This study used life experience methods to gather the narratives of seven adult Indigenous transracial adoptees who have reclaimed their Indigenous identities after experiencing closed adoption during the late 1950s through to the early 1980s. Participants had been members of Aboriginal (First Nations, Metis, Inuit) communities at birth but were then raised outside their Indigenous nations in non-Indigenous families. Through analysis of their stories, I identified four themes that marked their trajectories to reclamation: Imposed fracture (prior to reclamation); Little anchors (beginning healing); Coming home (on being whole); Our sacred bundle (reconciling imposed fracture). Their stories of reconnecting to their Indigeneity, decolonizing and healing illustrate their shifts from hegemonic discourse spaces that characterized their lived experiences as “other” to spirit-based discourses that center Indigenous knowledge systems as valid, life affirming, and life changing. This dissertation contributes to the debate on state sanctioned removal of children and the impacts of loss of Indigenous identity in Canadian society. My findings indicate that cultural and spiritual teachings and practices, as well as, the knowledge of colonization and its impacts on Indigenous families, communities, and nations, all contributed to adoptees’ healing and ability to move forward in their lives. Key recommendations include: further exploration of the concept of cultural genocide in relation to settler-colonial relations in Canada; further examination of the intersection of counter-narratives, resistance discourse, and colonial violence; increased investigation of the connections between Indigenous knowledge systems, living spirit-based teachings and educative aspects of community wellness; and more research examining education beyond formal schooling, including the formative effects upon Indigenous youth of social values, public policy, and legal frameworks. / Graduate

This study considered indigenisation to involve a process of making the local people `feel at home' in their Church. The ministry of early catechists such as Bernard Mizeki and Frank Ziqubu was crucial in showing the fact that the Anglican Church was not necessarily a church for Europeans only, but for the indigenous people as well. After this first generation of catechists there were numerous indigenous catechists who also ministered in the Diocese of Mashonaland by way of preparing people for the different sacraments found in the Anglican Church. On the other hand the training of the indigenous people for the ordained ministry was also another significant step in the process of indigenisation in the Diocese of Mashonaland. In this regard theological institutions such as St Augustine's Seminary in Penhalonga Manicaland, St Peter's Seminary Rossettenville in Johannesburg and St John's Seminary in Lusaka provided the much needed training. This study also revealed that although the Diocese of Mashonaland had an indigenous person at its helm in 1981, it remained European in several facets of its life. Although translations as a form of indigenisation started from the beginning of the Diocese of Mashonaland and continued right up to 1981, it seems it actually crippled the local indigenous peoples' innovativeness and ingenuity. In addition indigenous musical instruments also took sometime before they could be accepted in divine worship. On the other hand local art and décor as well as local architectural expressions took time to be incorporated into the Diocese of Mashonaland. However few early European missionaries such as Arthur Shirley Cripps and Edgar Lloyd tried to implement local architecture and décor in their churches in Daramombe and Rusape respectively. This study has also established that although the Anglican Diocese of Mashonaland got indigenous leadership by 1981, its liturgy, theology as well as its Acts and Canons remained European. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D. Div. (Church History)

This paper discusses the legal principles which are relevant in determining the appropriate level of compensation for infringements to aboriginal and treaty rights. This issue has been left open by the Supreme Court of Canada in the seminal case of Delgamuukw. The nature of aboriginal and treaty rights as well as the fiduciary relationship and duties of the Crown are briefly described. The basic constitutional context in which these rights evolve is also discussed, including the federal common law of aboriginal rights and the constitutional position of these rights in Canada. Having set the general context, the paper then reviews the legal principles governing the infringement of aboriginal and treaty rights, including the requirement for just compensation. Reviews of the legal principles applicable to compensation in cases of expropriation and of the experience in the United States in regards to compensation in cases of the taking of aboriginal lands are also carried out. Six basic legal principles relevant for determining appropriate compensation in cases of infringement to aboriginal and treaty rights are then suggested, justified and explained. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

This study considered indigenisation to involve a process of making the local people `feel at home' in their Church. The ministry of early catechists such as Bernard Mizeki and Frank Ziqubu was crucial in showing the fact that the Anglican Church was not necessarily a church for Europeans only, but for the indigenous people as well. After this first generation of catechists there were numerous indigenous catechists who also ministered in the Diocese of Mashonaland by way of preparing people for the different sacraments found in the Anglican Church. On the other hand the training of the indigenous people for the ordained ministry was also another significant step in the process of indigenisation in the Diocese of Mashonaland. In this regard theological institutions such as St Augustine's Seminary in Penhalonga Manicaland, St Peter's Seminary Rossettenville in Johannesburg and St John's Seminary in Lusaka provided the much needed training. This study also revealed that although the Diocese of Mashonaland had an indigenous person at its helm in 1981, it remained European in several facets of its life. Although translations as a form of indigenisation started from the beginning of the Diocese of Mashonaland and continued right up to 1981, it seems it actually crippled the local indigenous peoples' innovativeness and ingenuity. In addition indigenous musical instruments also took sometime before they could be accepted in divine worship. On the other hand local art and décor as well as local architectural expressions took time to be incorporated into the Diocese of Mashonaland. However few early European missionaries such as Arthur Shirley Cripps and Edgar Lloyd tried to implement local architecture and décor in their churches in Daramombe and Rusape respectively. This study has also established that although the Anglican Diocese of Mashonaland got indigenous leadership by 1981, its liturgy, theology as well as its Acts and Canons remained European. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D. Div. (Church History)

No description available.

