Book Description
African independence launched into international politics a group of the world's poorest, weakest and most artificial states. How have such states managed to survive? To what extent is their survival now threatened? Christopher Clapham shows how an initially supportive international environment has become increasingly threatening to African rulers and the states over which they preside. The author reveals how international conventions designed to uphold state sovereignty have often been appropriated and subverted by rulers to enhance their domestic control, and how African states have been undermined by guerrilla insurgencies and the use of international relations to serve essentially private ends.
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The National Question: Nationalism, Ethnic Conflict, and Self-Determination in the 20th Century
Manufacturer: Temple University Press
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 1566393426 |
Book Description
The class forces that have come to play a central role in directing movements in different socio-political, temporal, and geographic settings are explored in case studies of the political history of nationalist movements in Palestine, Kurdistan, South Africa, Northern Ireland, Puerto Rico, the Basque Country, and Quebec the role of the state in ethnic conflicts in India, China, the former Soviet Union, and the former Yugoslavia the role of women and issues of gender and class in Africa, the Middle East, and Central America.
Book Description
The principle of self-determination has at heart the achievement of true representation and democracy based on the idea that the consent of the governed alone can give government legitimacy. The principle was primarily responsible for the decolonisation process that shaped our current international community. `Self-determination' has been used in equal rhetorical brilliance by a number of leaders -- some meritorious, with a genuine concern for human emancipation, others dubious, with ascendancy to power at the heart of their project. In any case, `self-determination' has come to mean different things in different contexts. Being a vital principle, especially in the post-colonial state, it is one factor that represents a threat to world order while at the same time holding out the promise of longer-term peace and security based on values of democracy, equity and justice. This book looks at the intricacies of the norm in its current ambiguous manifestation and seeks to deconstruct it with regard to three particularly inter-related discourses: that of minority rights, statehood and sovereignty, and the doctrine of uti possidetis which shaped the modern post-colonial state. These norms are then analysed further within two case studies. One, concerning the creation of Bangladesh where `self-determination' was achieved. The second, examines the situation in the Western Sahara where `self-determination' (whatever its manifestation) is yet to be expressed. In the course of these case studies we seek to highlight the problematic nature of `national identity' and the `self' in settings far removed from post-Westphalian Europe.
Customer Reviews:
From a Native Daughter: Colonialism and Sovereignty in Hawaii.......2005-09-15
It is encouraging to have a Hawaiian book on Indigenism that, through the perceptions and words of a Native Hawaiian, reconnects Hawaii with victims world-wide of a 500+ year International Indigenous Holocaust.
This book provides a useful contribution to the efforts of those of us who's goals, in various sectors, include the convergence, without granting a dominant position to either,of Indigenous and Western world views.
Trask is the light for truth.......2005-08-19
"From a Native Daughter" is very intelligently written with strong academic and historical references. Who can fault Trask for being so passionate and angered about Hawaii's wrongful past? For over 110 years, Hawaii has been seized and administered illegally by the United States. The native people have had their culture, their sovereignty, and their spirits taken away. She is demanding a right of sovereignty for this island nation that has been falling on deaf ears for generations.
There have been many interesting comments regarding this book that I've read and some are simply ignorant. No, Haunani Trask is not full Hawaiian but not very many are. One hundred years after Cook 'disovered' Hawaii, the population had been reduced 90% due to disease and cultural shock. There are maybe 5,000 pure Hawaiians left today, and most of them are so disenfranchised they cannot even think of deciding to write a book. Haunani speaks for these people who are powerless.
Another opinion is that her statements have little merit academically. The only revisionism occurring is the glossed tourist culture that is Hawaii today. And for anyone thinking that the wrong done to Hawaiians is not recognized (though very covertly), the Apology Bill signed by Clinton in 1993 displays the American government's fault in the illegal takeover. Interestingly, from this APOLOGY, all programs aimed to serve Hawaiians are being called racist and unfair for non-Hawaiians. This is hyprocrisy in the highest.
Haunani Trask is a racist? Her words are strong and no one can doubt her forceful style. Her political incorrectness is a reflection of how this government has treated the Hawaiians. America does not even recognize Hawaiians as an indigenous people like they do the Native Americans, not to say that Native Americans have a wonderful life either. The United States believes that Hawaiians are not different than other residents of Hawaii and that everyone should have an equal ground. It sounds so altruistic, but its destructive for native peoples. The Hawaiians have been here since the beginning of creation according to their religion. They practiced their culture, cared for the land, and lived in dignity over a thousand years before Cook landed. What are the results since the arrival: their language was banned, their religion was banned, their kingdom was annexed illegally, their people are still suffering today.
