Type of course

The course is part of the Erasmus Mundus Master Programme in Human Rights Practice.

It is also open to other students on master`s level in social sciences, humanities and law and may be taken as a single course.

Admission requirements

Course content

Objectives of the course

Students who successfully complete this course should have achieved the following learning outcomes:

Knowledge:

• Have basic analytical tools for understanding different forms of social dichotomies, and alternative models and vocabularies for describing perceptions of us and them
• Knowledge of the United Nations definition of indigenous peoples and critical debates over this concept

Analytical understanding and skills

Student should be able:

• To understand indigenous rights as a special case of human rights, attaining a comparative and reflexive perspective on indigenous conditions worldwide
• To examine various definitions of the concept of culture, and relate this to the universalism ? relativism debate
• Have an understanding of similarities and variations in the internal organisation among indigenous peoples and between indigenous peoples and majority populations
• To discuss the impact of modernization and globalization on indigenous identities and cultures.

To analyse the strengths and weaknesses of Human Rights discourses related to the prospects of indigenous peoples concerning self-government and land rights issues

Language of instruction and examination

Teaching methods

Assessment

Recommended reading/syllabus

A list of approximately 900 pages required reading, organized according to themes of the syllabus.

Books

Sissons, Jeffrey 2005, First Peoples. Indigenous Cultures and their Futures. London: Reaktion Books Ltd. 170 p. (Good popular introduction to the module. Buy this one).

Banks, Marcus 1996: Ethnicity: Anthropological Constructions. London: Routledge.

(2 chapters on the reading list also available on Fronter)

Niezen, Ronald 2001: The Origins of Indigenism. Human Rights and the Politics of Identity. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. (A good overwiew , like Sissons, but more specific on Human Rights Issues. Buy this one).

All journal articles can be downloaded free of charge from BIBSYS, a library service that provides access to books and journals for all research institutions in Norway.Articles marked with * are chapters from books. They are collected in a compendium and can be bought at the bookstore (Akademisk kvarter).

On the definition of indigenous peoples in a Human Rights perspective

* Eide, Asbjørn 2006, "Rights of indigenous peoples - achievements in international law during the last quarter of a century." Netherlands Yearbook of International Law, vol. 37: 155-212. 55 p.

* Saugestad, Sidsel 2001, "Contested images: First Peoples or Marginalised Minorities in Africa?" In Barnard, A. and J. Kenrick (eds.), Africas Indigenous Peoples: First Peoples or Marginalised Minorities? University of Edinburgh, Centre of African Studies. 23 p.

* Kenrick, Justin and Jerome Lewis 2004, "Indigenous peoples rights and the politics of the term indigenous". Anthropology Today, vol. 20 no. 2: 4-9. 6 p.

Sissons chapter 1 "Indigenism",

Politics of resistance

*Thuen, Trond 1995, "Communicating the challenge: Symbolic action and redressive reaction", Chapter 10 in Thuen, T. Quest for Equity. Norway and the Saami Challenge. St. Johns: ISER Books. 18 p.

Olsen, Kjell 2003, "The touristic construction of the emblematic Saami." Acta Borealia, vol. 20/1: 3-20. 16 p.

* Saugestad, Sidsel 2008: "Beyond the Columbus Context: New challenges as the Indigenous Discourse is Applied to Africa" in Minde, H. Ed. Indigenous Peoples. Self-determination, Knowledge, Indigeneity. Delft: Eburon. 157-173, 17 p.

Niezen chapter 1 "A New Global Phenomenon?" Chapter 2 "The Origins".

Universalism, relativism and multiculturalism.

Goodale, Mark 2006: "Introduction to `Anthropology and Human Rights in a New Key".

American Anthropologist 108(1):1-8. 8 p.

Turner, Terence 1993: Anthropology and Multiculturalism: What is Anthropology that those Multiculturalists should be Mindful of It? Cultural Anthropology 8 (4), 18 p.

Abu-Lughod 2002: "Do Muslim Women really Need Saving? Anthropological Reflections on

Cultural Relativism and Its Others." American Anthropologist Vol. 104 (3) 8p

Kymlicka, Will 2001: "Theorising Indigenous Rights" in W. Kymlicka: Politics in the

Vernacular. Nationalism, Multiculturalism and Citizenship. Oxford University Press.

13 p.

* UNDP 2004: Human Development Report 2004. Cultural Liberty in Todays Diverse

World. New York: UNDP, "Overview" pp 1- 12.

Niezen, chapter 3 "Sources of Global Identity", chapter 4 "Relativism and Rights."

Problems of culture change: Tradition, modernity

Bjerkli, Bjørn 1996: "Land Use, Traditionalism and Rights." Acta Borealia, 13 (1): 3-21.

Ingold, Tim and Terhi Kutttila 2000, Perceiving the Environment in Finnish Lapland. " Body & Society Vol. 6(3-4) 14 p.

