Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Indigenous studies'

The study examines non-Indigenous pre-service teacher responses to the authorisation of Indigenous knowledge perspectives in compulsory Indigenous studies with a primary focus on exploring the nature and effects of resistance. It draws on the philosophies of the Japanangka teaching and research paradigm (West, 2000), relationship theory (Graham, 1999), Indigenist methodologies and decolonisation approaches to examine this resistance. A Critical Indigenist Study was employed to investigate how non-Indigenous pre-service teachers managed their learning, and how they articulated shifts in resistance as they progressed through their studies. This study explains resistance to compulsory Indigenous and how it can be targeted by Indigenist Standpoint Pedagogy. The beginning transformations in pre-service teacher positioning in relation to Australian history, contemporary educational practice, and professional identity was also explored.

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).

There exists a scholarly debate on the cultural impact of globalization and how and to what extent it is affecting indigenous people in particular. Three theoretical standpoints can be discerned from the debate; the homogenization-perspective which holds that globalization is making world cultures more similar, the hybridization-perspective which emphasizes that it is fragmenting cultural boundaries and the differentiation-perspective which implies that globalization is augmenting differences and making humanity as a whole more diverse. As regards the cultural impact of globalization on indigenous peoples, many question marks can be raised. The objective of this research is to contribute to the debate by bringing to light the perspective of the indigenous movement in Ecuador, CONAIE. An analysis is made on how they perceive globalization affecting the maintenance of indigenous identities and culture among today’s youth. That information is then used as a foundation to analyze CONAIE’s level of success regarding their main objective; to preserve Ecuador’s indigenous nationalities and peoples. The study, which has a qualitative ethnographic approach and is based on semi-structured interviews, was carried out during an eight weeks long field study in Quito and in San Pedro de Escaleras, Cuenca, Ecuador. The research has an abductive approach and the theoretical debate on globalization’s cultural impact on indigenous peoples sets the analytical frame of the study. The three theoretical standpoints; globalization as homogenization, globalization as differentiation and globalization as hybridization play central roles in the analysis of the empirical material. The findings show that there are many elements that obstruct the maintenance of indigenous culture and identity among youth in contemporary Ecuador. There is a connection between youth being exposed to cultural globalization and that they lose cultural characteristics for the indigenous identity. Hybridization of identities due to globalization is presented as a possible factor to play a role in this. Indigenous youth tend to drop characteristics for the indigenous identity as they adopt features from the mestizo culture, in case they see no benefit in maintaining the former. This indicates that what ultimately might be at stake is cultural homogenization. Light is also shed on that CONAIE lacks strategies and possibilities to reinforce the indigenous identity among the youth that is in a process of identity change. The findings thus point at that despite efforts for cultural revival by the indigenous movement in Ecuador, the maintenance of rigid frontiers between the ethnically diverse nationalities in the country is threatened. Seen to a larger picture, this implies that globalization’s impact on indigenous culture among youth is very difficult to counteract. It appears as if the move towards more cultural similarity in Ecuador cannot be hindered.

Because of the removal policy of the American government, Indian Territory was made the new home of over thirty Indian nations, including the Five Civilized Tribes of the Southeast. In an effort to stabilize and maintain peaceful and helpful relations between these immigrant nations over fifty international councils were called throughout the history of this territory. During the 1870's, the delegates of the nations attending the Okmulgee Council also attempted to form a confederacy. These circumstances provide an excellent microcosm of Native American internationalism, and by analyzing the nature of the diplomacy that occurred among these nations this thesis will propose a pattern or model that will hopefully be useful in understanding the international relations that occurred between the indigenous nations over the last 500 years.

While many Marshallese learners thrive in school environments, far more have struggled to find academic success, both at home and abroad. While this has been documented by educational researchers for decades, there is a dearth of research about how Marshallese students learn most effectively. Examining culturally-sustaining educational models that have resulted in successful student outcomes in other indigenous groups can inform strategies to improve educational experiences for Marshallese students. Understanding how recognized Marshallese experts in a range of fields have successfully learned and passed on knowledge and skills is important to understanding how formal school environments can be shaped to most effectively support Marshallese student learning.

This study examines the learning and teaching experiences of recognized Marshallese holders of traditional and contemporary knowledge and skills, in order to document a Marshallese indigenous learning framework. This research used bwebwenato (talk story) as a research method, to learn from the experiences of ten Marshallese experts in knowledge and skills ranging from sewing to linguistics and from canoe-making to business.

Key findings include the four key components of a Marshallese indigenous learning framework: • Relationships • Motivation for Learning • Teaching Strategies • Extending Networks Teaching strategies are comprised of the commonalities among the way Marshallese have learned and mastered both traditional and contemporary skills. Chief among these are: introducing the topic at a young age, scaffolding, demonstrating and observing, learning through relevant practice, and correcting learners constructively. To a lesser extent, and in a context in which the learner and teacher are not related in a familial way, learning and teaching occurs through visual aids and asking instructor for assistance.

In the current climate of American Indian culture in the United States, the impact of the internet on powwow music and the electronic sharing of music has superseded the more traditional sharing of music in Native cultures. Due to the unique history of American Indian cultures, Native music changed, or evolved, from medicinal uses, pejuta, to expressionism, a method in which to cope with and express the effect history has had on the American Indian people and a way in which to bond with one another in these shared experiences. The evolution of Native music is a traditional form of historical particularism as seen by Native people themselves, and the history of American Indians, ethnomusicology, and hip-hop prove that this is the natural trajectory of Native cultures in today's America. This paper poses to explore the movement of American Indian music from a sacred, private medicinal use, to continue being used to heal, but in a more public and adapted domain.

