Indigenous Peoples and the Modern State
Edited by Duane Champagne, Karen Jo Torjesen, Susan Steiner
Publication date:
03 June 2005Length of book:
208 pagesPublisher
AltaMira PressDimensions:
226x166mm7x9"
ISBN-13: 9780759107991
Champagne and his distinguished coauthors reveal how the structure of a multinational state has the potential to create more equal and just national communities for Native peoples around the globe. Many countries still face extreme differences among ethnic groups and submerged nations, leading to marginalization and violence. Examining these inherent instabilities in multicultural nations such as the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and Guatemala, the authors confront problems of coerced assimilation for indigenous communities whose identities predate the formation of the nation states, often by thousands of years. The contributors show how indigenous people seek to preserve their territory, their rights to self-government, and their culture. This book is a valuable resource for Native American, Canadian and Latin American studies; comparative indigenous governments; constitutional law; and international relations.
Finally, a book on indigenous peoples of the North American continent, from the Arctic to Mesoamerica, a distinctly different version of the North American Free Trade Agreement—NAFTA—the cause of the Zapatista indigenous uprising in Mexico. Indigenous Peoples and the Modern State is a valuable addition to indigenous literature and will be a useful text for indigenous studies courses.