This thesis examines Alutiiq stories of loss, disempowerment and distrust in the aftermath of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill crisis. It examines Alutiiq responses to the oil spill in relation to how, twenty-five years earlier, members of the same communities experienced the impacts of an earthquake crisis. The thesis describes how the 1989 oil spill crisis was associated with experiences of loss of cultural livelihoods, loss of cultural identities, environmental distrust, enhanced distrust of governments, and experiences of disempowerment, while, in contrast, responses to the earthquake were characterised by resilience and adaptability. Using evidence derived from discussions, interviews and participation in community life, as part of 18 months of ethnographic fieldwork in two Alutiiq communities between September 2006 and September 2008, I argue that differences in Alutiiq responses to the two crises can be partly attributed to socio-political factors that characterised the aftermath of each of the disasters, in addition to the absence of culturally-specific knowledge and experientially-based adaptive strategies in the aftermath of the oil spill. Unlike earlier anthropological studies of the oil spill, this study compares Alutiiq responses to the oil spill with their responses to the earthquake crisis.

Locals in Filadelfia, the urban center of western Paraguay's Mennonite Colonies, see the public presence of indigenous Ayoreo `sex workers' as a moral stain on the city and a major social problem. These young women's practices upend local perceptions as well as established theoretical categories of sex work. They treat interactions with male `friends' not as `work' but as `play,' they do not see their practices as morally fraught; and they move in and out of the activity, until they leave it behind and marry within their own group. This dissertation, based on 49 months of long-term fieldwork, examines the cultural meanings of `sex work' among Ayoreo young women to understand how colliding ethical systems, framed by five decades of Ayoreo engagement with the market economy and intense Christianization shape the cultural production of gender and sexuality, and notions of exchange and the commoditization of bodies. Ayoreo `sex work' does not fit conventional academic models, which reduce such activity to proof of economic necessity or women's stigmatization of women. Rather than being a form of feminine submission or exploitation, it is a unique cultural phenomenon constructed in a web of social relations forged through processes of cultural change, religious hegemony, and economic shifts experienced by the Ayoreo over the twentieth century.

The aim of this project is to investigate the transmission of knowledge, and cultural values on the margins of the colonial agenda. The oral traditional accounts, and lived experience of Kéhté-yatis Charles F. Queskekapow, in the community of Kinoséwi Sípíhk [Fish River], are examined through the lens of a postcolonial Indigenous research paradigm. As a synthesis of an Indigenous perspective, and Euro-Western research methodologies, consisting of an open-ended interview approach, and the local Indigenous knowledge, the goals and objectives of this project are: 1) to determine the role of the Kéhté-yatis(ak) [Elders], 2) establish the local interpretation of Kéhté-yatis onakatamakéwina 3) to determine the impacts of colonialism had on the transmission of traditional knowledge, and culture 4) to analyze the impacts of colonization on the broader concept of community. This research locates the detrimental impacts of colonialism, the loss of identity in the historical context, and endeavors to contribute to affirmation of our cultural practices, and values in the present.

The aim of this project is to investigate the transmission of knowledge, and cultural values on the margins of the colonial agenda. The oral traditional accounts, and lived experience of Kéhté-yatis Charles F. Queskekapow, in the community of Kinoséwi Sípíhk [Fish River], are examined through the lens of a postcolonial Indigenous research paradigm. As a synthesis of an Indigenous perspective, and Euro-Western research methodologies, consisting of an open-ended interview approach, and the local Indigenous knowledge, the goals and objectives of this project are: 1) to determine the role of the Kéhté-yatis(ak) [Elders], 2) establish the local interpretation of Kéhté-yatis onakatamakéwina 3) to determine the impacts of colonialism had on the transmission of traditional knowledge, and culture 4) to analyze the impacts of colonization on the broader concept of community. This research locates the detrimental impacts of colonialism, the loss of identity in the historical context, and endeavors to contribute to affirmation of our cultural practices, and values in the present.

