Includes bibliographical references (pages 219-231) and index.
Summary:
"This book contends that indigeneity is a paradoxical formation. The paradoxical nature of indigeneity becomes apparent in the relationship between an indigenous community and the (post)colonial state, or, rather, in the relationship between an indigenous claimant and the national law. On the one hand, the indigenous community rejects the state and views the regulation of its affairs by the law of the state as violation of its integrity. On the other hand, the indigenous community depends on the state, its courts, and its law to protect certain rights that are seen as emanating from the indigenous community itself and not from the national legal system. Jonas Bens calls this formation, in which the indigenous must appear as both part of the state and as dissociated from it-politically as well as legally-the "indigenous paradox." It is his argument that the phenomenon of indigeneity comes into being when native communities engage with the law of the (post)colonial state in which they find themselves. In other words, native communities become indigenous when they begin to occupy the paradoxical legal position Bens aims to describe in this book. Therefore, to understand the discourses of indigeneity, it is paramount to follow the language, the textual genres, and the doctrine of the law. In this book, Bens employs approaches from legal studies and anthropology (more specifically, semiotic anthropology and intertextual analysis) to investigate the very texts that speak most explicitly to and about indigeneity: landmark indigenous rights cases in the Americas"-- Provided by the publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.