This dissertation is about the political and aesthetic dimensions of Indigenous media in Peruvian Amazonia. It explores how Kukama media-makers use aesthetic mastery to engage in three key political fields in Amazonia: indigeneity, historicity, and environmentalism. I specifically examine the audiovisual discourses and media-making practices coming from an Indigenous radio station called Radio Ucamara, located in the town of Nauta in Northeastern Peru (Loreto region). Drawing on place-based ethnography and digital research methods, I analyze the way this radio station instrumentalizes multiple digital and non-digital media forms to make visible (and also audible) their identities, violent histories, and cosmological worlds amidst their confrontation with the Peruvian neoliberal state and oil companies. The dissertation also contemplates how through these processes of mediatization, Amazonian ontologies, mytho-histories, and identities are being reimagined. For this purpose, I focus both on the analysis of media products (e.g., music videos, documentaries, journalistic reportage, murals, books) and the social dynamics surrounding those creations, to understand the way Kukama media producers take part in ongoing struggles for the revitalization of the Kukama language, seeking justice for the rubber times violence, and stopping the pollution of Amazonian rivers. Following theoretical frameworks derived from the anthropology of media and the anthropology of music and verbal art in Lowland South America, I argue that media aesthetics is becoming a major instrument in building political power in the region.

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This thesis explores the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and its implications for resolving Indigenous issues. This thesis focuses on Aboriginal title issues in British Columbia and the self-determination issues in Nigeria to consider the application of UNDRIP in different political and geographic contexts. It is important to look at both jurisdictions because of the historical similarities they share as well as the distinctions between them. Each nation has a particular history and experience with British colonization that has shaped how they interact with Indigenous nations. Yet Canada and Nigeria have responded differently to their own colonial histories. Interestingly, in 1969, Canada sent aid to provide food for the Biafrans in Nigeria during the Nigerian Civil War of 1967 – 1970. The incident will be discussed in-depth in this thesis. Furthermore, in this thesis, I argue that the application of UNDRIP can enable for the elimination of the aboriginal title test to which Indigenous peoples in Canada are subjected in Canadian courts. I argue that the courts should apply UNDRIP principles in resolving aboriginal title claims. I also argue that Nigeria should adopt and implement UNDRIP to enable the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) to exercise their right to self-determination. UNDRIP provides a form of recognition for Indigenous nations that leaves state territorial integrity in place. As such, IPOB exercise of the right to self-determination will not threaten Nigeria’s territorial integrity in accord with article 46 of UNDRIP. / Graduate / 2023-07-25

Proponents of resource development often cite wage employment as a key benefit that Indigenous communities receive from resource development. This is based on the assumption that there is a sufficient supply of desirable employment and that job quality is high. Accordingly, provisions in Impact Benefit Agreements often focus on hiring and promotion and neglect job quality even when the latter arguably affects the desirability of mining employment. At the same time, labour unions, pivotal to improving work conditions, wages and benefits in mining, have been losing ground as global firms expand their use of subcontractors and shift to smaller, more skilled and mobile workforces. In this paper we investigate the complexity of the shifting industrial relations in Northern Canada, drawing on case studies of two mines with Impact Benefit Agreements in Nunavik: Raglan mine owned by Glencore, and Nunavik Nickel mine owned by Canadian Royalties. Drawing on document analysis and interviews with representatives from mining companies, unions and Inuit governments and organizations, this paper highlights how the complex relations among unions, companies and Inuit governments, as mediated by Impact Benefit Agreements, influence employment and job quality for Inuit workers. We propose that greater alliances between unions and Inuit governments are critical to Indigenous employment initiatives. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

The eastern state of Jharkhand in India has been the site of contention between Adivasi communities, like the Munda, and the national government. This is a relationship between these communities and centralized, outside power that has existed for centuries in different forms. To understand this ongoing conflict, we need to understand the root causes of contention. Various scholars have traced this to a general rejection by Adivasis of State-sanctioned neoliberal development projects like land-grabbing and mining. I analyze, based on a fifteen month long ethnographic study conducted from May 2017 to December 2018, the meaning of land for the Munda community, and how these meanings underlie the Adivasi-State conflict, based on several forms of qualitative data. I argue that at the core of this ongoing conflict lie questions of identity construction and representation, neoliberal market forces, gender, and a historical narrative of resistance against outsiders. Importantly, to best understand Adivasi politics and their relationship to their local environment, one must actively listen to how these communities represent themselves. / Doctor of Philosophy / The eastern state of Jharkhand in India has been the site of an ongoing conflict between the Munda Adivasi (indigenous) community and the State. This contentious relationship has existed for several centuries and continues until now. Various scholars describe the conflict as the general rejection of the attempts of State and corporate actors to grab lands in order to carry out neoliberal development projects such as mining and hydroelectricity dams in the region. I analyze, based on a fifteen-month long ethnographic study conducted from May 2017 to December 2018, the meaning of land for the Munda community, and how these meanings underlie the Adivasi-State conflict. I argue that the current ongoing conflict underlie questions of identity construction and representation embedded in the historical narrative of resistance against outsiders. More specifically, one must understand the subaltern communities, such as the Munda Adivasi, through their discourses.