Stones have always been significant to many Enishkeetompauwog, the original people of the Northeast. However, the identification of Tribal ceremonial stone landscapes in present-day New England has become controversial. Tribal officials argue that their views on ceremonial stones have been ignored. Further, the legacy of colonialism and the historic bias that it has instilled in New England has led to dismissal of Tribal ceremonial stone landscapes, resulting in the disassembly or even destruction of culturally significant resources during development projects. This dissertation contends that collaborative work with Tribal officials that respects their expertise on what is culturally significant is essential to the work of preservation. This dissertation research was carried out in collaboration with the four Tribal Historic Preservation offices of the Mashantucket Pequot, Mohegan, Narragansett, and Wampanoag of Gay Head (Aquinnah). Ceremonial stone landscapes may be described as locations of Tribal ceremonial activity characterized by stone features that were assembled or altered by humans, and that may incorporate natural landscape features. These sites are important loci of Tribal history, inter-Tribal ceremony, and collective memory. to identify ceremonial features, multiple lines of evidence are drawn together including Tribal oral tradition, historic and archival research, field research, and collaborative documentation. This dissertation features case studies of two ceremonial stone landscapes in the Narragansett homelands: the Narragansett Indian Reservation and the Nipsachuck landscape. The presentation of ceremonial stone landscape features and sites in useful formats, including GIS shapefiles and technical reports, contribute to their preservation and protection, and help to maintain Tribal connections to ceremonial places. These case studies also show that through collaborative research, various stakeholders can be positively influenced about the existence and importance of ceremonial landscapes. The geospatial data presented in these case studies are cited with the permission of the four Tribal Historic Preservation officers. These data have been previously presented to federal agencies and are confidential pursuant to Section 106 of National Historic Preservation (36 CFR 800.4[a][4], 800.11[c]). This project intersects with federal policies and academic efforts to implement geospatial technologies in the study of archaeological and historic records. This dissertation contributes to and draws from archaeological ways of thinking about memory, commemoration, and landscape archaeology. This research also contributes to the thematic studies of historical archaeology of Native Americans, to the new colonial history of New England, to the developing methodologies of Indigenous archaeology.

This research is an analysis of Ontario teachers’ experiences with Grade 11 NDA3M Current Aboriginal Context in Canada curriculum. By deconstructing and critically analyzing the curricular and pedagogical implications, my thesis is a targeted response to number 63 of the Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action. As outlined by Clandinin and Connelly (2000), this research is centred in narrative research techniques. Additionally, I draw on Miller’s (1996) 3L’s: Look, Listen, and Learn approach, paired with Dion and Dion’s (2004) storytelling as a means of telling and (re)telling the story. I used one-on-one interviews with teachers and one sharing circle with teachers and elders to synthesize data from documents to capture the essence of the lived experiences. Participants revealed their experiences of what Aoki claims is curriculum-as-planned and curriculum-as-lived in this course. The results of this research were revealed responses to components of number 63 of the Calls to Action; NDA3M requires a review of curriculum expectations to align with teachers’ classroom experiences; participants discussed how their respective schools are using every opportunity to students’ capacity and awareness of Indigenous Worldviews; and professional development to support Indigenous education is in high demand.

My dissertation, Indigenous Rights and Constitutional Change in Ecuador, is motivated by a question that has inspired a rich discussion in the political theory literature: how should democracies accommodate indigenous groups? I focus on this question in the context of indigenous participation in the 2008 Ecuadorian constitutional convention. Ecuador is an interesting case in that the constitutional convention represented an opportunity for indigenous and non-indigenous groups to discuss the very topics that concern political theorists: the ideal relationship between indigenous and non-indigenous communities, the formal recognition of indigenous groups, indigenous rights, the fair economic distribution of resources, and the nature of citizenship. However, despite the fact that indigenous groups focused on constitutional change as a vehicle for indigenous empowerment, the political theory literature is largely silent on how constitutional change can affect minority groups. This silence is indicative of a larger failure on the part of political theorists to fully consider how institutions shape the normative goals of a society. Similarly, the literature on constitutional design does not examine indigenous groups as a separate case study and, therefore, provides little guidance as to how institutions can be used to empower indigenous groups.

During the constitutional convention, indigenous people in Ecuador presented their own plan for constitutional change: plurinationalism. This paradigm combined the idea of indigenous group rights with a call for alternative means of economic development, radical environmentalism, and recognition of an intercultural Ecuadorian identity. In so doing, plurinationalism moved beyond the general parameters of group rights and/or power-sharing arrangements discussed by political theorists and constitutional design scholars. In this dissertation, therefore, I examine the underlying tenets of plurinationalism, how plurinationalism was interpreted by non-indigenous people and incorporated into the 2008 constitution, and the future constitutional implications of plurinationalism. I argue that the Ecuadorian case has implications for both the political theory and constitutional design literatures: it allows political theorists to move beyond the language of indigenous rights to consider other institutional avenues for indigenous empowerment and points to value for design scholars in considering indigenous people as a separate case study, reframing assumptions about constitution-making in divided societies.

Environmental education in the U.S. has been slow to incorporate Indigenous knowledges, with most pre-university curriculum centering around Western science. I believe incorporating Indigenous knowledges into environmental education can promote reciprocal, critical, and active human-nature relationships. While Indigenous knowledges should infiltrate all levels of environmental education, I argue that alternative forms of education which operate outside the formal school system might present the fewest immediate obstacles.

This study focuses on the theme of technology-based Indigenous language revitalization and maintenance efforts by looking at new developments in mobile technology and how they are used within Indigenous communities for language learning and teaching. I assessed four mobile apps through the use of an evaluation rubric, online user reviews, and developer consultations. The findings from the assessments were then used to determine what essential themes are important when developing an effective and successful language application model (Appendix C), with the intention of developing a user-friendly template for use by other Indigenous communities. Three essential elements were found to be common among the four language applications assessed: (1) successful integration of interactive and digital media that provides a purposeful learning environment for the user; (2) accuracy and testing of both media and the user-interface, and; (3) successful usability and functionality of the mobile platform.

