major themes from the interviews include the role of the human being as caretaker actively participating in the web of life, the importance of simultaneously restoring culture and ecology due to their interdependence, the need to educate and build awareness, and the importance of cooperation. Understanding who we are as a living species, including our profound connection with nature, along with a holistic and intergenerational perspective are suggested as prerequisite for balancing and aligning human modes of being with the larger patterns of life. The closing discussion addresses the importance of social action and going beyond a conceptual understanding to an embodiment of sustainability.

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Indigenous peoples are living all over the world. In Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia, live the last indigenous peoples of Europe, the Sámi people. Just like many other indigenous peoples in the world they need to find a way to coexist with the majority population in their home state. The coexistence creates many conflicts of interests between the state and the Sámi people. One of the biggest issues that the Sámi people face is regarding land use and self-determination. Norway and Sweden have been selected as the analysis units and this study deals with how the Sámi parliaments and the county administrations view and work with these matters. This study is based on a qualitative method, using semi-structured interviews with representatives from two different county administrations in Sweden, and one in Norway, as well as one from each Sámi parliament. The result will be analyzed by using the theories of Will Kymlika: “Multicultural citizenship: a liberal theory of minority rights” and Amartya Sen: “Development of freedom”. We have reached the conclusion that the county administrations are advocating for the rights of the Sámi people and they receive assignments from the state to handle it. Although it is not done with enough resources and tools to ensure a sustainable future for them. This issue is related to the historical and judicial factors coupled with the green transition industry.

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This dissertation is an intervention aimed primarily at the field of Canadian Political Science, but informed by engagements with Indigenous Studies, literatures on racial capitalism, and Global Histories. The overarching aim of the project is to provide a theoretical framework by which to study multi-scalar struggles taking place within and against the Canadian state from an explicitly anti-imperialist perspective. The insights of this project should also be of interest to the broad left, both in Canada and beyond. The dissertation begins with a call to situate the Canadian state, and its practice of “settler imperialism” as part of multi-scalar system of global racial capitalism. Key to understanding this is the mobilization of Stuart Hall’s concept of the “historical bloc” as a tool to grasp political mediations, and to refuse the too-easy analytical reification of structures or their practices of difference making. Part two of the dissertation interrogates the politics of solidarity “from below” by engaging “activist archives,” composed of “allyship toolkits,” zines, and pamphlets. These activist archives reveal two (at least analytically) distinct theories of change operating through the discourses of allyship and decolonization. While to differing degrees, they point to the work of politics below the state. In the case of “allyship” discourses this dissertation finds a normative individualism and an understanding of power as an object rather than something collectively exercised, leading to a charity model where solidarity is seen as an external relationship. In contrast, the decolonization literature understands how solidarity can proceed from an interested position towards building a relationship of shared concern, it substitutes a deference model for one defined by “relational autonomy” in the process of “worldmaking.” The final portion of this dissertation makes an in- depth case-study of Indigenous-led opposition to the Trans Mountain Expansion (TMX) pipeline project. Tracing out a number of strategies of hegemony, counter-hegemony, and grassroots struggles, the aim is to show a number of interrelated sites and tactics of anti-imperialist struggle grounded in a defence of both shared place and the self-determination of Indigenous nations. / Graduate / 2023-08-25

