In this article, we discuss strategies for resisting further encroachment on Indigenous existences by Settler societies and states – and as well multinational corporations and other elite organizations controlled by state powers and other elements of the imperial institutional network; and we focus on how Indigenous communities can regenerate themselves to resist the effects of the contemporary colonial assault and regenerate politically and culturally. We ask the fundamental question: how can we resist further dispossession and disconnection when the effects of colonial assaults on our own existences are so pronounced and still so present in the lives of all Indigenous peoples?
More than eighty years since Chief Deskaheh petitioned the League of Nations for Haudenosaunee self-determination, it is becoming clearer that the existing rights discourse can take indigenous peoples only so far. States and global/regional forums have framed self-determination rights that deemphasize the responsibilities and relationships that indigenous peoples have with their families and the natural world (homelands, plant life, animal life, etc.) that are critical for the health and well-being of future generations. What is needed is a more holistic and dynamic approach to regenerating indigenous nations, and I propose the concept of sustainable self-determination as a benchmark for future indigenous political mobilization. Utilizing case studies of indigenous community regeneration such as the Native Federation of Madre de Dios (FENAMAD) in Peru and the White Earth Land Recovery Project (WELRP) on Turtle Island as well as analyzing the existing research on rights, political mobilization, and ecosystems, this article identifies alternatives to the existing rights discourse that can facilitate a meaningful and sustainable self-determination process for indigenous peoples around the world. Overall, findings from this research offer theoretical and applied understandings for regenerating indigenous nationhood and restoring sustainable relationships on indigenous homelands.
I and is crucial to the cultural and political resurgence of Indigenous nations. According to Maori scholar Linda Smith, " ' e talk' about the colonial past is embedded in our political discourses, our humour, poetry, music, storytelling, and other common sense ways of passing on both a narrative of history and an attitude about history" (). For example, when conveying community narratives of history to future generations, Nuu-chah-nulth peoples have relied on haa-huu-pah as teaching stories or sacred living histories that solidify ancestral and contemporary connections to place.¹ As Nuu-chah-nulth Elder Cha-chin-sun-up states, haa-huu-pah are "What we do when we get up every day to make the world good. " Haa-huu-pah Indigenous Storytelling, Truth-telling, and Community Approaches to Reconciliation
Jeff CorntasselChaw-win-is T'lakwadzi University of Victoria e Nuu-chah-nulth word haa-huu-pah is plural in its usage. Also, the ha'houlthee (chiefl y territories) of the Nuu-chah-nulth peoples cover approximately three hundred kilometres of the Pacifi c Coast of Vancouver Island, from
Official apologies and truth commissions are increasingly utilized as mechanisms to address human rights abuses. Both are intended to transform intergroup relations by marking an end point to a history of wrongdoing and providing the means for political and social relations to move beyond that history. However, state-dominated reconciliation mechanisms are inherently problematic for indigenous communities. In this paper, we examine the use of apologies, and truth and reconciliation commissions in four countries with significant indigenous populations: Canada, Australia, Peru, and Guatemala. In each case, the reconciliation mechanism differentiated the goal of reconciliation from an indigenous selfdetermination agenda. The resulting state-centered strategies ultimately failed to hold states fully accountable for past wrongs and, because of this, failed to transform inter-group relations.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.