The purpose of this thesis is to explore deprivation experienced by the nineteenth century Sioux who suffered the loss of traditional lands, economic independence, buffalo, tribal customs, and religion. After years of reservation life, starvation, and deprivation at the hands of the U.S. government, white settlers, and reservation agents, the Sioux anxiously sought out a Paiute Indian Messiah named Wovoka whose message of a new Indian world spread rapidly throughout the Dakotas. The use of extensive historical and religious documents, as well as primary sources, will argue that the extent of desperation experienced by the Sioux drove them to accept the Ghost Dance as a substitute for the Sun Dance, the center of their traditional religious complex. With its hope of the resurrection of dead Indians, return of the buffalo, and renewal of the earth, it was immediately adopted leading ultimately to the massacre at Wounded Knee in 1890 and the passing of Wovoka's religion into history.

In the past several decades, social movements have spread all across Latin America, sparking hope for change. This thesis analyzes the well-organized mobilizations of the indigenous people of Bolivia and how they have been able to incorporate themselves in state apparatuses, including the election of its first indigenous president, Evo Morales of the Movement towards Socialism (MAS) party. The case studied her provides insight into the processes if how political representation was achieved by Bolivia's indigenous people who were for centuries excluded from the political, social and economic arena. It also analyzes the outcomes of Morales' policy changes from 2006 to 2009 as a way to examine how they have impacted the marginalized status of the indigenous people. Ultimately this thesis will trace the use of social movements, especially MAS, and how they transformed the Bolivian society from below.

The theme of ethnic identity in politics is gaining importance in countries such as Bolivia, where people recently elected their first indigenous President. The Indigenous movement has been able to incorporate themselves in the state apparatus and have produced new political policies and constitutional instruments. They represent an alternative to the "white" political elites who governed them for many decades. This study analyzes the dynamics within the Indigenous social movement in Bolivia and how they reinforced a composite vision of a participatory democratic society through political representation. The results of this participation (and, moreover, political representation) can be seen in the presidential election of 2005, as well as the election of senators and deputies and the new Constitution of 2009. The case studied here provides insight into the processes of how political representation can be obtained by the oppressed and excluded, in this case the indigenous people of Bolivia, who - for centuries - were a majority governed by a white minority. In this context, the importance of ethnicity and identity, in which discourses transformed views of an indigenous consciousness, can be seen in their political demands.

Includes bibliographical references.
In the post or neo-colonial era, the question of fair and equitable treatment of indigenous peoples remains a subject of international political and legal discourse. Efforts have been made to study ways of promoting and protecting indigenous rights and to develop international norms for the protection of these rights. These efforts have sprung forth a plethora of questions; these questions include 'who qualifies as indigenous peoples?' and 'what rights do they enjoy under international law.' This thesis takes a cursory look at the conceptual underpinnings of indigenous peoples and specifically evaluates their right to culture in the parlance of international law.

This study investigated the patterns of collaboration and communication related to maternal educational attainment and familiarity with Learning by Observing and Pitching In (LOPI) among Indigenous children whose mothers had 9 years or less of schooling, Indigenous children whose mothers had 12 years or more of schooling, and middle-class Mexican children. Study participants were 256 children who participated in groups of four. The children played a computer game called “Marble Blast” on two computers and were videotaped to see how they collaborated and communicated within their groups. Indigenous children whose mothers had 9 years or less of schooling were more likely to engage in collaborative behaviors in which the entire group worked as a unit to accomplish the objective of the game as opposed to the other groups. They were also more likely to engage in varied forms of communication as opposed to middle-class Mexican children who were more likely to both collaborate and communicate exclusively verbally. These findings are consistent with research showing that greater familiarity with Indigenous practices leads to more collaboration and varied forms of communication as opposed to more reliance on verbal communication which is seen in communities less familiar with Indigenous practices or non-Indigenous communities with an extensive history in Western schooling.

The Wongi people are Indigenous to the Goldfields region and account for just 10 per cent of the population; yet they make up 90 per cent of the prisoners. With Indigenous incarceration rates above 8,000 per 100,000 adult male population in Western Australia, imprisonment is clearly a common experience for Indigenous men and women that profoundly affect the lives of their families. Gaols are meant to be used as a sentence of last resort when the severity of the offence requires severe punishment and prevention of further offences requires close confinement. For this research, Wongi leaders were interviewed about their perceptions of the incarceration system. They indicated that prison is being applied too frequently for minor offences, does little to prevent further offences and has a profound negative socio-economic impact on inmates’ partners and children. The negative impact was also exacerbated when Wongi prisoners are transferred 600 kilometres out of their country to Perth because the local prison is overcrowded. The Wongi leaders who were interviewed believe that the criminal justice system lacks the moral authority to deal with their people fairly and punishes inmates’ families more so than the offender. According to the Wongi leaders, the incarceration system could be improved by using the cultural practice of shaming and targeting training more effectively so that prisoner skill sets were identified and enhanced to improve employment chances and a reduction in recidivism. By using these strategies, the criminal justice system would increase the deterrent effect of incarceration, decrease the rate of recidivism, and improve the Wongi perception of the system.

