This thesis offers an investigation of the indigenous politics of self-determination in the Peruvian Amazon. The starting point of the analysis is the ‘Baguazo’, a massive indigenous protest (June 2009) against governmental laws that favoured extractive industries within indigenous territories. Studies of indigenous peoples’ opposition to extractive industries in Peru have tended to focus on the economic, political or social aspects as if these were discrete dimensions of the conflict. This thesis aims to contribute with an integral and systematic understanding of indigenous resistance to extractive industries through a case study analysis and a multidisciplinary theoretical proposal. The thesis contains 9 chapters: introduction (Chapter 1); theoretical framework (Chapters 2, 3 and 4); methodology (Chapter 5); case study analysis and discussion (Chapters 6, 7, and 8); and conclusion (Chapter 9). The theoretical chapters explain how liberal legality recognises indigenous peoples as ethnic minorities with property entitlements, while self-determination goes a step further to recognise indigenous peoples as ‘nations’ with ‘territorial rights’. The case study chapters explore the struggle of the Awajun indigenous people for self-determination and examine the legal and political consequences of the Baguazo as well as the re-emergence of indigenous politics in Peru. The main argument provided in this thesis is that indigenous territorial defence against extractive industries expresses a politics of self-determination that confronts coloniality as the foundation of the extractive governance. Coloniality denotes that, even though colonial rule ended in formal political terms, power remains distributed according to colonial ontology and epistemology. Consequently, social and economic relationships regarding indigenous peoples still respond to an inclusion/exclusion paradox: indigenous peoples are either excluded from liberal capitalism or included into it under conditions that deny indigenous peoples’ principles. Thus, the struggle for self-determination locates many indigenous people beyond the inclusion/exclusion dialectic and promotes an extension of ‘the political’ with the aim of reconfiguring the state-form and its political economy.

International indigenous rights represent a special category of human rights, offering a potent tool in the community-based defense of indigenous lands and livelihoods. State sovereignty has, however, historically been used to trump indigenous claims. New transnational advocacy networks have formed to promote and support indigenous rights claims in international law. In the Americas, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (CIDH) has assumed a lead role in issuing important rulings that validate new international norms for indigenous rights. The challenge, identified in this thesis, is the implementation of these rulings through effective domestic policy. To realize effective implementation of international rights, domestic political realties cannot be sidestepped or ignored. This thesis focuses on indigenous property rights in the Americas. These rights are always contentious. Natural resources like oil, minerals and timber attract many powerful interests. There is an urgent need for a careful and systematic investigation into domestic level variables that can either hinder or help norm implementation. Even universal human rights present a challenge for state compliance. A number of scholars have explored the problem of human rights norm implementation and identified a number of important variables. These include the domestic structural context, norm salience, material constraints and international influences. This thesis builds on Thomas Risse and Kathryn Sikkink’s Spiral Model of Human Rights Change (1999) by applying it to the specific case of indigenous rights to property in a comparative case study. Beginning with two important IACHR rulings for indigenous property rights, the Sarayaku case in the oil-rich Ecuadorian Amazon and the Awas Tingni case in the mahogany forests of the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua, the Spiral Model is used to highlight key variables that can impact the process of implementation at the level of the state. / Thesis (Ph.D, Political Studies) -- Queen's University, 2010-01-26 01:37:46.203

This thesis analyses the current development of indigenous rights in Taiwan based on a study of the Atayal community of Smangus in Hsinchu County. The research focuses on a case study of the Smangus Beech Tree Incident, a legal case related to the use of wood　from a wind-fallen tree. The case began in 2005, the same year that Taiwan passed the Indigenous Peoples' Basic Law. The events are also placed in the broader context of the　modern indigenous rights movement which had its beginnings in Taiwan in the early 1980s and the more than century long history of conflict between the Atayal and the state. Smangus has developed a unique community with a cooperative system of management that draws from both the Atayal tradition and ideas from the modern world. Ecotourism is the main economic foundation for the community. The development of Smangus and their assertion of their rights in the Smangus case provides an example of how indigenous peoples can regain greater control over the lands which they consider to be their traditional territory. The thesis then looks at co-management of Aboriginal-owned national parks in Australia. The final chapter considers how the co-management model could be adapted in Taiwan and gives recommendations for policy makers.