[pt] A ditadura militar brasileira, sobretudo a partir de 1968, promoveu um aumento da ofensiva contra os povos indígenas, notadamente aqueles que habitavam regiões da Amazônia Legal, colocando os territórios de dezenas deles na mira de empreiteiras, mineradoras, madeireiras, agropecuárias e do próprio Estado. Durante esse mesmo período, entretanto, ganhava destaque, tanto nacional quanto internacionalmente, uma série de discussões relativas à autodeterminação dos povos e à necessidade de se proteger não apenas a existência física dos povos indígenas, mas também sua existência cultural e simbólica, bem como seu direito às suas terras. Desse debate, participam cientistas sociais, sobretudo antropólogos, além de missionários religiosos afinados com a Teologia da Libertação e outros grupos. Foi nesse contexto que as primeiras assembleias de chefes indígenas começaram a ser organizadas, por iniciativa do Conselho Indigenista Missionário (CIMI), a partir de 1974. A presente tese busca analisar o conjunto de iniciativas e organizações que se articularam desse momento em diante, conformando o que se chamou de movimento indígena brasileiro. Para tanto, foi necessário investigar em que medida a ideia de um movimento indígena nesse período faz sentido, a partir de um diálogo com teóricos dos movimentos sociais. Propõe-se que pensar em um movimento indígena nesse contexto é plausível, desde que ele seja concebido como um conjunto de redes que inclui também não indígenas, ainda que com o horizonte expresso de construção de um protagonismo indígena. Além disso, considera-se importante, ao se pensar em uma política indígena, entendê-la como uma ação eminentemente diplomática e que incorpora a relação entre diversos mundos – humanos e não humanos. Trata-se, portanto, de uma cosmopolítica. Dois modelos são utilizados como categorias úteis à compreensão, respectivamente, da política indigenista do Estado e da política indígena levada a cabo (não exclusivamente) pelo movimento indígena a partir dos anos 1970. Trata-se dos modelos de política indigenista da pax colonial e de cosmopolítica da paz provisória. Esses modelos são úteis na análise de diversos processos que dizem respeito ao movimento indígena brasileiro: a reunião das primeiras assembleias, a luta contra o Decreto da Emancipação, a presença de lideranças indígenas em eventos internacionais, a construção da União das Nações Indígenas, a participação na política institucional e a luta na Constituinte de 1987/88, por exemplo. Para essa análise, uma extensa gama de fontes documentais foi analisada, à luz da História Social e da Antropologia. Buscou-se, dessa forma, compreender as dinâmicas, conflitos de poder e disputas de narrativas, estratégias de mediação e diplomacia entre mundos que permitiram o enfrentamento entre a política indigenista da pax colonial e a cosmopolítica da paz provisória, as conquistas dessa segunda (materializadas na Constituição de 1988), bem como as permanências da primeira, com seus ecos ressoando até os dias de hoje. / [en] The Brazilian military dictatorship, most notably following 1968, urged an advance in its offensive against indigenous peoples, particularly those who inhabited regions of the Legal Amazon, placing the territories of many in the sights of contractors and mining, logging, and agricultural enterprises, in addition to the State itself. During this same period however, a range of discussions dominated, concerning the idea of self-determination and the need to protect not only the physical existence of indigenous peoples, but also their cultural and symbolic existences, including their rights to their lands. Social scientists, principally anthropologists, participated within this debate, as well as religious missionaries affiliated with Liberation Theology. It was within this context that the first assemblies of indigenous chiefs began to be organized by the Conselho Indigenista Missionário (CIMI) from 1974 onward. This thesis, thus, seeks to analyze the set of initiatives and organizations that were declared in that moment, becoming what was called the Brazilian indigenous movement. For this reason, it was necessary to investigate to what extent the idea of an indigenous movement from within this period makes sense, based on a dialogue with social movement theorists. It is proposed that envisioning an indigenous movement in this context is plausible, in so far as it is conceived as a set of networks that also includes non-indigenous people, although with the established goal of building an indigenous leadership. Furthermore, within the discussion of indigenous politics, it is important to situate it as an eminently diplomatic action that incorporates the relationship between different worlds – the human and the non-human. It is, therefore, a cosmopolitics. Two concepts respectively are useful conceptualizations in understanding the política indigenista of the State and the indigenous politics carried out – although not exclusively – by the indigenous movement from the 1970s. These are the concepts of política indigenista da pax colonial and cosmopolítica da paz provisória. These concepts are useful within the analysis of several processes that concern the Brazilian indigenous movement: the meeting of the first assemblies, the fight against the Emancipation Decree, the presence of indigenous leaders in international events, the construction of the Union of Indigenous Nations (UNI), the participation in institutional politics and the struggle in the Constituent Assembly of 1987/88, for example. To this end, a wide range of documentary sources have been analyzed, according to Social History and Anthropology. Thus, the main goal of this work is to understand the dynamics, power struggles and narrative disputes, mediation strategies and diplomacy between worlds that led to the confrontation between the política indigenista da pax colonial and the cosmopolítica da paz provisória, the conquests of the latter (materialized in the 1988 Constitution), as well as the permanencies of the former, with its echoes resonating to the present day.