Indigenous peoples worldwide are engaged in the process of rebuilding and re-empowering their communities. They are faced with challenges emerging from a history of physical, spiritual, emotional, and economic colonization, challenges including a degraded resource base, lack of infrastructure, and consistent pressure on their land tenure and ways of life. These communities, however, continue demonstrating profound resilience in the midst of these challenges; working to re-empower and provide for the contemporary needs of their people in a manner grounded in supporting bio-cultural integrity; the interconnected relationship of people and homeland. At the same time, in response to contemporary environmental degradation, the fields of resilience science, adaptive management, and ecological engineering have emerged, the recommendations of which bear remarkable similarity to Indigenous ontologies, epistemologies, and governance structures. The relationship between these fields and Indigenous epistemology, underscored by experience in the field, has led to the conceptualization of bio-cultural engineering design; design that emerges from the inter-relationship of people and ecology. The biocultural engineering design methodology identifies the unique cosmological relationships and cultural underpinnings of contemporary Indigenous communities, and applies this specific cultural lens to engineered design and architecture. The development of resilience principles within the fields of architecture and engineering have created avenues for biocultural design to be translatable into engineering and architectural design documents, allowing access to large scale financial support for community development. This method is explored herein through literature and analysis of practical application in several different Indigenous communities and nations. This method lends itself to future research on biocultural design processes as a source of technological and design innovation as Indigenous communities practice placing their values and cosmologies at the center of development decisions, as well as comprehensive start-to-finish documentation of the methodology applied to diverse engineered applications, including water systems, energy systems, and building construction.

Thesis (Ph. D.) -- University of Maryland, College Park, 2006.
Thesis research directed by: Curriculum and Instruction. Title from t.p. of PDF. Includes bibliographical references. Published by UMI Dissertation Services, Ann Arbor, Mich. Also available in paper.

Stereotypes of Indigenous peoples, formed according to Western notions of cultural hierarchy, as savage, exotic, and only existing in a distant past, are still prevalent in the popular imaginary. These stem from misunderstandings and misrepresentations of Indigenous peoples that developed after contact between Indigenous peoples and European settler communities, and exist in concepts such as the noble savage, the wild heathen, or the vanishing Indian. In this thesis I argue that contemporary artist Gregg Deal (Pyramid Lake Paiute) successfully challenges and disrupts such stereotypes by re-channeling their power and reappropriating them through his strategic use of humor and irony in performances, paintings, and murals. Through these tools, Deal is able to attract audiences, disarm them, and destabilize their assumptions about Indigenous peoples. I frame Deal’s use of humor and irony outside the trickster paradigm, drawing instead on Don Kelly’s (Ojibway) theorization of humor as a communicative tool for making difficult topics accessible, and Linda Hutcheon’s theorization of irony as a discursive strategy for simultaneously presenting and subverting something that is familiar.

In a second line of argument, I foreground Deal’s agency as an artist through analysis of his strategies to reach audiences and gain visibility for his art. Contemporary Indigenous artists are often excluded from mainstream art institutions, and can struggle to find venues to exhibit their work. I argue that Deal’s strategic use of public space and the internet to show and publicize his art is significant. It has helped him to reach audiences and gain recognition for his work. He now exhibits and performs in university and state museums. I argue that the authority of museum space, in turn, gives him a greater opportunity to disrupt stereotypes and educate people about misperceptions of Indigenous peoples.