O conselho dos índios Waiãpi, APINA, foi registrado em cartório no ano de 1996. Seu registro é apenas uma fase do processo histórico que teve início com as discussões sobre a demarcação da Terra Indígena na década de 80. A intensificação do contato desse grupo indígena com não-índios fez com que essa população se organizasse com auxílio de assessores não-índios e fundasse um instrumento de reivindicação política legitimado pelos não-índios, o conselho. Nesta dissertação, discuto o lugar desse conselho na política interna Waiãpi, sua relação com o projeto de formação de professores índios e a incorporação e resignificações que os Waiãpi vêm fazendo sobre o conselho indígena. Procuramos demonstrar neste trabalho as implicações entre a forma de organização política não-índia, entendida como organização que visa a trabalhar em prol de toda a população por meio de representantes escolhidos, e as formas de relação e organização política Waiãpi na definição da organização e estrutura do Conselho Apina. Procuramos demonstrar também que a necessidade de qualidades específicas, como o domínio do Português falado e escrito, para atuar em novos fóruns de representação, como o Apina, produz uma diferenciação entre os Waiãpi. Esta dá suporte a uma nova forma de disputa pela posição de liderança: a disputa entre jovens e velhos chefes tradicionais. A disputa se faz possível porque os novos fóruns possibilitaram que outras qualidades, como o domínio do Português falado e escrito, fossem adicionadas àquelas que tradicionalmente qualificam a chefia Waiãpi. / The Waiãpi council,APINA, was officialy created (registration) in the year of 1996. This registration is a small part of a long historical process that began with the discussions about the territory land marking process, in the begining of the 80's. The intensification of the contacts between this indigenous population with the non-indians population gave impulsion to an indigenous mouvement to create an instrument of political reivindication that was legitimated by the Brazilian Gouvernement, the council. In this work, I argument the place of this council in the Waiãpi internal political arena, its relations with the education project and the movements of incorporation and reisignification that the Waiãpi indiens have being doing towards the council. We try to show the mutual implications between the non-indian political organization institution - understood as an organization represented by chosen representatives that work for the whole community - and the waiãpi relation forms of political organization in the construction of the Apina council. We want also to demonstrate that the necessity of new qualities, as the knowledge of speak and write in portuguese to act in the new representation foruns, as the Apina, creates an internal differentiation among the Waiãpi. This differentiation gives support to a new form of dispute for the leadership: a dispute between the young generation and the traditional chiefs. This dispute is the result of the addition of these new qualities, as the portuguese knowledge, into these that defines a waiãpi chief.

This thesis analyses the past and present realities of the rights of Indigenous peoples in Chile and Canada from a comparative perspective. In Chapter I, the author explains the international human rights and Indigenous peoples' law that provide the theoretical framework behind this study. The political and territorial rights that different international forums have acknowledged to these peoples in recent years are identified. The methodology used in the elaboration of this study, which includes the analysis of documentary data, the case study and the interview methods, is explained. The author describes the objective of this study, characterizing it as applied social research aimed at providing information that can be useful for the transformation process in which the peoples that are subject of this study are involved. In Chapters II and III, the author analyses the rights of Indigenous peoples in Chile and Canada respectively from pre-contact until today. The central aspects of their pre-contact cultures and organizations are described. The author also describes main characteristics of the relationships that were established with Indigenous peoples by the Spanish in Chile and by the French and the English in Canada, and later by the states in the two contexts. Special importance is given to those changes recently introduced in the Indigenous-state relationship in both contexts, focusing on their implications for these peoples' rights. In Chapter IV, the author attempts to expand upon the past and present situation of the Indigenous peoples who live in what is now Canada and Chile by including a case study related to each context: the Pehuenche people of the Alto Bio Bio in Chile and the Nisga'a people of the Nass Valley in Canada. In the last Chapter of this thesis (V) the author concludes that, notwithstanding the changes introduced in recent years in the relationship between Indigenous peoples and the Chilean and Canadian states, many and significant problems still impede their ability to enjoy the rights they claim. The author acknowledges, nevertheless, that Indigenous peoples in Canada, through different means, including negotiation and litigation, have achieved a much broader recognition of their political and territorial rights today than have the Indigenous peoples in Chile. The legal, political, cultural and economic factors that explain these differences are also highlighted in this final Chapter.

