Mining, the Environment, and Indigenous Development Conflicts

Mining, the Environment, and Indigenous Development Conflicts
Author: Saleem H. Ali
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
Total Pages: 280
Release: 2021-10-19
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0816546886

From sun-baked Black Mesa to the icy coast of Labrador, native lands for decades have endured mining ventures that have only lately been subject to environmental laws and a recognition of treaty rights. Yet conflicts surrounding mining development and indigenous peoples continue to challenge policy-makers. This book gets to the heart of resource conflicts and environmental impact assessment by asking why indigenous communities support environmental causes in some cases of mining development but not in others. Saleem Ali examines environmental conflicts between mining companies and indigenous communities and with rare objectivity offers a comparative study of the factors leading to those conflicts. Mining, the Environment, and Indigenous Development Conflicts presents four cases from the United States and Canada: the Navajos and Hopis with Peabody Coal in Arizona; the Chippewas with the Crandon Mine proposal in Wisconsin; the Chipewyan Inuits, Déné and Cree with Cameco in Saskatchewan; and the Innu and Inuits with Inco in Labrador. These cases exemplify different historical relationships with government and industry and provide an instance of high and low levels of Native resistance in each country. Through these cases, Ali analyzes why and under what circumstances tribes agree to negotiated mining agreements on their lands, and why some negotiations are successful and others not. Ali challenges conventional theories of conflict based on economic or environmental cost-benefit analysis, which do not fully capture the dynamics of resistance. He proposes that the underlying issue has less to do with environmental concerns than with sovereignty, which often complicates relationships between tribes and environmental organizations. Activist groups, he observes, fail to understand such tribal concerns and often have problems working with tribes on issues where they may presume a common environmental interest. This book goes beyond popular perceptions of environmentalism to provide a detailed picture of how and when the concerns of industry, society, and tribal governments may converge and when they conflict. As demands for domestic energy exploration increase, it offers clear guidance for such endeavors when native lands are involved.

In the Way of Development

In the Way of Development
Author: Mario Blaser
Publisher: IDRC
Total Pages: 373
Release: 2004
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1552500047

Authored as a result of a remarkable collaboration between indigenous people's own leaders, other social activists and scholars from a wide range of disciplines, this volume explores what is happening today to indigenous peoples as they are enmeshed, almost inevitably, in the remorseless expansion of the modern economy and development, at the behest of the pressures of the market-place and government. It is particularly timely, given the rise in criticism of free market capitalism generally, as well as of development. The volume seeks to capture the complex, power-laden, often contradictory features of indigenous agency and relationships. It shows how peoples do not just resist or react to the pressures of market and state, but also initiate and sustain "life projects" of their own which embody local history and incorporate plans to improve their social and economic ways of living.

Indigenous Cultures and Sustainable Development in Latin America

Indigenous Cultures and Sustainable Development in Latin America
Author: Timothy MacNeill
Publisher:
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2020-10-09
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781013277108

This open access book outlines development theory and practice over time as well as critically interrogates the "cultural turn" in development policy in Latin American indigenous communities, specifically, in Guatemala, Honduras, Ecuador, and Bolivia. It becomes apparent that culturally sustainable development is both a new and old idea, which is simultaneously traditional and modern, and that it is a necessary iteration in thinking on development. This new strain of thought could inform not only the work of development practitioners, graduate students, and theorists working in the Global South, but in the Global North as well. This work was published by Saint Philip Street Press pursuant to a Creative Commons license permitting commercial use. All rights not granted by the work's license are retained by the author or authors.

Indigenous Economics

Indigenous Economics
Author: Ronald L. Trosper
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
Total Pages: 273
Release: 2022-08-23
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0816546622

What does “development” mean for Indigenous peoples? Indigenous Economics lays out an alternative path showing that conscious attention to relationships among humans and the natural world creates flourishing social-ecological economies. Economist Ronald L. Trosper draws on examples from North and South America, Aotearoa/New Zealand, and Australia to argue that Indigenous worldviews centering care and good relationships provide critical and sustainable economic models in a world under increasing pressure from biodiversity loss and climate change. He explains the structure of relational Indigenous economic theory, providing principles based on his own and others’ work with tribal nations and Indigenous communities. Trosper explains how sustainability is created at every level when relational Indigenous economic theory is applied—micro, meso, and macro. Good relationships support personal and community autonomy, replacing the individualism/collectivism dichotomy with relational leadership and entrepreneurship. Basing economies on relationships requires changing governance from the top-down approaches of nation-states and international corporations; instead, each community creates its own territorial relationships, creating plurinational relational states. This book offers an important alternative to classic economic theory. In Indigenous Economics, support for Indigenous communities’ development and Indigenous peoples’ well-being go hand-in-hand. Publication of this book is made possible in part by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Program in Public Understanding of Science.