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2004.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In recent decades increasing attention has been paid to the idea of sustainable development and in particular to sustainable agricultural practices. Studies in the seventies, eighties and nineties indicated that many resource-poor farmers were practising low external input sustainable practices by virtue of their resource-poor status. Despite this status these farmers were developing sustainable practises that enabled them to survive even the harshest conditions. It was believed that an understanding of their local practices and associated knowledge, called indigenous technical knowledge by conventional scientists, could provide agricultural development workers with a greater understanding of how to achieve sustainable agricultural development. This awareness would ensure the optimal and sustainable use of local livelihood sources. Following this interest a number of complementary research methods were developed to generate and record indigenous knowledge. Many of these methods fall within the participatory research paradigm of the Social Sciences. Using one of the earlier complementary methods, Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA), this study considers its value as a method to collect indigenous knowledge about the local cultivation and use of indigenous vegetables in a parish in Uganda. The basic RRA tools are described and the position of RRA within the participatory research paradigm is discussed, indicating that the method probably has a lower-middle of the road position when placed on a continuum of participation. In this study the use of the method enabled the generation of information relating to the context in which agriculture was practised in the parish; specifically the production and use of plants known as indigenous vegetables. At the same time the tools enabled a broad understanding of indigenous knowledge regarding the production, associated practises and beliefs, as well as the use of indigenous vegetables in the parish. This information included technical and socio-cultural information indicating that indigenous knowledge is not only about technical knowledge. In recent years debate has emerged with regard to the value, use and misuse of indigenous knowledge. The debate has questioned the ability of various participatory complementary methods to accurately generate and record this knowledge. One of the main concerns is that most of these methods, like those associated with the quantitative and qualitative paradigms, tend to have inherent biases which detract from their value. Reflection on the use of RRA in the Ugandan study indicated that it was subject to a number of contextual constraints, namely: the assumption and treatment of indigenous knowledge as a stock of knowledge which can neatly conform to scientific categorisation; the unawareness of the powerladen interactions in which knowledge is generated; the consequences of local power struggles on the generation of knowledge; the significance that the presence of researchers during the knowledge generating process has on the resultant knowledge; the relevance of the time, timing and location where knowledge is generated; and the effect that local social differences, such as gender, age, wealth, class, etc. have on who has access to what sort of knowledge. More recently developed and refined methods such as Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) and Participatory Technology Development (PTD) include some tools and strategies that overcome some of these constraints. However, these methods are often subject to similar constraints, given the context in which they are used. In the final analysis, the use of the RRA method in Uganda is considered to be a useful tool for collecting contextual data and indigenous knowledge given the circumstances in which it was used. These circumstances included financial constraints, a lack of skills in the complementary methods within the research team, insufficient time and other resources. These hindrances are common in many agricultural development contexts. Based on the results of the study it is recommended that where circumstances permit it, participatory methods such as PRA and PTD should be used. However, users must remain aware that these methods can suffer from some contextual constraints if they are not used with care and if this use is not regularly reflected upon. Despite a number of shortcomings, the use of the RRA method indicated that it is a suitable method in certain contexts. It also indicated that indigenous knowledge is extremely important for agricultural development, but that care must be taken as to how it is generated, understood, recorded and subsequently used. The data generated by means of the RRA method enabled some preliminary reflections on the current understanding of indigenous knowledge. These were reflections on the following: it is a system of knowledge; it originates in and is exclusive to a particular location; it has the ability to include knowledge developed in other locations; and it is deeply entwined within the context in which it is developed. In conclusion a number of possible areas for future research on indigenous knowledge and participatory methods are identified which will allow us to develop a deeper understanding of the value of participatory methods and the significance of indigenous knowledge.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Gedurende die afgelope dekades is verhoogde aandag geskenk aan die idee van volhoubare ontwikkeling en spesifiek aan volhoubare landboupraktyke. Studies gedurende die sewentigs, tagtigs en negentigs wys daarop dat verskeie hulpbronbeperkte boere lae eksterne inset, volhoubare praktyke be-oefen het na aanleiding van hulle hulpbronbeperkte status. Nieteenstaande hierdie boere se stand van sake het hulle nietemin standhoudende praktyke ontwikkel wat hulle in staat gestel het om selfs die moeilikste omstandighede te oorleef. Daar was geglo dat deur van hulle plaaslike praktyke en die daarmee saamgaande kennis, bekend as Inheemse Tegniese Kennis onder konvensionele wetenskaplikes, te begryp, dit landbouontwikkelingswerkers kan voorsien van ‘n beter begrip rakende, hoe om standhoudende landbou-ontwikkeling te bereik. Hierdie bewustheid sal die optimale en volhoubare gebruik van plaaslike lewens- en huishoudingsbronne verseker. As gevolg van hierdie belangstelling is ‘n hele aantal komplimenterende navorsingsmetodes ontwikkel om inheemse kennis in te win en op te teken. Verskeie van hierdie metodes val binne die deelnemende navorsingsparadigma van die Geesteswetenskappe. Deur gebruik te maak van een van die vroeëre aanvullende metodes, Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA), lê die waarde van RRA daarin dat dit ‘n metode is om inheemse kennis in te samel rakende die plaaslike verbouïng en gebruik van inheemse groentes in ‘n wyk in Uganda. Die basiese RRA tegnieke word omskryf asook die posisie van RRA binne die deelnemende navorsings paradigma en dan word daar aangedui dat die metode heel moontlik ‘n lae-middelposisie het wanneer dit geplaas word in terme van ‘n kontinuüm van deelname. In hierdie studie het die metode dit moontlik gemaak om inligting in te win wat verband hou met die konteks waarbinne landbou be-oefen is in die wyk; spesifiek wat produksie en die gebruik van plante, bekend as inheemse groentes, aanbetref. Terselfdertyd het die tegnieke ‘n breër begrip daargestel van inheemse kennis rakende die produksie, daarmee saamgaande praktyke en plaaslike menings, sowel as die gebruik van inheemse groentes in die wyk. Hierdie inligting het ingesluit die tegniese en sosio-kulturele inligting en aangedui dat inheemse kennis nie net oor tegniese kennis handel nie. In die pas afgelope jare het die debat ontstaan rakende die waarde, gebruik en misbruik van inheemse kennis. Die debat het die vermoë van die verskeie deelnemende komplimentêre metodes om akkuraat hierdie kennis in te win en op te skryf, bevraagteken. Een van die hoof bekommernisse is dat die meeste van hierdie metodes, soos die verbonde aan kwalitatiewe en kwantitatiewe paradigmas, daarna neig om inherent bevooroordeeld te wees wat hulle van hul waarde laat verminder. ‘n Refleksie op die gebruik van RRA in die Uganda-studie wys daarop dat dit onderhewig was aan ‘n aantal kontekstuele beperkings naamlik: die aanname en hantering van inheemse kennis as ‘n inventaris van kennis wat netjies omgeskakel kan word in wetenskaplike katagorisering; onbewustheid van die magsonewewigtigheid interaksies waarbinne kennis ingewin word; die gevolge van plaaslike magstryde op die insameling van kennis; die effek wat die teenwoordigheid van navorsers tydens die proses van kennis insameling het op die resultaatgewende kennis, die relevansie van tyd, tydsberekening en plek waar kennis ingewin word; en die effek wat plaaslike sosiale verskille, soos geslag, ouderdom, rykdom, klas, ens. het op wie toegang het tot watter soort van kennis. Meer onlangs ontwikkelde en verfynde metodes soos Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) en Participtory Technology Development (PTD) sluit van die tegnieke en strategieë in wat sommige van hierdie beperkings oorkom. Maar sommige van hierdie metodes is gereëld onderworpe aan soortgelyke beperkings, gegewe die konteks waarbinne dit gebruik word. In die finale analise is die gebruik van die RRA metode in Uganda beskou as ‘n bruikbare tegniek vir die insameling van kontekstuele data en inheemse kennis, gegewe die omstandighede waarbinne dit gebruik is. Hierdie omstandighede sluit in, finansiele beperkings, ‘n gebrek aan vaardigheid met die komplimentêre metodes binne die navorsingspan, onvoldoende tyd en ander bronne. Hierdie hindernisse is algemeen in verskeie landbouontwikkelingskontekste. Gebasseer op die resultate van die studie word aanbeveel dat waar omstandighede hul daartoe leen, deelnemende metodes soos PRA en PTD, gebruik moet word. Maar gebruikers moet daarvan bewus bly dat hierdie metodes kan ly aan kontekstuele tekortkomings indien hulle nie met sorg gebruik word en daar nie gereeld oor die gebruik daarvan gereflekteer word nie. Ten spyte van ‘n aantal tekortkomminge het die gebruik van die RRA metode aangewys dat dit ‘n toespaslike metode binne ‘n sekere konteks is. Dit het ook aangewys dat inheemse kennis uiters belangrik is vir landbouontwikkeling, maar dat sorg gedra moet word rakende hoe dit ingewin, verstaan, opgeskryf en daarna gebruik word. Die data wat ingewin is deur middel van die RRA metode het voorlopige refleksies moontlik gemaak rakende die huidige begrip van inheemse kennis. Hierdie was refleksies op die volgende: dit is ‘n stelsel van kennis, dit ontstaan in en is eksklusief aan ‘n spesifieke gebied, dit het die vermoë om kennis in te sluit wat in ander gebiede ontwikkel is, en dit is diep ingeweef in die konteks waarbinne dit ontwikkel is. Ten slotte ‘n hele aantal moontlike areas vir toekomstige navorsing rakende inheemse kennis en deelnemende metodes is geidentifiseer wat ons in staat sal stel om ‘n beter begrip te ontwikkel van die waarde van deelnemende metodes en die belangrikheid van inheemse kennis.