I have a brief personal story. I had many relatives and friends on my father's dad's side that lived on a very rural and peaceful area named Makua on Oahu (except for the live military firing that is destroying very rare endemic plants and cultural sites sacred to Hawaiians). They were the kindest Hawaiian people who lived off the land and the sea not bothering anyone. My grandfather was one of these Hawaiians and I loved all of our friends and relatives there. They bothered no one and lived traditional Hawaiians lives, very simple and generous. They weren't homeless like many claimed, they were living simply and beautifully. About 7 years ago, the state said that these people were trespassing on public lands and the tourists did not feel comfortable going there. They were forced off the beaches, many of them having to pack their tents and their belongings and travel somewhere else, a somewhere that does not welcome this lifestyle. A memorable picture is that of the bulldozers coming in and threatening to raze their campsites. So these Hawaiians, with their little piece of land, perhaps the last place of refuge for the Hawaiians, were scattered into streetcorners and alleys. I will never forget what happened to the people in the place I also called home, so symbolic of the Hawaiian people who continue to be subjugated to American interests.
I know that story seemed like a non-sequitor, but I wanted to share an intimate example of how much hurt Hawaiians have endured and continue to endure. Hawaiians are homeless, have the worst health statistics in the state, have the highest prison attendance, the list goes on. If Hawaiians will ever be heard fairly, I do not know. It is a quiet genocide amidst the hula girls and luaus that are at best distant replicas of who the Hawaiians really were.
If there is any injustice in this book, it's in the people who do not venture out of their perspectives and feel the tears and struggle saturated in the pages. Haunani Trask had a purpose with this book: To roar with anger and sadness for a people who live like tiny fireflies fighting the darkness of a long moonless night.
What it is we should know........2005-08-19
Many have critiqued Professor Trask's work for being "self-serving," "overly angry," "racist" or worse. These reviewers seem to miss the point that Trask is speaking from a highly personal though richly considered narrative position and not writing a history of Hawaii. In fact, to my recollection Professor Trask never claims to be writing history, but righting it.
This book which I picked up during a visit to Hawaii was a compelling read both in the freshness of its perspective and, quite frankly, in the newness of the ideas it lays out. Few of us are actually familiar with the story of how Hawaii came to be a US state and fewer still understand the incredibly destructive and deculturating impact this had on the people who had lived in Hawaii for centuries prior to European arrival. Trask begins to explore these latter issues in this book, carefully exposing and then analyzing practices which reflect the attitudes and actions of colonial powers as they influence Native Hawaiian life today.
It may be difficult, even angering, for non-Hawaiians, like myself, to read this work but these reactions do not release us from the responsibility to understand and enage with the lived reality of Native Hawaiians. I highly recommend this book to anyone considering a vaction in Hawaii.
Alienation does not equal liberation..........2004-10-28
Although I think that what Professor Trask has to say definitely has validity and is a very important history to learn about, I also sense as a mainland-born, non-Hawaiian female, that her visceral anger and pain burn virtually all of the non-Hawaiian readers in her path. Hanauni-Kay Trask presents the bleak reality of Hawaii's history with colonizers, assorted oppressors, land developers and pollution and why it should not only be a sovereign, independent nation but that no one should come there looking for Don Ho and pina coladas, like the ad campaigns would have us believe. In fact, Haunani informs us--without mincing words--that the Non-Hawaiian presence is not welcome in any of the Hawaiian islands.
When I first digested her view of visitors to her Hawaii and the vast layers of corruption that have displaced her people, I shared her rage (even though I know she would never believe that, upon seeing me). Now, two years later, I really ask how she hoped to change the bleak situation through writing this book. It seems to me, she practices the same racist ideology that the colonists practiced when they took over in the first place! I know many would challenge my point and argue that she is merely taking back what is rightfully hers. I think that venom breeds more venom, and, in turn, that venom poisons all of us. (Hawaiians and non-Hawaiians)
Whether many of us want to admit it or not, we are all connected on an inner level as human beings, brothers and sisters on this planet, who have all been hurt, abused, or deceived in some way. This common bond also divides us. We choose to resolve or confront this pain in different ways. While some of us start wars, hold grudges with people who share the same eyes or skin color of our oppressors, and continue to be driven by our inherited anger from the generations or directly experienced discrimination; others come to accept that, regardless of race or national origin, each person on this earth is an individual. Some individuals whose ancestry comes from the oppressor are actually working to overthrow this system of oppression in a sincere and humble manner. It saddens me that Haunani cannot see that for herself and that her rage for the non-indigenous people continues with such force. It might surprise Professor Trask to know that there are numerous groups of non-Indigenous people who have experienced the same level of oppression her ancestors (and she) have had to face. Many of those on the receiving end of the violent genocides (the Holocaust, for example), bloody and ruthless revolutions (Russian as an example) and ethnic cleansings (the situation between Serbs and Croats) did not flee their countries to impose oppression on others. They came seeking sanctuary and an opportunity to culture peace and justice around them. I hope Haunani Kay-Trask will realize that we all really ARE struggling together.
Narcisism and Self-righteous Anger Do not a Scholar make........2002-04-07
Trask's writing is shocking. Her book presents an interesting alternative view of Hawaiian history as well as an interesting critique of Western thought (especially history and anthropology).