This dissertation attempts to show that Aboriginal peoples' ways of thinking have not been recognized by early colonial European political thinkers. I begin with an examination of Kymlicka's political theory of minority rights and show that, although Kymlicka is a strong advocate of the right of Aboriginal self-government in Canada, he fails to consider Aboriginal ways of thinking within his own political system. From an Aboriginal perspective this is not surprising. However, I claim that Kymlicka opens the conceptual space for the inclusion of Aboriginal voices. The notion of "incorporation" means that Aboriginal peoples became included in the Canadian state and in this process their Aboriginal sovereignty was extinguished. Aboriginal peoples question the legitimacy of such a claim. A consequence of the Canadian government unilaterally asserting its sovereignty over Aboriginal peoples is that Aboriginal ways of thinking are not recognized as valuable within the legal and political discourse of sovereignty. In chapters two through five, respectively, I examine the Valladolid debate of 1550 between the Spanish monk Bartolome de Las Casas and Juan Sepulveda, The Great Law of Peace of the Iroquois Confederacy, Thomas Hobbes's distinction between the state of nature and a civil society, and Alexis de Tocqueville's account of democracy in America. Each of the examples, except for The Great Law of Peace, generate a philosophical dialogue that includes judgments about Aboriginal peoples. However, none of these European thinkers considers the possibility that Aboriginal voices could play a valuable role in shaping their political thought. To show the value of an Aboriginal exemplar of political thinking I consider the Iroquois Great Law of Peace. The Iroquois view of political sovereignty respects the diversity of voices found within a political relationship. This was put into practice and enforced in early colonial northeast America until the power dynamic shifted betwe

A plethora of cross-cultural research studies has been conducted and published on the conflict or collision between western models of education and indigenous knowledge and learning. Following on the visions of these studies, the research reported in this thesis explores how these tensions between differing bodies of knowledge impact youth identity in non-western societies. More specifically, the study examines the case of how western models of education impacts the Palauan traditional educational models and whether or not the privileging of western systems of learning over Palauan systems does in fact have a negative impact on the development of identity, well-being, and empowerment of Palauan youth today. Theoretical approaches in this study derived from the knowledge of Palauan elders and scholars as well as literature works of Freire, who argues for transformative education as a means of empowering people, and Lave and Wenger‟s theory of legitimate peripheral learning. Methodological approaches include narratives and a Palauan dialogic approach using questionnaires, unstructured and semi-structured interviews. Data were collected from June to September 2009 in Palau. Selected participants were the youth of Ulimang village in Ngaraard and a particular group of Palauan elders and scholars that are involved in Palauan education, knowledge, and research. Data were analyzed in two stages: a questionnaire for Ulimang youth and interviews for the Palauan elders. A range of concepts addressed in the analysis, such as cheldecheduch and relationships, strengthened the belief that Palauan knowledge was important in the lives of the Ulimang youth. The need to maintain Palauan knowledge to empower Palauan identities and to support the quality of life for Palauans was articulated by the Palauan elders. The importance of Palauan knowledge and values was stressed from the participants and emphasized how it informs identity development in Palau.

This dissertation is concerned with the ways in which Māori legal traditions have changed in response to the process of negotiated settlement of historical claims against the state. The settlements agreed between Māori groups and the state provide significant opportunities and challenges for Māori communities and, inevitably, force those communities to confront questions relating to the application of their own legal traditions to these changed, and still changing, circumstances. This dissertation focuses specifically on Māori legal traditions and post-settlement governance entities. However, the intention is not to simply record changes to Māori legal traditions, but to offer some assessment as to whether these changes and adaptations support, or alternatively detract from, the two key goals of the settlement process - reconciliation and Māori self-determination. I argue that where the settlement process is compelling Māori legal traditions to develop in a way that is contrary to reconciliation and Māori self-determination, then the settlement process itself ought to be adjusted. This dissertation studies the nature of changes to Māori legal traditions in the context of the Treaty settlement process, using a framework that can be applied to Māori legal traditions in other contexts. There are many more stories of Māori legal traditions that remain to be told, including stories that drill into the detail of specific legal traditions and create pathways between an appropriate philosophical framework and the practical operation of vibrant Māori legal systems. Those stories will be vital if we in Aotearoa/New Zealand are to move towards reconciliation and Māori self-determination. The story that runs through this dissertation is one of a settlement process that undermines those objectives because of the pressures it places on Māori legal traditions. But it need not be this way. If parties to the Treaty settlement process take the objectives of self-determination and reconciliation seriously, and pay careful attention to changes to Māori legal traditions that take place in the context of that process, a different story can be told – a story in which Treaty settlements signify, not the end of a Treaty relationship, but a new beginning. / Graduate / 0398 / 0332 / 0326 / carwyn@uvic.ca