Indigenous Identity and Activism

Contents: Acknowledgements. 1. Introduction: studying indigenous identity and activism/Priti Singh. 2. The return of the native: the indigenous challenge in Latin America/Rodolfo Stavenhagen. 3. Identity, indigenous insurrections and \'A different equality\'/Carlos Montemayor. 4. Crisis and reinvention: the redefinition of indigenous identities in contemporary Mexico/Federico Navarrete Linares. 5. Contemporary indigenous politics in Brazil: three modes of indigenous political performance/Joao Pacheco de Oliveira. 6. Indigenous identity and activism in Brazil after the federal constitution of 1988/Stephen G. Baines. 7. Assimilation agendas of the state: what space remains for aboriginal law and culture?/Irene Watson. 8. Fear and outrage: the \'problem\', the politics, and the national emergency in Australia/Peter Gale. 9. Changing patterns of language socialization in inuit homes/Martha B. Crago, Betsy Annahatak and Lizzie Ningiuruvik. 10. Borders and aboriginal identity construction in Canada: everyday, cultural, legal and political activisms/Margery Fee. 11. Indigenizing human rights: first nations, self-determination, and cultural identity/Ashwani K. Peetush. Bibliography. Index.

"Recent decades have witnessed an efflorescence of identity construction and activism of indigenous peoples throughout the world. In the process, a multiplicity of indigenous actors has emerged with new discourses and strategies seeking transformative changes to their inherent rights and representation. In their complex projects of self-affirmation to overcome political and economic marginalisation, the indigenous peoples are deploying culture as an important resource. No doubt, the resultant indigenous activism and the manner in which it is played out vary from country to country.

Indigenous Identity and Activism captures the broad contours of the resurgent movements in select countries--Australia, Brazil, Canada and Mexico. Renowned scholars on the subject offer their insightful reflections on the ways in which the activists and the movements have created a space for promoting indigenous cultural reproduction and identity reconstruction." (jacket)