Le 375e anniversaire de Tiohtià:ke/Montréal en 2017 est un événement historique qui a donné naissance à de nombreux projets artistiques, urbanistiques et commerciaux dans l’optique de célébrer l’histoire de la métropole. La présence autochtone ancienne et contemporaine sur le territoire insulaire a été mise en lumière dans un contexte dit de réconciliation. Les actes commémoratifs orchestrés par la ville sont soutenus par plusieurs voix autochtones, mais également critiqués par de nombreuses autres. Ce mémoire se penche sur l’un des legs de cette célébration coloniale, conçu suite à l’extension d’un tronçon du chemin de ceinture du Mont-Royal (CCMR). La partie du projet d’aménagement retrouvé sur le troisième sommet se décline en deux volets: le premier concerne l’installation d’une œuvre d’art public réalisée par la Société des archives affectives en collaboration avec Nadia Myre, artiste Anichinabé. Par l’entremise de la politique du 1% et commissionnée par le Bureau d’art public, l’Étreinte des temps, une sculpture en bronze inaugurée en 2019. Le deuxième volet concerne le changement toponymique du parc dans lequel l'œuvre est installée, le nom du sommet Outremont est remplacé par une désignation en kanien’kehá : Tiohtià:ke Otsira'kéhne. Conjointement, ces études de cas permettent d’analyser le régime colonial, les relations du milieu des arts avec l’autochtonie, la sous-représentation des artistes autochtones dans la collection municipale, l’héritage toponymique et les spécificités autochtones concernant le rapport au territoire. / The 375th anniversary of Tiohtià:ke/Montreal in 2017 is a historic event that was fertile to numerous artistic, urban planning and commercial projects with the main goal of celebrating the metropole’s history. The ancient and contemporary Aboriginal presence on the island’s territory was highlighted and framed in a so-called reconciliation context. The commemorative acts orchestrated by the city are supported by several indigenous voices, but also criticized by many others. This thesis examines one of the legacies of this colonial celebration, a project conceived following the extension of the Mount-Royal loop trail (Chemin de ceinture du Mont-Royal (CCMR)). The development project located on the third summit is divided into two parts: the first part is a public work of art produced by the Société des archives affectives in collaboration with Nadia Myre, a Anishinabe artist. They created l'Étreinte des temps, a bronze sculpture inaugurated in 2019 through the 1% policy and commissioned by the Bureau d'art public. The second part concerns the toponymic change of the park in which the work is installed, the name of the third summit or Outremont summit is replaced by a designation in Kanien'kehá: Tiohtià:ke Otsira'kéhne. Together, these case studies make possible a deep analysis of the colonial regime, the relations of the art world with Indigenous people, the under-representation of Indigenous artists in the municipal collection, the toponymic heritage and the Indigenous specificities concerning the relationship to the territory.

Climate change poses paramount challenges to our world. While more developed nations in the West are not without harm, among the hardest hit are vulnerable indigenous islanders in the South Pacific. Without sufficient action, Pacific Island nations might become uninhabitable, or practically disappear, in the near future (Belson, 2018). To manage the crisis, leaders across the world have united under supranational agreements in efforts to provide development assistance. In Fiji, this has resulted in an international development campaign anchored in Western ideals, often embracing technocentric and hard engineering solutions. To manage the climate crisis in an indigenous Fijian context, this work argues that sustainable development efforts must embrace indigenous knowledge, and that planning, and planners, can play a crucial part. Through diary entries and fieldnotes, I invite the reader on my journey through Fiji to explore current adaption and mitigation efforts, examine their impact on the indigenous Fijian way of life (bula vakavanua), and propose a way for planning and planners to embrace alternative notions of sustainability in development. As a result, this work promotes development that not only safeguards indigenous land, but the values and traditions under which indigenous land is governed.