International bi-lateral agreements to support the conservation of rainforests in order to mitigate climate change are growing in prevalence. Through the concept of REDD+ (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation) these look to incentivise developing countries to maintain their natural forests. Guyana and Norway formed such an agreement in 2009, establishing Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS). In this research I examine the extent to which the government of Guyana has achieved in facilitating the participation and inclusion of Guyana’s indigenous population within the LCDS. This is conducted through a single site case study, focussing on the experiences and perceptions from the Amerindian community of Chenapou. I conducted 30 interviews with members of the community, supporting this with participant observation and an analysis of relevant documents. I find that a deficit of adequate dialogue and consultation has occurred in the six years since the LCDS was established. Moreover, I identify that key indigenous rights, inscribed at both a national and international level, have not been upheld in respect to the community of Chenapou within the LCDS. These findings largely support prior research, identifying a consistent failure of the LCDS to achieve genuine participation and the distinct marginalisation of Amerindian communities. It is suggested that the status quo of marginalisation of Amerindian forest users in Guyana is reinforced within the LCDS. Critique is made of the LCDS model and the perceived failure to act on previous research. It is suggested that contextualised governance, which supports the engagement of marginal forest dependent communities, is required if the LCDS and REDD+ programmes are to be effective. Failure to do so can be deleterious for all interested parties.

The 21st century has been designated the Urban Century given that over fifty percent of the world's population is reported to be living in cities. Indigenous populations are not alien to this demographic trend. In Mexico, an underestimated 35 percent of the indigenous population lives in cities. Over the last decade, the global demographic transition towards urbanization coupled with city-based indigenous activism has drawn scholars to systematically study indigenous urban experiences as forms of cultural resilience and innovation. Yet, little attention has been paid to the intersection between indigenous populations and the political ecology of urbanization as a dynamic process. This dissertation contributes to a better understanding of the intersection between indigeneity and urbanization by taking a political ecology approach to study the relationship between the Yaqui people and the city of Hermosillo in Sonora, Mexico. The Yaqui people--Yoemem--locate their ancestral homeland along the Yaqui River, about 220 kilometers south of Hermosillo. In the last century, however, they established diasporic communities across the Greater Southwest, including in Hermosillo. This dissertation specifically addresses three overarching questions. First, it asks how urbanization plays a role within indigenous Yaqui struggles over resource governance in a context where people have little political and economic power. Second, it asks how indigenous communities have adapted the cultural practices of their ancestors to marginal urban environments and specifically how they deal with the environmental and legal challenges imposed by the process of urbanization. Finally, it asks how analytical attention to urban indigenous struggles and indigenous accounts of those struggles present a more nuanced history of the urbanization of nature. These research questions were addressed through a mixed-methods approach that integrated twelve months of ethnographic fieldwork, comparative analysis of museum collections, and review of legal materials and documentary sources associated with indigenous rights and urban development at the municipal, state, and national levels. At its core, this dissertation integrates two related but yet-to-be-engaged theoretical discussions: anthropological critiques of the myth of the noble savage who belongs to nature, and political ecology deconstruction of the myth of the modern city that exists outside nature. Research findings indicate that situated urban indigenous experiences constitute an extension of indigenous territories into new areas. In articulating their indigenous identities the Yaquis of Hermosillo incorporate the city into their indigenous homeland, and in turn transform the political ecology of the city.

Thesis advisor: Jennie Purnell / The Ejrcito Zapatista de Liberacint of the Zapatista platform. It will demonstrate that external conditions have influenced and frustrated realistic improvements in Zapatista gender relations. Finally, this thesis will assess the future of female participation within the Zapatista movement, and illustrate the limited social and political changes in indigenous communities. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2008. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Political Science. / Discipline: College Honors Program.