This research aims to draw attention to the way government and Indigenous groups engage in community settings and explores the potential of this sphere of political activity as a source of innovation and reform. Indigenous people have many good ideas about managing crime and justice in their communities, but what happens to those ideas when they are presented to an agency of the criminal justice system? To investigate the fate of Indigenous ideas and how they might be progressed through western bureaucracies, I conducted four case studies – two in New Zealand and two in the Australian state of Queensland – that represent examples of what occurs when government and Indigenous groups come together to develop a local crime and justice project. This thesis presents an empirical record of the events in each case, a comparative analysis of what occurred and my hypothesis of what might be likely to occur in other similar cases. I found that Indigenous leaders responded to government projects by challenging the government’s intentions, venting their anger, hijacking the agenda and contesting the projects’ assumptions. My analysis of the policy background to the cases shows that although governments currently favour community ‘capacity building’ strategies, these policies mistakenly assume that Indigenous communities are capacity deficient. Indigenous leaders tend to interpret policies that encourage devolved decision-making arrangements as government support for self-determination, and ‘whole of government’ strategies continue to disappoint because the public sector is unable to coordinate its resources. Instead, successful local projects often depend on the accidental convergence of a good idea, a committed and enthusiastic leadership, some degree of political will and sufficient resources. To maximise these opportunities for reform, bureaucrats need to feel comfortable in the ‘community space’, to learn to operate within the Indigenous domain and be willing to put Indigenous ideas into practice. The thesis concludes that Indigenous communities are highly capable of developing reform projects and effective forms of governance on Indigenous terms, but government actors are often unsure of how to utilise the expertise of Indigenous people. Effective Indigenous leaders are experts in the history, conditions and aspirations of their communities. They are also experts in the practice of consensus decision-making, can mobilise community support for a good idea and have learned to negotiate with unresponsive and uncoordinated government agencies. When government and Indigenous groups are willing to engage, and each acknowledges the potential contribution of the other, then there is potential for a new way forward in the relationship between government agencies and Indigenous people.
Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School of Criminology and Criminal Justice
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
Full Text

Though alphabetic script had become a prevailing communicative form for keeping records and recounting histories in New Spain by the turn of the seventeenth century, pre-Columbian and early colonial artistic and scribal traditions, including pictorial, oral, and performative discourses still held great currency for indigenous communities during the later colonial period. The pages of a corpus of indigenous documents created during the late-seventeenth and early-eighteenth centuries known as the Techialoyan manuscripts abound with vibrantly painted watercolor depictions, alphabetic inscriptions, and vivid invocations of community elders’ speeches and embodied experiences. Designed in response to challenging viceregal policies that threatened land and autonomy, the Techialoyans sought to protect and preserve indigenous ways of life by fashioning community members as the noble descendants of illustrious rulers from the pre-Columbian past. The documents register significant events in the histories of communities, often creating a sense of continuity between the colonial present and that of antiquity. What is more, they provide the limits of the territory within a depicted landscape using a reflexive, ambulatory model. Representations of place evoke ritual practices of walking the boundaries from the perspective of the ground, enabling readers to acquire different forms of knowledge as they move through the pages of the book and the envisioned landscape to which it points. The different communicative forms evident in the Techialoyans, including pictorial, alphabetic, oral, and performative modes contribute to understandings of indigenous literacies of the later colonial period by demonstrating the diverse resources and methods upon which indigenous leaders drew to preserve community histories and territories.

The Techialoyans present an innovative artistic and scribal tradition that drew upon pre-Columbian, early colonial, and European conventions, as well as the contemporary late-colonial pictorial climate. The artists consciously juxtaposed traditional indigenous materials and conventions with those of the contemporary colonial moment to simultaneously create a sense of both old and new. Not only did the documents recount indigenous communities’ histories and affirm their noble heritages, they also proclaimed possession of an artistic and scribal tradition that was on par with that of their revered ancestors, thereby strengthening corporate identity and demonstrating their legitimacy and autonomy within the colonial regime.

Neoliberal agrarian reforms in Latin America have lead to both advances and set backs for the women’s and indigenous movements. While most neoliberal policies were the same in terms of goals, like creating institutions that encourage a capitalist markets, the results were somewhat heterogeneous in part due to the role of the women’s and indigenous movements in individual countries. The rise of the international women’s movement, which was marked by the UN’s decade on women from 1975-1985, coincided with an unfavorable economic climate in Latin America.