* Eidheim, Harald 1997: "Ethnopolitical development among the Sami after World War II", in Gaski, H. (ed.), Sami Culture in a New Era. Karasjok: Davvi Girji OS. 33 p.

Sissons chapter 2 "Oppressive Authenticity", 3" Urban Indigeneity", 4 "Indigeneous Children"

Niezen Chapter 5: "The New Politics of Resistance"

Analytical and popular concepts of ethnicity, and nationalism

Banks, Marcus 1996, Ch. 2: "Ethnicity unearthed", Ch. 5: "Ethnicity and nationalism" 77 p.

*|Eidheim, Harald 1971, "When ethnic identity is a social stigma", in Eidheim, H.

Aspects of the Lappish Minority Situation. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget. 17 p.

Comaroff, John 1996: "Ethnicity, Nationalism and the Politics of Difference" in P. McAllister

and E.N. Wilmsen (eds.) The Politics of Difference. Ethnic Premises in a World of Power. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 20 p.

Niezen: Chapter 6 "Indigenism, Ethnicity and the State," "Conclusions."

Indigenous rights in view of customary law and new legal principles

* Asch, Michael 1999, "The role of cultural context in reconciling indigenous and state law:

Examples from the Canadian experience." In Svensson, Tom G. (ed.), On Customary Law

and the Saami Rights Process in Norway. Tromsø: Centre for Sàmi Studies, no. 8. 19 p.

* Samson, Colin 2001, "Rights as the reward for simulated cultural sameness: the Innu in the Canadian colonial context." In Cowan, J.K., Dembour, B., and Wilson, R. (eds.), Culture and Rights. Anthropological Perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 20 p.

Saugestad, Sidsel 2011 "Impact of international mechanisms on indigenous rights in Botswana"The International Journal of Human Righst. Vol 15 (1) 2011

Sisson chapter 5 "Indigenous Citizens", chapter 6 "Indigenous Recovery"

Winding up: Global and local discourses.

Eriksen, Thomas Hylland 2007 "Nationalism and the Internet." Nations and Nationalism Vol.13 no. 1, 17 p.

Merry, Sally Engle 2006: "Transnational Human Rights and Local Activism: Mapping the Middle" in American Anthropologist 108(1) pp 38-51, 13 p.

See also other readings from the Methodology module, eg. Marcus 1995, Wilson 2006

SUPPLEMENTARY READING

Anaya, James (ed) 2009: International Human Rights and Indigenous Peoples. Wolters Kluwer,

Aspen Publishers

____2009: Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights

and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people. UN document A/64/150

Anderson, Benedict 2006 [1983] Imagined Communities. Reflections on the Origin and

Spread of Nationalism. 2 ed. London: Verso

Barth, Fredrik 1969: Ethnic Groups and Boundaries. The Social Organisation of Cultural Differences. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget

___1994, "Enduring and emerging issues in the analysis of ethnicity", in Vermeulen, H. and C. Govers (eds.), The anthropology of ethnicity: Beyond Ethnic groups and boundaries. Amsterdam: het Spinhuis. 19 p.

Bellier, Irene versus Peter Geschiere 2011: Debate section: "Misunderstanding of autochthony vis-à-vis the question of indigenous peoples." Social Anthropology 2011, Vol 9, No 2

Brubaker, Roger 2002: "Ethnicity without groups" Arch Europe social Vol. 43(2) 163-189, 27 p.

Charters, Claire and Rodolfo Stavenhagen (eds.) 2009: Making the Declaration Work. The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Copenhagen IWGIA Document No. 127

Cowan, J.K., Dembour, B., and Wilson, R. (eds.) 2001, Culture and Rights. Anthro-

pological Perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Dahl, Jens 2009: IWGIA: a history. Copenhagen: IWGIA Document No. 125

Goodale, Mark 2009: Human Rights. An anthropological reader. Chichester:Wiley-Blackwell.

Henriksen, John B. (ed) 2009: Sami Self-Determination. Galdu Cala No. 2 2009

http://www.e-pages.dk/grusweb/61/

IWGIA "International Working Group for Indigenous Affairs, - 2012: The Indigenous

World 2012." Copenhagen: IWGIA

Minde, H. Ed. 2008: Indigenous Peoples. Self-determination, Knowledge, Indigeneity.

Delft: Eburon.

Kuper, Adam 2003, "The Return of the Native." Current Anthropology, vol. 44 (3): 389-402.

"Discussion" Current Anthropology, vol. 45 (2) 2004:261-267.

Kymlicka, Will 1995: Multicultural Citizenship, Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Taylor, Charles 1994: "The politics of recognition" in Amy Gutman (ed) Multiculturalism.

Princeton: Princeton University Press

UNDP 2004: Human Development Report 2004. Cultural Liberty in Todays Diverse

World. New York: UNDP