Indigenous Methodologies, Research and Practices for Sustainable Development

Indigenous Methodologies, Research and Practices for Sustainable Development
Author: Marcellus F. Mbah
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 446
Release: 2022-10-21
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3031123263

This book states that whilst academic research has long been grounded on the idea of western or scientific epistemologies, this often does not capture the uniqueness of Indigenous contexts, and particularly as it relates to the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs were announced in 2015, accompanied by 17 goals and 169 targets. These goals are the means through which Agenda 2030 for sustainable development is to be pursued and realised over the next 15 years, and the contributions of Indigenous peoples are essential to achieving these goals. Indigenous peoples can be found in practically every region of the world, living on ancestral homelands in major cities, rainforests, mountain regions, desert plains, the arctic, and small Pacific Islands. Their languages, knowledges, and values are rooted in the landscapes and natural resources within their territories. However, many Indigenous peoples are now minorities within their homelands and globally, and there is a dearth of research based on Indigenous epistemologies and methodologies. Furthermore, academic research on Indigenous peoples is typically based on western lenses. Thus, the paucity of Indigenous methodologies within mainstream research discourses present challenges for implementing practical research designs and interpretations that can address epistemological distinctiveness within Indigenous communities. There is therefore the need to articulate, as well as bring to the nexus of research aimed at fostering sustainable development, a decolonising perspective in research design and practice. This is what this book wants to achieve. The contributions critically reflect on Indigenous approaches to research design and implementation, towards achieving the sustainable development goals, as well as the associated challenges and opportunities. The contributions also advanced knowledge, theory, and practice of Indigenous methodologies for sustainable development.

Indigenous Knowledges and the Sustainable Development Agenda

Indigenous Knowledges and the Sustainable Development Agenda
Author: Anders Breidlid
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 216
Release: 2020-04-17
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1000061825

This book discusses the vital importance of including indigenous knowledges in the sustainable development agenda. In the wake of colonialism and imperialism, dialogue between indigenous knowledges and Western epistemology has broken down time and again. However, in recent decades the broader indigenous struggle for rights and recognition has led to a better understanding of indigenous knowledges, and in 2015 the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) outlined the importance of indigenous engagement in contributing to the implementation of the agenda. Drawing on experiences and field work from Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe, Indigenous Knowledges and the Sustainable Development Agenda brings together authors who explore social, educational, institutional and ecological sustainability in relation to indigenous knowledges. In doing so, this book provides a comprehensive understanding of the concept of "sustainability", at both national and international levels, from a range of diverse perspectives. As the decolonizing debate gathers pace within mainstream academic discourse, this book offers an important contribution to scholars across development studies, environmental studies, education, and political ecology.

Indigenous Environmental Justice

Indigenous Environmental Justice
Author: Karen Jarratt-Snider
Publisher: Indigenous Justice
Total Pages: 233
Release: 2020
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0816540837

"With connections to traditional homelands being at the heart of Native identity, environmental justice is of heightened importance to Indigenous communities. Not only do irresponsible and exploitative environmental policies harm the physical and financial health of Indigenous communities, they also cause spiritual harm by destroying the land and wildlife that are held in a place of exceptional reverence for Indigenous peoples. Combining elements of legal issues, human rights issues, and sovereignty issues, Indigenous Environmental Justice creates a clear example of community resilience in the face of corporate greed"--

Development and Local Knowledge

Development and Local Knowledge
Author: Alan Bicker
Publisher: Psychology Press
Total Pages: 233
Release: 2004
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 0415318262

There is a revolution happening in the practice of anthropology. A new field of 'indigenous knowledge' is emerging, which aims to make local voices hear and ensure that development initiatives meet the needs of indigenous people. Development and Local Knowledge focuses on two major challenges that arise in the discussion of indigenous knowledge - its proper definition and the methodologies appropriate to the exploitation of local knowledge. These concerns are addressed in a range of ethnographic contexts.

Indigenous People and Economic Development

Indigenous People and Economic Development
Author: Katia Iankova
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 428
Release: 2016-03-22
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1317117301

Indigenous peoples are an intrinsic part of countries like Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Finland, USA, India, Russia and almost all parts of South America and Africa. A considerable amount of research has been done during the twentieth century mainly by anthropologists, sociologists and linguists in order to describe, and document their traditional life style for the protection and safeguarding of their established knowledge, skills, languages and beliefs. These communities are engaging and adapting rapidly to the changing circumstances partly caused by post modernisation and the process of globalization. These have led them to aspire to better living standards, as well as preserving their uniqueness, approaches to environment, close proximity to social structures and communities. For at least the last two decades, patterns of increased economic activity by indigenous peoples in many countries have been viewed to be significantly on the rise. Indigenous People and Economic Development reveals some of the characteristics of this economic activity, 'coloured' by the unique regard and philosophy of life that indigenous people around the world have. The successes, difficulties and obstacles to economic development, their solutions and innovative practices in business - all of these elements, based on research findings, are discussed in this book and offer an inside view of the dynamics of the indigenous societies which are evolving in a globalised and highly interconnected contemporary world.