Seeking vengeance for his mother’s murder, a young Native man becomes corrupted by a pelt that turns him into a bear at night.

The Green New Deal has gained international significance as the only prominent climate legislation in the United States. The Green New Deal has also become emblematic of a larger movement for climate justice; however, further analysis of the Green New Deal and its assumptions indicates that it falls short of enacting meaningful justice for those most effected by climate change, but least responsible for causing it. This shortcoming is due to the absence of calls to decolonize. Because of the large role U.S. militarism and imperialism play in contributing to the climate crisis, decolonization must be central to climate justice projects. Marx's concept of the metabolic rift and the phenomenon of humans' separation from nature through colonial acts of dispossession and enclosure of land plays an important role in thinking through the ways the Green New Deal recognizes this same phenomenon but fails to go deeper and recognize broader implications of the metabolic rift for continued U.S. imperialism. Additionally, the rocky legacy of the environmental justice movement raises questions as to whether working with the settler state can lead to meaningful justice. Though the Green New Deal is an operation of state recognition of the climate crisis as connected to other social inequalities, it does not overcome the settler state's reliance on racial capitalism and continued exploitation of people and the environment. A climate justice program that is in fact centered on decolonization and indigenous sovereignty is available and must be supported. / Master of Arts / The Green New Deal has gained international significance as the only prominent climate legislation in the United States. The Green New Deal has also become emblematic of a larger movement for climate justice; however, further analysis of the Green New Deal and its assumptions indicates that it falls short of enacting meaningful justice for those most effected by climate change, but least responsible for causing it. The project of the Green New Deal recognizes the phenomenon of humans' separation from nature and importantly seeks to connect environmental issues to social issues and assert environmental justice through state-led action. Because the Green New Deal fails to question the larger role of the U.S. military's involvement around the world and its pollution and wastefulness, it becomes complicit in the very forces that drive the climate crisis. A project of decolonization, which would involve ending U.S. military involvement at home and abroad and asserting indigenous nations' sovereignty, addresses many of the shortcomings of the Green New Deal.

Breed characterization is a primary step in designing appropriate management and conservation programs of livestock in developing countries. Since cattle represent a major food animal species in Zambia, its conservation is a major goal for both the government and non-governmental organizations. To support the conservation effort, the objective of this thesis research was to assess the phenotypic and molecular characteristics of indigenous Zambian cattle breeds including Angoni, Barotse, Tonga, and Baila based on body measurements and randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers, respectively. A total of 100 animals, 25 from each of the four breeds associated with different tribes and region of Zambia, were used in the molecular analysis research. Additionally, 10 Holstein x Jersey crossbred animals were used as a reference and to test the extent of cross-breeding, if any, of the indigenous stock with exotic breeds. To further compare the Zambian indigenous breeds, morphometric measurements including body length, heart girth, and height at withers on 50 animals of each breed were measured. Blood was collected from animals at randomly selected farms and DNA isolated by standard protocols in Zambia. A total of 10 primers, of the 20 evaluated for informativeness, were used in the RAPD-PCR analyses. Differences among the four breeds for all the three morphometric measurements were significant with the Barotse significantly higher than the other three (P<0.05). The average number of bands per primer was 7.1 and the percentage of polymorphic bands per primer ranged from 40 to 71.4 with an average of 64.8%. Breed divergence was highest between the Tonga and the Barotse and lowest between the Tonga and Baila breeds. Both the morphometric measurements and RAPD-based distance estimates suggest that the Barotse may be different from the other indigenous breeds while the Tonga and Baila were more closely related. In addition, the genetic distance estimates imply that the Holstein x Jersey crosses are different from the four Zambian indigenous cattle breeds evaluated. This thesis research provides, for the first time, the basic genetic information necessary for conservation of Zambian cattle breeds and the use of these populations for effective crossbreeding. The data suggest that though there is isolated by geographic distance and cultural differences among the tribes, two of the breeds are significantly related. / Master of Science

This thesis examines the role of the indigenous movement in Ecuador on the ongoing process of democratization in that country. My study demonstrates that a comprehensive social movement such as Ecuador's indigenous movement has great potential for having a positive impact on democracy. However, these movements are not without their shortcomings which are clearly demonstrated by some of the actions of CONAIE. This study also points out several factors which are crucial in determining social movements' effect on democracy. / Master of Arts