The construction of (the)“indigenous”: political mobilisation and decolonial methodologies

This seminar introduces MA students to the concept of indigeneity from legal anthropological perspectives and will critically illuminate how the notion “indigenous” is mobilised in political terms and what associated (economic) consequences can evolve (e.g., independence movements, land claims agreements, concepts like the right for consultation or free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) in resource exploitation etc). We will discuss emic aspects of self-determination as a “group” as well as social healing from colonial traumata through cultural revitalisation. Students will familiarize with a broad range of theoretical literature across time and space, including “critical indigenous studies”. Ethnographic examples will primarily circle around (but are not limited to) Arctic studies, the long-term anthropological focus of the instructor who has been working in the north of Canada and Siberia. Debates around colonial legacy, re-colonisation and decolonialism involve critical methodological thinking about decolonial knowledge production in academia. The students will be introduced to these current and historical methodological debates and will understand what new forms of co-created knowledge and epistemologies can derive from transdisciplinary collaboration between Indigenous communities/knowledge holders and scholars of indigenous or non-indigenous background.

Semestri:

Livelli:

MA, BA

ETCS:

7

Materie:

Antropologia sociale

Tipo di scuola superiore:

Università