Maya peoples in Guatemala continue to practice their Indigenous knowledge in spite of the violence experienced since the Spanish invasion in 1524. From 1991 until 1996, the state and civil society signed a series of Peace Accords that promised to better meet the needs of the Maya, Xinka, Garífuna and non-Indigenous groups living there. In this context, how does the current educational system meet the varied needs of these groups? My research investigates the philosophy and praxis of Maya Indigenous knowledge (MIK) in broadly defined educational contexts through the stories of 17 diverse Maya professional women and men involved in educational reform that currently live and work in Guatemala City. How do they reclaim and apply their ancestral knowledge daily? What possible applications of MIK can transform society? The findings reveal that MIK promotes social change and healing within and outside institutionalized educational spaces and argues that academia needs to make room for Indigenous theorizing mainly in areas of education, gender, knowledge production, and nation building. I analyze these areas from anticolonial and critical Indigenous standpoints from which gender and Indigenous identities weave through the text. Thus, I rely on Maya concepts and units of analyses (Jun Winaq’) guided by an Indigenous research methodology (Tree of Life) to conduct informal and in-depth interviews that lasted 2 to 4 hours. In addition, I held a talking circle with half of the participants. My analysis is founded on my own experience as an Indigenous person, my observations and participation in two Maya organizations in 2007 and a review of secondary literature in situ. The study contributes to a general understanding of contemporary Maya peoples and knowledge, and describes the theoretical validity of the Maya concept of Jun Winaq’. I argue that this concept seeks to heal individuals and a society to strengthen the Maya and all peoples. Throughout the dissertation I highlight the value of Indigenous knowledge and voices as parts of a political process that has the potential to decolonize mainstream education. I end with a graphic illustration of the elements in Maya Indigenous education and discuss future research for building a political agenda based on self-determination and healing relevant to Indigenous struggles globally.

Maya peoples in Guatemala continue to practice their Indigenous knowledge in spite of the violence experienced since the Spanish invasion in 1524. From 1991 until 1996, the state and civil society signed a series of Peace Accords that promised to better meet the needs of the Maya, Xinka, Garífuna and non-Indigenous groups living there. In this context, how does the current educational system meet the varied needs of these groups? My research investigates the philosophy and praxis of Maya Indigenous knowledge (MIK) in broadly defined educational contexts through the stories of 17 diverse Maya professional women and men involved in educational reform that currently live and work in Guatemala City. How do they reclaim and apply their ancestral knowledge daily? What possible applications of MIK can transform society? The findings reveal that MIK promotes social change and healing within and outside institutionalized educational spaces and argues that academia needs to make room for Indigenous theorizing mainly in areas of education, gender, knowledge production, and nation building. I analyze these areas from anticolonial and critical Indigenous standpoints from which gender and Indigenous identities weave through the text. Thus, I rely on Maya concepts and units of analyses (Jun Winaq’) guided by an Indigenous research methodology (Tree of Life) to conduct informal and in-depth interviews that lasted 2 to 4 hours. In addition, I held a talking circle with half of the participants. My analysis is founded on my own experience as an Indigenous person, my observations and participation in two Maya organizations in 2007 and a review of secondary literature in situ. The study contributes to a general understanding of contemporary Maya peoples and knowledge, and describes the theoretical validity of the Maya concept of Jun Winaq’. I argue that this concept seeks to heal individuals and a society to strengthen the Maya and all peoples. Throughout the dissertation I highlight the value of Indigenous knowledge and voices as parts of a political process that has the potential to decolonize mainstream education. I end with a graphic illustration of the elements in Maya Indigenous education and discuss future research for building a political agenda based on self-determination and healing relevant to Indigenous struggles globally.

In 1951 British Columbia public schools opened their doors to First Nations children furthering federal government goals of assimilation. First Nations learners entered provincial public schools as a "billable commodity" while newcomers flooded British Columbia seeking opportunities in a province rich in natural resources in forests, mines, fisheries and land. Sadly the public schools' curricula contained colonization history but no curriculum to describe First Nations existence and history. Locally, there was no recognition of the existence of the Coast Salish people as distinct and prosperous Saltwater People. The indifference to the history of indigenous peoples left newcomers with gaps in their understanding of First Peoples Hostilities and resentments grew as immigration multiplied the numbers and pressure of homesteaders encroaching on traditional indigenous homelands paired with increasing intrusion and restrictions under the Indian Act and shrinking of traditional territories to small contained reserves. / Graduate