This thesis is a qualitative case study of Vapsten sameby’s participation in the process of establishing a mine in the Rönnbäcken area in Storuman municiplity in Sweden. The mine in Rönnbäcken is a case that has been discussed extensively in the region during the last couple of years. The project is, on one hand, expected to engender job opportunities and economic growth, but on the other hand expected to have a large influence on the local environment and threaten the sami people’s traditional lifestyle. With background in environmental justice theory and theories of citizen participation this thesis emphasizes the meaningful involvement of minorities in decisionmaking. Due to this, Vapsten’s participation in the process has been studied. Further, Vapsten’s experience of their opportunities to participate has been outlined.Drawing upon Sherry Arnsteins model of citizen participation and Hans Wiklunds criterions of deliberation, Vapsten sameby’s participation is not ideal. This conclusion is confirmed by the experiences of representatives from Vapsten.

This dissertation addresses native activism in response to United States and Mexico border enforcement policies on the U.S.-Mexico border among indigenous peoples whose communities are divided by the international line. Fieldwork for the dissertation was conducted in collaboration with an indigenous grassroots community organization with members in both the U.S. and Mexico who advocate for rights of border mobility among native border peoples. This work discusses the impacts of border enforcement policies on native community cultural maintenance, local interpretations and uses of international human rights tools, and the challenges faced by U.S.-Mexico border native activists in communicating their ideologies to a broader public. This work further addresses the complex identity construction of Native Americans with cultural ties to Mexico, and conflations of race and nationality that result in distinct forms of intra-community racism.

This project explores the “Laurier Memorial,” a pivotal document written by Chiefs of the Secwépemc, Nlaka’pamux, and Syilx Nations of interior British Columbia, and presented to Prime Minister Laurier in 1910. With the assistance of Scottish-born ethnologist James Teit, the Memorial is written in lucid first-person narrative, charting the history of relations between these Interior Tribes and settler populations, then putting forward a different vision of relations based in traditional law, reciprocity, obligation, mutual sovereignty and shared jurisdiction. As the document continues to circulate a century later, drawing new relations around it, it provides insight into Indigenous-State relations throughout history and how we might make moves towards resolving them. This work looks at the document’s proposal, its continued relevance and circulation, its nuanced impacts on broader political relations, as well as its impacts on my own political, personal, and research relationships.

This thesis investigates the contexts, rationales, and practices of collaborative governance between Wayúu indigenous chiefs and Parks (national parks authority) in Makuira National Park, northeast Colombia. The study looks into the Wayúu institutions for territorial governance; policies for conservation, participation and indigenous rights; and key aspects of cross-cultural park governance. The field research was based on an in-depth qualitative case study. I used an ethnographic approach with document review, semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and use of existing qualitative data. The Wayúu people have a system of customary territorial governance that comprises institutions regarding ownership, access, use, and control of territory and its resources. Wayúu sacred places in Makuira Mountains follow spiritual institutions for proper behaviour and respectful relations with supernatural beings. However, Wayúu territorial governance and autonomy is affected by broader contexts of social-political and economic processes. “Parks with People” policy seeks to enhance governance in protected areas by addressing conflicts, recognizing indigenous territories, authority, and mutual collaboration. Co-government is approached as a “signature of agreements” by Parks in Bogotá, as an “ongoing process” by Makuira National Park staff and as an “alliance” by indigenous peoples. While formal co-government process is mostly led by Parks, Wayúu institutions influence informal day-to-day practice. Most Wayúu rights are recognised however, self-determination is not fully recognised. Wayúu park staff helps facilitate cross-cultural respect and achieve more horizontal relations. These research findings highlight the importance of collaborative approaches for conservation that address historically informed national and local contexts and conflicts that at the same time recognise territorial and self-government rights. Supporting and building upon local institutions and customary management practices are important components of a more inclusive and rights-based practice of conservation. These findings provide for a more nuanced understanding of Indigenous and Community Conserved Areas (ICCAs). While indigenous territories do have protected features; they are combined with other territorial practices that can be regarded as “incompatible” with conservation by other actors. This limits ICCAs ability to leverage for full recognition of indigenous rights. This study demonstrates that such rights recognition should happen at the constitutional level and not be attached to conservation objectives.