Indigenous peoples and the state: An anthropological analysis of an evolving political relationship

Indigenous peoples such as the Iroquois and the Maori assert their rights as human beings and as unique, independent, self-determining peoples, insist on their collective rights as peoples, as proper subjects of international law, resort to the international community and international law for the protection and promotion of indigenous rights, and articulate their conception of what constitutes those rights. They are determined in their efforts to demonstrate the violation of their right to self-determination through various acts of colonialism and genocide. A vocal segment of indigenous representatives demand the re-institution of the treaty process as the form of negotiation and agreement between states and indigenous peoples. Neither national laws nor international law have been receptive to the demands of indigenous peoples until recent times.;This dissertation addresses the following series of questions: Where do anthropologists and their theoretical perspectives stand on these issues? What impact have anthropologists had on the creation of national and international laws in the past, and what kind of actions are currently being taken with respect to the international movement for the rights of indigenous peoples? What perceptions of indigenous political entities, of indigenous sovereignty and self-determination, and of indigenous political history have anthropologists fostered? How have anthropologists contributed to the colonialist destruction of indigenous peoples in the past, and how might they appropriately promote the liberation of indigenous peoples now and in the future? Indigenous peoples have much to say on these issues, unmasking and denouncing fundamental misconceptions.;A number of anthropologists critically characterize their profession historically as the progeny of imperialism, examine its links with colonialism in the continuing transformation of indigenous cultures and assimilation of indigenous peoples; despite links with colonialism, anthropologists, recognizing the existence and operation of indigenous political, legal and religious systems and evolving intellectually through close contact with indigenous peoples, have contributed to the progressive transformation of national and international law, and question the necessity and logic of the destruction of indigenous cultures and their natural habitats. At present, in the process of a possibly enduring metamorphosis in international law, a process that exposes the interrelatedness and interpenetration of anthropology and indigenous cultures with law, indigenous peoples profoundly contribute to the continuing transformation of anthropology, and promote an anthropology of human rights, of indigenous liberation.