This research explores the implications of the distinction between transactional and relational understandings of the Numbered Treaties, negotiated by Indigenous peoples and the Dominion of Canada from 1871-1921. It deconstructs representations of the Numbered Treaties as “land transactions” and challenges the associated forms of oppression that emerge from this interpretation. Drawing on oral histories of the Numbered Treaties, it argues instead that they established a framework for relationship that expressly affirmed the continuity of Indigenous legal and political orders. Further, this dissertation positions treaties as a longstanding Indigenous political institution, arguing for the resurgence of a treaty-based ethic of relationality that has multiple applications in the contemporary context. It demonstrates how a relational understanding of treaties can function as a powerful strategy of refusal to incorporation within the nation state; arguing that if treaties are understood as structures of co-existence rather than land transactions, settler colonial assertions of hegemonic authority over Indigenous peoples and lands remain illegitimate. Furthermore, it examines how a relational orientation to treaties might inspire alternatives to violent, asymmetrical, and hierarchical forms of co-existence between humans and with other living beings. To this end, it takes up the potential for treaties to inform legal and political strategies that are reflective of Indigenous philosophies of relationality, providing applied examples at the individual, intrasocietal, and intersocietal levels. / Graduate / 2018-12-18

abstract: ABSTRACT This dissertation examines the role of tribal sovereignty and self-determination in research for Diné participants and elders from 1956-1986. The qualitative historical research study explored the following questions: How has past research been conducted on the Navajo Nation? What is the role of sovereignty and self-determination in research and research methodology for Diné peoples? And, how might Diné philosophy inform a research methodology that aligns with cultural protocols and practices? Six elders who participated in research from 1956-1986 participated in in-depth interviews about their experiences. Using Sa’ąh Naaghái Bik’eh Hozhǫ̨̨́ǫ́n and related Diné philosophy models, findings of this study inform an Indigenous elder knowledge protection model (i.e. Nihookáá’ Diné Nidoolkah Bindii’ą’) to support existing Diné tribal IRB protocols and policies and provides additional insight for tribal cultural protection organizations. Lastly, the researcher presents a Diné intersectional methodology for future research. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Social Justice and Human Rights 2020

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2018-11-21T09:01:31Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Maria Luiza Silveira.pdf: 2964155 bytes, checksum: ab28cc381ee0e8eec8500af578c1184f (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-11-21T09:01:31Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Maria Luiza Silveira.pdf: 2964155 bytes, checksum: ab28cc381ee0e8eec8500af578c1184f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-09-28 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / As far as the memory of the most elderly can reach, Mapulu is the first pajé woman of the Kamaiurá society, people who live in the Xingu Indigenous Park, in Central Brazil. This study investigates a recent phenomenon in the country: indigenous women taking roles in the sacred world, mastering healing and pajelança practices, having access to the restricted universe of invisible forces and powers, traditional male domains. The major role taken by women in the select magic-religious universe, in many indigenous villages, finds in Mapulu a representation of the changes of the feminine place in the daily routine of the Alto Xingu. This thesis aims at studying the kamaiurá female inclusion in the sacred sphere, place that used to be exclusive of men. The research seeks in the indigenous female movement, originated from demands resulting from the contact with the hegemonic society, the roots that contributed to the resurgence and expansion of the number of pajé women; shows how Xingu has been absorbing the work of female shamans; reveals how dreams guide the path of development of a pajé and surveys the conditions that enabled the process of “becoming a pajé” of Mapulu Kamaiurá – showing how this experience affected herself and the community / Até onde a memória dos mais velhos alcança, Mapulu é a primeira mulher pajé na sociedade Kamaiurá, povo que habita o Parque Indígena do Xingu, no Brasil Central. O estudo aqui apresentado investiga um fenômeno recente no país: o das mulheres indígenas ocupando o espaço do mundo sagrado, dominando práticas de cura e pajelança, tendo acesso ao restrito universo de forças e poderes invisíveis, tradicional domínio masculino. O protagonismo assumido pelas mulheres no seleto universo mágico-religioso, em diversas aldeias do Brasil, encontra em Mapulu o retrato das transformações do lugar feminino no cotidiano do Alto Xingu. A proposta desta tese é a de estudar a inserção feminina kamaiurá no campo do sagrado, lugar antes exclusivo dos homens da comunidade. A pesquisa busca no movimento feminino indígena, nascido das demandas resultantes do contato com a sociedade hegemônica, as raízes que ajudaram no ressurgimento e expansão do número de mulheres pajés; mostra como o Xingu vem absorvendo o trabalho das xamãs; revela como os sonhos orientam o caminho de formação de um pajé, e realiza o levantamento das condições que propiciaram o processo do “tornar-se pajé” de Mapulu Kamaiurá – demonstrando como essa experiência afeta a si mesma e à comunidade

