I hypothesize that specific aspects of education are central to the revitalization of culture amongst Aboriginal peoples in Ontario, and that this revitalization is integral to cultural continuity. I will show the relationship between key aspects of education and cultural revitalization as I track and assess the impacts of Ontario's high school Native Studies suite of courses. The key aspects are: the ability to generate and control content, the content itself (who it targets and serves and how it is applied) and how innovative ideas are implemented, through what processes and with whose help. Recent trends emerging from the analysis of Ontario Ministry of Education (OME) data on the implementation of its suite of ten Native Studies high school courses suggest that the consistent efforts of several generations of First Nations, Métis and Inuit educators working behind the scenes since the late 1960s have resulted in significant and meaningful increases in the number of Native Studies courses offered, the number of schools and school boards offering them, and the number of students enrolling. Considering the context of Aboriginal education in Ontario since the 1960s these general results may certainly be interpreted as progressive. I discuss seven catalysts that have had an indisputable influence over the ability of Indigenous educators to exercise an increasing degree of control over the Ontario Ministry of Education Native Studies curricula. While acknowledging the perspectives of scholars such as Taiaiake Albert, Maria Battiste, Pamela Palmater and Marie Brant-Castellano who argue for “Indian control of Indian education” based on the inherent right of Indigenous peoples to self-government - enshrined in Canada’s “Constitution Act” (1982) - my findings indicate that, given the resources and opportunity to lead the creation of Native Studies courses in Ontario, many Indigenous educators, leaders and communities have opted to take proactive roles in the process, all the while participating in the struggle for the Indigenous constitutionally-inherent right to control all aspects of their education. I argue that we are seeing a resurgence of Indigenous cultures in Canada, and more particularly in Ontario. / Thesis (Master, Geography) -- Queen's University, 2012-04-18 18:20:07.041

In response to the highly exclusionary Guatemalan state and the genocide of Mayas during the 1980s, the paradigmatic currents of the Maya Movement have been engaging the state in their struggle for rights. Some have been negotiating from within the Guatemalan government by occupying bureaucratic positions within less powerful state ministries. Other Maya actors press for more favorable socioeconomic policies using social movement tactics. While most literature focuses on the above two currents as a dichotomy, I argue that a third current of Maya politics has the most political potential. One promising example emerged in the course of the land struggle of San Jorge La Laguna (1992-1999). A sector of rural Mayas (mostly poor farmers and teachers) began to look away from the state in their quest for empowerment. They became less concerned with rights granted from a distant state, and prioritized instead practices that reach towards community self-determination and ontological autonomy. This clearly represents a third current of Maya politics grounded in the social fabric of rural Maya communities and their values, social relations, and worldview. This current, which I call Tejido Social (social fabric), is also possibly present in other spaces in Guatemala and likely had existed in prior times but did not pronounce itself publicly until this period. I use Escobar’s theorization of postliberal, postcapitalist politics of relationality to analyze the significance of this third tendency of Maya politics. This study contributes to the theorization of emerging third current / Afro-indigenous movements in the Americas through an ethnographic approach which focuses on political interventions that are lived principles embedded in socio-political practice. / text

Ce mémoire vise à approfondir les débats sur la participation politique des Autochtones au Canada, en particulier les jeunes. Les recherches sur le sujet concluent que la participation électorale est plus faible chez les personnes autochtones et que cette différence est encore plus marquée chez les jeunes. Si plusieurs raisons peuvent expliquer ces plus faibles taux, les études soulignent en particulier le cynisme et l’aliénation causés par les politiques coloniales. À première vue, on pourrait donc penser que les jeunes Autochtones représentent une catégorie dépolitisée et désengagée d’individus. Pourtant, nous montrons dans la présente étude que le portrait est plus complexe. Grâce à des entrevues conduites auprès de six jeunes Anishinaabe de la communauté de Timiskaming First Nation, nous pouvons affirmer que s’il y a bel et bien un certain cynisme et un désengagement chez ces jeunes face à la politique comprise de manière formelle, comme la participation électorale, l’implication au sein d’un parti ou même la participation au sein de leur conseil de bande, cela ne veut en aucun cas dire qu’ils sont passifs ou dépolitisés. Ces jeunes sont fortement impliqués au niveau communautaire et dans le processus de revitalisation et/ou de protection culturelle de leur communauté. Même si ces jeunes n’articulent pas nécessairement ces actions comme étant de nature explicitement politique, elles témoignent d’une volonté d’agir sur la communauté qui relève bel et bien de l’engagement politique. Sur la base de cette étude, nous invitons donc à nuancer les travaux qui concluent au désengagement des jeunes Autochtones. / This thesis contributes to the debates on political participation of Indigenous youth in Canada. Existing research shows a significantly lower electoral participation rate among Indigenous individuals, especially Indigenous youth. This low participation rate is explained, among others, by a high level of cynicism and a sense of alienation resulting from colonial policies that discouraged political engagement among Indigenous peoples. We may therefore think that Indigenous youth are depoliticized and disengaged. This research shows a more complex reality. Thanks to in-depth interviews with six young Anishinaabe members of the community of Timiskaming First Nation, we conclude that they are indeed somewhat cynical concerning formal modes of political participation, such as voting, joining a party or even working for the Band Council of their community. However, they are also strongly involved in community work and in cultural revitalization and protection activities. Even if these youths do not consider such activities as political, they do testify to a desire to change their community that is arguably political. This study therefore provides a more nuanced portrait than existing studies on the political disengagement of Indigenous youths.

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