This dissertation analyzes six contemporary texts (2008–18) that represent indigenous Mexicans to transnational audiences. Despite being disparate in authorship, genre, and mode of presentation, all address the failings of the Mexican state discourse of mestizaje that exalts indigenous antiquities while obfuscating the racialized socioeconomic hierarchies that marginalize contemporary indigenous peoples. Casting this conflict synecdochally as the national imposing itself on quotidian life, the texts help the reader/viewer come to understand it in personal, affective terms. The audience is encouraged to identify with how it feels to exist in a space where, paradoxically, the interruption of everyday life has become the status quo. Questioning the status quo by appealing to international audiences, these texts form a contestatory current against state mestizaje within the same transnational networks of legitimation employed in the 19th and 20th centuries to promote it. In this way, the texts work to build political solidarity via affective means in order to promote and propagate in the popular discourse a questioning how the Mexican state apprehends its indigenous citizens. Ultimately, they seek more inclusive, representative governmental policies for indigenous peoples in Mexico without rejecting capitalist hegemony: they are articulating it against itself.

This dissertation examines the recognition of Indigenous territorial rights amidst the development of small hydropower in the Puelwillimapu Territory, which traditionally spans the Ríos and Lagos regions of southern Chile. Around the world, small hydropower (internationally defined as generating between 1–10 megawatts, in Chile defined as generating 20 megawatts or less) is embraced as a more sustainable alternative to large reservoir hydropower in the transition to renewable energy. However, growing scholarship recognizes that small hydropower can create significant social and ecological impacts. This ethnographic and institutional research collaboratively examines small hydropower impacts in the Puelwillimapu, providing a process-oriented analysis of how Indigenous rights are recognized, and small hydropower is developed. A collaborative research approach with the Alianza Territorial Puelwillimapu, a Mapuche-Williche ancestral alliance, examines rights, conflicts, and small hydropower impacts. Research traces how small hydropower affects Puelwillimapu physical and spiritual territory. This approach emphasizes how to blend participatory mapmaking among other methods with Trawun, a traditional form of meeting of the Mapuche Pueblo. Ultimately, analysis centers on encounters between the two clashing logics in small hydropower conflicts: Chilean institutions and Mapuche-Williche cosmovision.

As the five case studies analyzed here demonstrate, regulating small hydropower by megawatt is inadequate for preventing the repercussions experienced in Mapuche territory. Small hydropower’s careless boom also signals that, paradoxically, small hydropower has too much regulation to be easily developed, but not enough to safeguard Indigenous rights or environmental protection. The regulatory design of the Environmental Impact Assessment process is incapable of upholding ILO Convention 169 standards, an international treaty for Indigenous rights ratified by Chile in 2008.

Contrary to the official tendency to explain environmental management as a technical process, this dissertation explains recurring politics involved in small hydropower development and conflict. In scoping for the Environmental Assessment process, private consultancy companies enact a divisive politics of recognition, which furthers a historical pattern of territorial fragmentation in Mapuche territory. Second, a politics of knowledge is evident in how knowledge is recognized and produced in the Environmental Assessment process. Private consultancy groups are granted an interpretive role in the assessment process, underestimating environmental impacts while creating enduring social divisions in Mapuche-Williche communities. Inaccurate and limited scientific data is privileged over ancestral knowledge that suggests small hydropower exacerbates climate vulnerabilities such as seasonal drought. In response, the Alianza Territorial Puelwillimapu articulates a politics of scale through combining territorial mobilization and formal administrative and legal action. They seek justice in Chilean institutions in part by demanding that they be consulted at the scale of territory. As attempts for conflict resolution and dialogue continue to fall short of protecting territorial rights, the international realm becomes a more viable alternative for rights recognition. Broadly, this work contributes to geographic questions involving critical cartography, collaborative methodologies, water governance, and the transition to renewable energy. It aims to inform international scholarship on small hydropower regulation and impacts, and Indigenous rights recognition.

Evo Morales became Latin Americas first indigenous president in 2005. Morales praised the indigenous peoples, the indigenous movements and aimed at ending their political marginalization in Bolivia. However, this politicization and framing of indigenous identity and rights was later turned into his disadvantage. In 2011, Confederation of Indigenous Peoples of Eastern Bolivia (CIDOB) decided to mobilize against the government's decision to build a highway through Isiboro Secure National Park and Indigenous Territory (TIPNIS), where three of the indigenous groups represented by CIDOB lives. The decision was taken without consolidation with the population living in the area. In this study Robert D. Benford and David A. Snow's theoretical framework concerning framing processes and social movements are used to analyze CIDOBs collective action framing of their indigenous identity and rights in their mobilization in the TIPNIS conflict. In the result, it became evident that CIDOB used their indigenous identity and rights in different framing strategies including master frames, frame alignment processes, diagnostic, and prognostic framing.

