The essays in Reclaiming Indigenous Voice and Vision spring from an International Summer Institute held in 1996 on the cultural restoration of oppressed Indigenous peoples. The contributors, primarily Indigenous, unravel the processes of colonization that enfolded modern society and resulted in the oppression of Indigenous peoples.

The author examines how indigenous activists are cultivating international support for a programme of self-determination and legal protection, as well as how the indigenous voice in world politics is transforming civic discourse within the international community. With the United Nations designating 1993 as the `Year of Indigenous Peoples', this book could not be more timely.

Indigenous peoples represent the unfinished business of decolonization. In this fascinating volume, Franke Wilmer examines how indigenous activists are cultivating international support for a program of self-determination and legal protection, as well as how "the indigenous voice in world politics" is transforming civic discourse within the international community. With the United Nations designation for 1993 as the "Year of Indigenous Peoples," this book could not be more timely in its subject matter or in its scale of coverage. The Indigenous Voice in World Politics will serve as a benchmark text for students in ethnic studies, political science, development studies, sociology, and international relations. "The topic area that Dr. Wilmer has defined is a vital one that will appeal to a broad and growing audience. It is not only of great importance and interest morally and politically, but (in Wilmer′s hands) of great significance intellectually. Indeed, Wilmer′s ability to combine the moral/political with the intellectual/theoretical is exceptional, and a great source of this project′s originality and power. This book will find readers among human rights activists, ethnologists, sociologists, cultural anthropologists, students of international relations, and laypersons interested in indigenous peoples, especially American Indians. This is an impressive project." --Richard H. Brown, University of Maryland at College Park "This is one of the few times anyone from the political science discipline has taken a very good cross view of what has transpired in indigenous cultures." --Ron LaFrance, American Indian Program, Cornell University "The Indigenous Voice in World Politics stands as a benchmark text for use in both undergraduate and graduate courses emphasizing or including consideration of the international status of indigenous peoples." --Ward Churchill, American Indian Studies, University of Colorado at Boulder "While Wilmer′s analysis of the legal and philosophical debate on the status of indigenous peoples draws heavily on the U. S. experience, specific examples of the fate of these communities are drawn from all around the globe. This book would make an excellent text for courses in American Indian studies, political science, international relations, and international law, as well as a useful supplementary text for courses on ethnic and racial minorities." --Sociological Imagination

Makes us aware of the global nature of the disaster facing indigenous people and the human race as a whole: the disappearance of diversity and traditional ways of life, as well as the loss of the vital knowledge of how to sustain equilibrium with our planetary environment.

Current discourse on Indigenous engagement in museum studies is often dominated by curatorial and academic perspectives, in which community voice, viewpoints, and reflections on their collaborations can be under-represented. This book provides a unique look at Indigenous perspectives on museum community engagement and the process of self-representation, specifically how the First Nations Elders of the Blackfoot Confederacy have worked with museums and heritage sites in Alberta, Canada, to represent their own culture and history. Situated in a post-colonial context, the case-study sites are places of contention, a politicized environment that highlights commonly hidden issues and naturalized inequalities built into current approaches to community engagement. Data from participant observation, archives, and in-depth interviewing with participants brings Blackfoot community voice into the text and provides an alternative understanding of self and cross-cultural representation. Focusing on the experiences of museum professionals and Blackfoot Elders who have worked with a number of museums and heritage sites, Indigenous Voices in Cultural Institutions unpicks the power and politics of engagement on a micro level and how it can be applied more broadly, by exposing the limits and challenges of cross-cultural engagement and community self-representation. The result is a volume that provides readers with an in-depth understanding of the nuances of self-representation and decolonization.

Native peoples of North America still face an uncertain future due to their unstable political, legal, and economic positions. Views of their predicament continue to be dominated by non-Indian writers. In response, a dozen Native American writers here reclaim their rightful role as influential "voices" in debates about Native communities. These scholars examine crucial issues of politics, law, and religion in the context of ongoing Native American resistance to the dominant culture. They particularly show how the writings of Vine Deloria, Jr., have shaped and challenged American Indian scholarship in these areas since 1960s. They provide key insights into Deloria's thought, while introducing some critical issues confronting Native nations. Collectively, these essays take up four important themes: indigenous societies as the embodiment of cultures of resistance, legal resistance to western oppression against indigenous nations, contemporary Native religious practices, and Native intellectual challenges to academia. Essays address indigenous perspectives on topics usually treated by non-Indians, such as role of women in Indian society, the importance of sacred sites to American Indian religious identity, and relationship of native language to indigenous autonomy. A closing essay by Deloria, in vintage form, reminds Native Americans of their responsibilities and obligations to one another and to past and future generations. This book argues for renewed cultivation of a Native American Studies that is more Indian-centered.