The Politics of Indigeneity : Dialogues and Reflections on Indigenous Activism

About the editors Sita Venkateswar is Director, International, in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences and senior lecturer in the social anthropology programme at Massey University. Her ethnography Development and Ethnocide: Colonial Practices in the Andaman Islands is based on her PhD fieldwork in the Andaman Islands from 1989 to 1992. She has since been involved in research on child labour in Nepal and poverty and grassroots democracy in Kolkata, India. She is currently involved in exploring indigenous politics related to climate change as well as questions of displacement and belonging in relation to refugee resettlement in New Zealand and Europe. Email: s.venkateswar@massey.ac.nz Emma Hughes spent several years living in Egypt and working with women’s rights groups in Egypt and East Africa, where she was involved with development and advocacy projects. In New Zealand she worked first for the Centre for Indigenous Governance and Development at Massey University, and currently works as a research adviser. As a visiting research scholar at the American University in Cairo during 2008 she returned to Egypt to research the Nubian case. Email: e.l.hughes@massey.ac.nz Provocative and original, The Politics of Indigeneity explores the concept of indigeneity across the world- from the Americas to New Zealand, Africa to Asia - and the ways in which it intersects with local, national, and international social and political realities. Taking on the role of critical interlocutors, the authors engage in extended dialogue with indigenous spokespersons and activists, as well as between each other. In doing so, they explore the possibilities of a "second-wave indigeneity" - one that is alert to the challenges posed to indigenous aspirations by the neo-liberal agenda of nation-states and their concerns with sovereignty. Timely and topical in its focus on global indigenous politics, and featuring a variety of first-hand indigenous voices - including those of indigenous activists, scholars, leaders, and interviewees - this is a vital contribution to an often contentious topic. "Provocative and original, The Politics of Indigeneity explores the concept of indigeneity across the world and the ways in which it intersects with local, national and international social and political realities. The authors act as critical interlocutors with indigenous spokespersons, scholars and activists, as well as with each other, to discuss the possibilities of a 'second-wave indigeneity', one that is alert to the challenges posed by the neoliberal agenda of nation-states. Featuring a variety of indigenous voices, The Politics of Indigeneity is a vital and timely contribution to an often contentious topic."--Page 4 of cover About the editors; Figures and table; Figures; 1.1 Ayoreo territory; 1.2 Aquino Aquiraoi Picanerai; 1.3 Mateo Sobode Chiquenoi II; 3.1 Batwa ancestral territories; 4.1 New Nubia; 4.2 Old Nubia; 5.1 Thailand; 6.1 The Nicobar Islands; 6.2 Chupon and Simron Singh; 7.1 The Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal; Table; 4.1 Political timeline for Nubia; Abbreviations; Additional materials; Introduction; Invocation: What the spirit said to Ibegua Chiqueñoro; Credits; Part One. Settler: South America and New Zealand The Politics of Indigeneity explores the concept of indigeneity across the world and the ways in which it intersects with local, national and international social and political realities. The authors discuss with indigenous spokespersons, scholars and activists the possibilities of a 'second-wave indigeneity', one that is alert to the challenges posed by the neoliberal agenda of nation-states. The Politics of Indigeneity is a vital and timely contribution to an often contentious topic.