Tourism has become an important option for economic development and the cultural survival of aboriginal people, yet the academic work has overlooked an issue of cultural sustainability and the majority of the literature on indigenous tourism is from a non-indigenous perspective. Although the sustainable livelihood framework does not clearly address the cultural part of life, the approach requires that activities, such as tourism, are placed in a broader context so that they can be examined from an indigenous perspective on sustainability. The purpose of this study is to assess the role that tourism is playing in two indigenous communities' livelihood strategies in Taiwan from an indigenous perspective using the sustainable livelihood framework as an organizing framework. The examination of the evolution of livelihood strategies is the main focus of the study. A review of literature identifies weaknesses in the concepts of sustainable development and sustainable tourism and provides legitimacy for using the sustainable livelihood approach to examine the roles that tourism plays in indigenous people's daily lives. Culture is embedded in daily life and the approach allows the researcher to explore the meanings behind people's daily activities. Also, tourism needs to be placed in a broader context in order to identify whether any linkages exist between it and other sectors of the economy and how tourism can better fit in with exiting livelihood strategies. The research is a collaborative study of two Cou aboriginal communities (i. e. , Shanmei and Chashan) in central Taiwan using qualitative research methods. The sustainable livelihood framework is used as a vehicle for guiding research and analysis. Results indicate that Cou traditional livelihoods and their traditional social structure have been closely linked. The shift of Cou livelihoods from self-sustaining in the past to being linked increasingly to the global economic market system at present comes from a variety of external and internal factors (e. g. , policy, history, politics, macro-economic conditions). The promotion of tourism development and cultural industries by the government in recent years has provided aboriginal people with a new opportunity (tourism) in which they can make use of their culture as an advantage (culture as an attraction) to possibly reverse the inferior position. In addition to being an attraction for economic development, culture has many implications for the way things are done and for the distribution of benefits. In both villages, people employ a wide range of resources and livelihoods strategies to support themselves. Tourism has been incorporated into the livelihoods of both villages in forms of employment (regular and occasional) and various collective and self-owned enterprises (e. g. , restaurants, homestays, café, food stalls, handicraft stores and campsites). Tourism activities have the potential both to complement and to compete with other economic activities in various forms. Conflicts between tourism-related economic activities and other activities may not be obvious in terms of the use of land, water and time. The benefits and costs of each tourism activity experienced by different stakeholder groups (mainly by age and gender) vary, depending on different personal situations. The sustainable livelihoods framework was examined and used to assess the context and forms in which tourism might contribute to sustainable livelihood outcomes. Institutional processes and organizational structures are one main factor determining whether different assets, tangible and intangible, are accumulated or depleted on individual, household, and community scales. The comparison of the two cases revealed that, in the context of capitalist market economy in which people pursue the maximization of individual interests, the following situation is most likely to lead to sustainable outcome (socio-culturally, economically, and environmentally) in the context of indigenous communities. That is tourism enterprises need to be operated through institutions with a communal mechanism and through efficient operation of the communities' organizations based on collective knowledge guided by Cou culture. Sustainable livelihood thinking is useful to the concept of sustainable development because it can be used as an analytical and practical tool for guiding studies of environment and development. It also serves as a means of integrating three modes of thinking: environmental thinking which stresses sustainability, development thinking which stresses production and growth, and livelihood thinking which stresses sustenance for the poor. The approach facilitates examination of the reality of aboriginal people and poor people in rural and remote areas. The approach focuses on the local impacts of change, recognizes the complexity of people's lives, acknowledges that people have different and sometimes complex livelihood strategies and addresses benefits that are defined by the marginalized communities themselves. It acknowledges the dynamism of the factors that influence livelihoods: it recognizes that change occurs and people accommodate, learn from change and plan, adapt and respond to change. It focuses on accommodating traditional knowledge and skills to create conditions for marginalized communities to enhance their well-being. It assists in understanding that traditional knowledge and its innovation provide a basis for the development of coping mechanisms and adaptive strategies to buffer the forces which threaten livelihoods. The sustainable livelihood framework is useful because it places the interests of local people at the centre. Such an approach incorporates tourism as one component of development, particularly for indigenous people, and explores how positive development impacts can be expanded and negative ones can be reduced. However, unless supplemented, the framework may not do justice to the importance of culture and the prominent roles played by key individuals. Keywords: Indigenous people, sustainable livelihoods, culture, sustainability, Taiwan

Kyoto University (京都大学)
0048
新制・課程博士
博士(農学)
甲第11075号
農博第1440号
新制||農||897(附属図書館)
学位論文||H16||N3956(農学部図書室)
22607
UT51-2004-J747
京都大学大学院農学研究科応用生命科学専攻
(主査)教授 北畠 直文, 教授 大東 肇, 教授 荒木 茂
学位規則第4条第1項該当

This research study critically explores the attitudes of Griffith University (Griffith) pre-service teachers in relation to teaching Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories, cultures and languages in education contexts. Educational policy from the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) - Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (National Teaching Standards), in particular AITSL Graduate Standard 2.4 provides the framework for this study. At a graduate level, this standard requires graduates to “Demonstrate broad knowledge of, understanding of and respect for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories, cultures and languages” (AITSL, 2011, p. 11). Research participants were Bachelor of Education students who completed an Indigenous education course 3030EDN Studies of Indigenous Australia (3030EDN) prior to participation in this study. In order to explore this research topic, a case study methodology was employed. Within the case study, data collection methods included an on-line survey of 82 pre-service teachers, followed by extended interviews with four pre-service teachers, who identified themselves as being willing to participate in a yarning session. Moreover, an analysis of the course materials from 3030EDN as well as AITSL Graduate Standard 2.4 was undertaken. The collated data then formed the basis for a critical analysis framed by Indigenous standpoint theory (Nakata, 2007a).
Thesis (Masters)
Master of Education and Professional Studies Research (MEdProfStRes)
School of Education and Professional Studies
Arts, Education and Law
Full Text

Master of Arts
Communication Studies
Timothy R. Steffensmeier
This thesis explores the rhetorical function of creative writing being written by queer/two-spirit identified indigenous authors. The rhetorical function being the way these stories politicize the various ways gender and sexuality were foundational tools of settler colonialism in de-tribalizing and assimilating indigenous folks. The literary perspective often elides politics in favor of deconstructing aspects of creative writing such as genre, syntax, and themes instead of the socio-political potential such works produce. The three works I examine all have something to teach rhetorical scholars about the need to politicize the socio-sexual and gendered imaginaries of settler colonialism in discourses of the founding fathers, manifest destiny, westward expansion, land purchase. statehood, American exceptionalism, democracy promotion, and many more. They fundamentally challenge rhetorics that posit static notions of American identity and/or purpose that represses the historical and ongoing genocide of indigenous culture and life. In this way, they intervene in the very notion of communicability itself within the socio-symbolic economy of settler colonialism and its attendant hetero-patriarchal gendered and sexual imaginaries.