Indigenous Rights

Not only does the extractive industry primarily affect indigenous territories (Laforce, et al., 2012), but it also generates revitalization or Indigenous identification movements in response to threats or benefits that actors associate with having natural resource extraction projects on their lands. Indigenous identities can thus be perceived as a strategic political tool for recognition of territorial, cultural or political rights recognized nationally or internationally, but these are rarely taken into account by the mining firms, hydroelectric dams, or oil & gas companies, for example. As a broad identity Indigeneity also links to broader forums, particularly internationally, transforming isolated struggles over an extractive project into a global issue (Morin 1994, 2006). In this context, the struggles of Indigenous communities rooted in a specific territory may transcend a situation of socio-economic or political marginalization (Bellier 2011; Jackson and Warren 2005). In addition, Indigenous communities may network based on shared common historic experiences on their territories which, in turn, can act as a catalyst for various actions to defend it (Urkidi 2011). The work associated with this axis analyzes what underlies identification as Indigenous in the extractive context, and the obstacles encountered in this process, recognizing that the colonial states generally remain the arbiters recognition Indigenous rights (Povinelli 2002; Coulthard 2014). 

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