Indigenous Peoples - Politics, Institutions and Tools

The course is mandatory for students at the Master's Programme in Indigenous Studies (MIS).

The course may also be part of other disciplinary master programmes within social sciences and may be taken as a single course.

Prior knowledge of the situation for indigenous peoples are highly recommended.

The course departs from the current debate over indigenous peoples' possibilities for self-determination within nation states. The Sami people in Norway serve as a point of departure for the focus on indigenous institutions, like parliaments, consultations and other tools for decision-making between indigenous peoples and nation state authorities, and tools indigenous peoples can use in interaction with market actors.

The course consist of three sections:

The first is on indigenous peoples' political challenges, and how international law prescribe indigenous participation and involvement vis a vis the nation state and how national regulations attempt to implement these commitments.

A second part look at challenges for management of land and water, and how indigenous peoples work with challenges facing their traditional livelihoods, like tensions between these and industrial development.

The third part provides an in-depth focus on institutionalization of indigenous self-determination by scrutinizing the model of the Sami parliament while simultaneously addressing the differences in institutional development in the Nordic countries.

Admission requires a bachelor's degree (180 ECTS), or an equivalent qualification, with a minimum of 80 ECTS within social sciences, humanities, education or the social practice of law. Applicants must have a minimum grade average comparable to a Norwegian C (2,5) in the ECTS scale, see UiT's webpage for international admissions for more information on how the point average is calculated.

Specific academic requirements: A special interest in Indigenous issues is a precondition. Experience from work related to Indigenous peoples and/or studies will be an advantage.

The course requires solid competence in reading and writing English.

Application code: 9371.

The students have the following learning outcomes:

Knowledge

The student acquires knowledge about:

• important debates on indigenous rights and politics, in particular relating to land and resources, self-determination and culture;
• how various colonial histories and different systems of government influence and define state-indigenous relations and conditions for self-determination arrangements.

Skills

The student knows how to:

• critically examine indigenous rights claims from the foundations of both international law and domestic legal and political developments
• distinguish between how different country contexts impact debates on indigenous rights issues and political questions

If you pass the examination in this course, you will get an reduction in credits (as stated below), if you previously have passed the following courses:

• STV-3013 Indigenous Rights, Politics and Institution Building 5 ects

Language of instruction and examination

Emnet legges ned og siste mulighet til å avlegge eksamen etter dette semesteret, er vår 2027.

Her finner du mer informasjon om eksamen i nedlagte emner

This course is open for inbound exchange student who meets the admission requirements.

Do you have questions about this module? Please check the following website to contact the course coordinator for exchange students at the faculty: INBOUND STUDENT MOBILITY: COURSE COORDINATORS AT THE FACULTIES | UiT

Re-sit examination