| Drawing from archival and interview data, this study examines and compares the historical and contemporary processes through which Indigenous fishing rights have been negotiated in the United States, Australia and New Zealand, where three unique patterns have emerged and persist. Framing these battles as episodes of political contention in broader struggles for tribal self-determination and decolonization, the author takes a systematic, case comparative approach to expose the movement-level dynamics and the broader structural constraints that have resulted in varying levels of success for Indigenous communities who are struggling to maintain their traditional fishing practices, while also gaining economic stability through commercial fishing enterprises. By focusing on the interactions that occur between state actors and Indigenous resisters at the highly-contested, cultural and ideological frontiers of these nations' socio-political landscapes, this study is able to expose the dynamic processes through which cultural meaning-systems both affect collective action and are capable of transforming formal systems of racial/ethnic domination. More broadly, this study reveals contemporary trends in the struggle over ethnic identity and culture in post-colonial societies. These trends reflect both changes in colonial structures as well as enduring dissimilarities in the worldviews and relative political influence of Indigenous peoples and members of dominant societies. |