Zapatiströrelsen är en social/politisk/revolutionär rörelse i delstaten Chiapas, Mexiko. De genomförde sin första och enda väpnade attack den 1 januari 1994 efter årtionden av organisering i Laconadadjungeln i Chiapas. Zapatiströrelsens organisering grundar sig i århundraden av förtryck av ursprungsbefolkningarna och i den sedan länge pågående konflikten om land. I och med upproret krävde de demokrati, frihet och rättvisa, politisk och territoriell självbestämmanderätt samt rättigheter för ursprungsbefolkningarna i Mexiko. Samtidigt höjde kvinnorna rösten och krävde ett mer jämlikt och rättvist samhälle och de lade fram den revolutionära kvinnolagen vilket blev startskottet för en växande kvinnorörelse som kom att sträcka sig långt utanför Chiapas gränser. Uppsatsens syfte är att belysa zapatistkvinnornas organisering och kamp samt hur Zapatiströrelsens framväxt bidragit till förändring av könsroller och maktstrukturer. Uppsatsen bygger främst på antropologisk litteratur och artiklar och genomsyras av postkoloniala feministiska teorier.

abstract: A disconnect exists between the perception of Indigenous women as non-leaders who lack legitimate power, and their persistent actions and beliefs that show an inherent ability to lead families, communities and cultures. Relevant literature on Indigenous women leadership has focused on displacement of women’s power and authority as a consequence of patriarchy and contextualizes the issue within deficit narratives of victimology. These accounts fail to celebrate the survivance of Indigenous women as inherent leaders charged with cultural continuance. Nonetheless, Indigenous women have persisted as leaders within advocacy, indicating a continuance of their inherent tendencies to lead their nations. “Matriarchs in the Making: Investigating the Transmission of Indigenous Resistance Through Indigenous Women’s Leadership in Activism” explores how Indigenous women demonstrate power and leadership via activism to transmit attitudes, actions, and beliefs about Indigenous resistance to Indigenous youth in the United States. A case study of Suzan Shown Harjo, a preeminent advocate for Indian rights will illustrate how Indigenous women engage in leadership within the realms of activism and advocacy. Key tenets of Indigenous feminist theory are used to deconstruct gender binaries that are present in modern tribal leadership and in social movements like the Red Power movement. Storytelling and testimony help to frame how Indigenous women activists like Harjo define and understand their roles as leaders, and how their beliefs about leadership have changed over time and movements. The study concludes with ways that Indigenous women use ancestral knowledge to envision healthy and sustainable futures for their nations. A process of “envisioning” provides guidance for future resistance via activism as guided by Indigenous women leaders. These visions will ultimately give scholars insight in how to best align their research within Indigenous feminist theory, Indigenous futurity, and women’s leadership and activism outside of academia. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis American Indian Studies 2020

The field of international development cooperation has experienced an increasing demand for result-driven management over the last decades. However, a clear consensus of the meaning of ‘ results’ is often lacking in initiatives and projects for social change. As the field functions throughout myriads of contexts and cultures, the demand of results therefore brings upon issues of definitions and discourse, as well as underlying values. The goals and strategies set out to achieve certain results are influenced by assumptions that define the problem definition of the targeted issue. A hierarchy in international development, the so-called aid chain, is determined by who provides funding for cooperation projects. The flow of top-down funding is shown to be accompanied by a flow of top-down policies, that are further accompanied by underlying values, problem definitions, and assumptions. This study inquires whether different notions, assumptions, and problem definitions on gender equality across cultures in the aid chain might disturb result-reporting in international projects. Departing from a postcolonial perspective, the content and discourse of the Swedish feminist foreign policy and steering documents from an Indigenous women’s organization in Guatemala are analysed and compared. Seeing policies and policy-making as a significant communicative tool and practice in the field, this study shows how results, goals, strategies, problem definition and assumptions correlate to each other in result-reporting in international development cooperation projects.

Enbridge has proposed the Line 3 “Replacement” Project, a new pipeline project taking a new route strait through Anishinaabe treaty territory in what is known as northern Minnesota. In the middle of the regulation process, the future remains unclear of how the State of Minnesota will move forward with the permitting process, but Anishinaabe communities, a range of non-profit organizations, and local landowners remain firmly against the line. Rooted in varied frameworks of Native sovereignty, the land, and Indigenous feminism, Anishinaabe communities lead the resistance against a product of ongoing settler colonialism, racial capitalism, and environmental racism. This thesis contextualizes the multi-tactical repertoires of those defending the land in the existing work of Indigenous scholars who write on the necessity for land-based resistance towards the unsettling process of decolonization. Ultimately, the resistance against Line 3 is representative of a long-term battle for Native sovereignty and self-determination in defense of the land and future generations.