This dissertation explores Inuit gender relations in a post-colonial setting in Greenland. Explicitly avoiding Western theories as support, a pan-Inuit framework was constructed in order to more appropriately study gender equity among the kalaallit, the Greenland Inuit. This framework materialized the linkages of Inuit thinking to that of the West, making sense of the Inuit worldview, and arguably justifies the development of other analytical tools. Inuit terms and notions are used in teasing out the emic aspects that reveal the cultural foundations specific to the target group to enable more accurate perception. Concurrently, culturally appropriate protocols in soliciting partnership for research in the field were established to test feasibility that such a relationship could create new knowledge. The combination of the established research modes caused the emergence of a more culturally enriched social construction, which made it possible to go beyond the regular scholarly treatises and standards of analytical structure. The epistemological understanding allowed for more critical analyses of what is presently known of relations between Inuit men and women in the Arctic.

The First World War left few untouched on Canada’s Native reserves: many councils donated money to war funds, thousands of men enlisted and their families sought support from the Military and war-specific charities, and most became involved in the debate over whether Native men could be conscripted and the implications that decision could have for broader Native-government relations. Much of the extant literature on Native participation in the war has paired enthusiastic Native engagement with the Canadian government’s shabby treatment. However, in many different ways and with many different goals, Native peoples achieved significant success in determining the parameters of their participation in the war. Yet, the resolution of these debates between Native peoples and the Canadian government, specifically the Department of Indian Affairs, inadvertently (from the Native perspective) cemented the Indian Act’s key role in Native peoples’ lives, displacing other foundational agreements and traditional organizational principles of reserve life. Native peoples’ varied participation in the First World War paradoxically saw Natives temporarily take control of their relationship with the Canadian government, but in the end brought them more completely under the authority of the Department of Indian Affairs.

In many former British colonies independence from colonial rule has produced a myriad of post-colonial tensions. Increasingly, writers from the indigenous race in these former colonies have felt moved to respond to these tensions in their imaginative fiction. This study has undertaken a comparative cross-cultural analysis of the works of two writers from such societies whose indigenous cultures share common assumptions, to explore the underlying impetus of these tensions, and the writers� proposals for resolving them. Chapter One assesses Witi Ihimaera as a writer, and explores his concept of biculturalism, with particular emphasis on the distinctly Maori point of view which informs his analysis of contemporary social problems. Chapter Two assays Ihimaera�s pastoral writings, Pounamu Pounamu, Tangi, and Whanau, tracing in them the development of his concept of biculturalism, and also the changes in Ihimaera�s writing that culminated in The new Net Goes Fishing, with the hardening of attitude that it expresses. Chapter Three looks at the revisionism of Ihimaera�s view of New Zealand history from a Maori viewpoint. It uses Ihimaera�s The Matriarch not only as a means of exploring this revisionist Maori perspective, but also as evidence of the radicalisation of Ihimaera�s views, and the broadening of the concept of biculturalism to embrace not only cultural, but social and political matters. Chapter Four considers Ihimaera�s The Whale Rider as a feminist restatement of earlier views and highlights the growing dilemma he faces concerning the concept of biculturalism. Chapter Five focuses on Achebe, the writer, and his view of the role of the African writer in contemporary society. It argues that Achebe views himself as a seer, a visionary writer who has the answer that could regenerate his society. Chapter Six analyses Achebe�s Things Fall Apart and Arrow of God, and argues that contrary to accepted views of Okonkwo, this character is not actually representative of his society but a deviant. It further argues that the post-colonial African societies� affictions with irresponsible leaders were already manifest in the colonial period, through characters such as Okonkwo and Ezeulu, whom Achebe sees as guilty of gross abuses of power and privilege. Chapter Seven looks at both No Longer at Ease and A Man of the People, and argues that the failure of the first indigenous administrative class stems both from their having an incomplete apprehension of all the aspects of their heritage and the responsibility which power imposes on those who exercise it, and also from lack of restraint in wielding of power. It further argues that the unbridled scramble for materialism has resulted in the destruction of democratic principles. In the context of contemporary New Zealand society, Ihimaera sees the solution for Maori post-colonial tensions as bicultural integration, but he is having problems with the concept in the face of increasing radical activism from Maoris who see it as little better than assimilation. Achebe, however, has opted for re-formism, having discarded traditionalism because it is inadequate for people in the modern world.

Thesis (M. Ed. )--Edith Cowan University, 2006. / Submitted to the Faculty of Community Services, Education and Social Sciences. Includes bibliographical references.

Thèse (M.A.) -- Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, 2005. / Bibliogr.: f. [88]-89. Document électronique également accessible en format PDF. CaQCU

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stevens Point, 2009. / Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree Master of Science in Natural Resource Management, College of Natural Resources. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 167-176).