The cornerstone of Clark's argument is the 1763 Royal Proclamation which forbade non-natives under British authority to molest or disturb any tribe or tribal territory in British North America. Clark contends that this proclamation had legislative force and that, since imperial law on this matter has never been repealed, the right to self-government continues to exist for Canadian natives.

Thirteen essays explore some 500 years of literacy campaigns in vastly different societies: Reformation Germany, early modern Sweden and Scotland, 19th century US, 19th-20th century Russia and the Soviet Union, pre-revolutionary and revolutionary China, and a variety of Third World countries. The 1763 Royal Proclamation forbade non-natives under British authority to molest or disturb any tribe or tribal territory in British North America. Clark, a lawyer specializing in aboriginal rights, contends that this Proclamation had legislative force and that, since imperial law on this matter has never been repealed, the right to self-government continues to exist for Canadian natives. He also explores the difficulties of aboriginal self-government in the constitution and offers some advice to government and aboriginal negotiators. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

How does one make a clear distinction between issues such as tribal sovereignty, indigenous rights, and law and justice? How do these topics differ, and can they be separated from, issues such as identity, health, and environment? The answer, of course, lies in the interconnectedness of all aspects of Native American life, culture, religion, and politics. This format encourages the consideration of Native politics both in terms of unifying themes and contexts and with regard to local situations, needs, and struggles.

Recent years have seen an increased interest in the variety of cultures co-existing within one state, and a growing acknowledgement of the values ensconced in pluralistic social structures. this book examines the manner in which indigenous people can function in modern states, preserving their traditional customs, while simultaneously adapting aspects of their culture to the challenges posed by modern life. Whereas it was formerly assumed that these tribal frameworks were doomed to extinction, and some states even encouraged such a process, there has been a revival in their vitality, linked to a recognition of their rights. The book offers a comprehensive survey of various aspects of tribal life, focusing on political issues such as the meaning of sovereignty, legal issues dealing with the role of custom and social issues concerned with sustaining communal life. A focused study is made of a whole series of legal factors, relating to possession and ownership of land, religious rites, the nature of polygamous marriages, the assertion of group rites, the manner of peacefully resolving disputes and allied questions. Recent judicial decisions are analysed as a reflection of the far-reaching changes that have taken place, in a process that has seen the former disregard of basic rights of indigenous people being replaced by an awareness of the injustices perpetrated in the past and a willingness to seek to redress them. The comparison between approaches of different English-speaking countries provides an account of interwoven developments.

This updated edition of Treaty Talks in British Columbia traces the origins and development of treaty negotiations in the province and includes a postscript, co-authored with PeterColenbrander, that provides an extensive overview of the treaty process from 2001 to 2009. The authors outline the achievements of and challenges for the treaty process and review some of the most recent jurisprudence affecting Native and non-Native rights. They also reflect on the growing number of initiatives outside the treaty process to achieve reconciliation between First Nations and the Crown and raise questions about the future relationship between these initiatives andtreaty negotiations. Succinct and informative, this book brings clarity to a complex and often contentious issue.

This collection of eleven original essays goes beyond traditional, border-driven studies to place the histories of Native Americans, indigenous peoples, and First Nation peoples in a larger context than merely that of the dominant nation. As Transnational Indians in the North American West shows, transnationalism can be expressed in various ways. To some it can be based on dependency, so that the history of the indigenous people of the American Southwest can only be understood in the larger context of Mexico and Central America. Others focus on the importance of movement between Indian and non-Indian worlds as Indians left their (reserved) lands to work, hunt, fish, gather, pursue legal cases, or seek out education, to name but a few examples. Conversely, even natives who remained on reserved lands were nonetheless transnational inasmuch as the reserves did not fully “belong” to them but were administered by a nation-state. Boundaries that scholars once viewed as impermeable, it turns out, can be quite porous. This book stands to be an important contribution to the scholarship that is increasingly breaking free of old boundaries.

Groening argues that what Frantz Fanon terms the "manichean allegory" has shaped European understanding of the New World to such an extent that the image patterns fundamental to the allegory continue to dominate depictions of Native characters. Although a world separated into two categories defined by light and dark, reason and emotion, mind and body, technology and nature, future and past is no longer also characterized as good and evil, revaluing the tropes has not made them disappear. And without their disappearance, good intentions notwithstanding, nonaboriginal Canadian writers will continue to portray Native characters as part of a dead and dying culture. Groening demonstrates that the real issue cannot be about censorship as censorship involves the abrogation of freedom, and the imagination is never truly free.