Unfortunately Trask's militant sensationalism, and self serving narcisism creep in and very nearly ruin the entire book. The pages are filled with self-glorifying pictures of Trask and her political pals. The articles focus almost entirely on Trask's own political actions, ignoring all other movements and all previous scholarship.
Trask's opinions are of course "interesting", but they are not based on any sort of sound historical or scientific evidence. The little bits of flimsy evidence she does cite are almost laughable in light of the kind of re-evalutations she is pushing for. Are the lyrics of a single song really proper cause for an entire re-evaluation of historical theory?
There are some very large holes in her arguments. So large, in fact, that virtually no scholars, american, European or otherwise, take her work seriously. In reality, very few native Hawaiians take her or her politics seriously either
Trask's personality really casts her argument into a deep, dark shadow. It's unfortunate that a more level headed person didn't undertake the writing of this book because it is actually quite interesting, and even enlightening at times.
Book Description
The inspirational story of the extraordinary gains by Indian tribes over the past half-century.
For generations, Indian people suffered a grinding poverty and political and cultural suppression on the reservations. But tenacious and visionary tribal leaders refused to give in. They knew their rights and insisted that the treaties be honored. Against all odds, beginning shortly after World War II, they began to succeed. The modern tribal sovereignty movement deserves to be spoken of in the same breath as the civil rights, environmental, and women's movements.
Charles Wilkinson recounts in colorful terms tribal victories in major legal conflicts in contemporary America: the Indian land claims in Maine and other eastern states, the "salmon wars" of the Pacific Northwest, and the establishment of tribal casinos as a way of making inroads into poverty. Blood Struggle explores how Indian tribes took their hard-earned sovereignty—their right to self-determination—and put it to work for Indian peoples and the perpetuation of Indian culture.
Finally, this is the story of wrongs righted and noble ideals upheld. 20 illustrations, 16 maps.
Customer Reviews:
Brilliant History.......2007-08-14
There have been a number of first person accounts of the struggles of the American Indian in the U.S. Among these are Russel Means' Where White Men Fear to Tread: The Autobiography of Russell Means, Dennis Banks' Ojibwa Warrior: Dennis Banks And The Rise Of The American Indian Movement. General histories have examined similar subjects such as In the Spirit of Crazy Horse, Incident at Oglala - The Leonard Peltier Story.
But this is the most thorough story of the movement of America's Indian nations towards self rule since 1960. The first portion of the book gives an introduction to American policy towards native tribes, from various treaties to the reservation system and in 1953, the policy of termination or ending government subsidies. The book is made up fo sketches of political battles in Washington and descriptions of the fate of the tribes and their leaders. A vast number of tribes are described and their vairous struggles. Maps are provided for mnay of the tribes.
As the author notes "the modern tribal sovereignty movement has had no single great inspiration leader...Indian country contains 500 seperate and independent peoples.(page 106)" An appendix gives a list of all these tribes.
Interesting chapters detail the Taos Pueblo and their victory in receiving lands. The story of the Alaskan attempt to free their lands led to an act in 1971 that returned 45 million acres to the people. Court cases are described such as Merion v. Jacarilla Apache that helped shape the question of sovereign rights among tribes.
The scale and breadth of this study is amazing, it examines topics such as the preservation of language and the intricate details of tribal government. An amazing work.
Seth J. Frantzman
The struggle for Indian rights from an Indian point of view.......2006-11-21
Wilkinson writes a very good overview of the Indian rights movement in the U.S., and how the various tribes, though still lagging overall American standards in many ways, have made economic gains and, above all, self-determination gains, in the last 50 years.
It is true that Wilkinson does overlook the degree of non-Indian hostility to such things as enforcement of off-reservation hunting and fishing rights. He also, to counter the angle of this (and not being an environmenetalist), does not look at how the enforcement of these rights has been used as a scapegoat by Anglos for overhunting, overfishing, and overextraction of other resources such as timber in other Anglo-Indian conflicts.
Another slim area of coverage is the American Indian Movement. Just what was the tension between the more urban, but not anywhere near "urbanized," AIM and reservation tribes? What's Wilkinson's final assessment of how much good, or harm, it did?
Finally, Wilkinson does dive into intra-tribal conflict as much as he could. With the Hopi, for example, he briefly mentions tension between a Washington-driven Hopi constitution and tribal council, on the one hand, and the traditional council of elders, on the other, but never brings to life the depth of this tension, and even conflict, over an issue like Black Mesa.
In other words, this book could well have stood another 50-70 pages and not have been overwritten.
But, enjoy it for what it is.
A remarkable true story of can-do vindication.......2005-06-11
Blood Struggle: The Rise Of Modern Indian Nations is the compelling true story of how Indian nations successfully asserted themselves and fought for their rights, including land ownership, salmon fishing, religion, gaming, and self-determination. After the end of World War II, when the American government coveted Indian land, a process called "termination" - a plan to sell off tribal land, disband tribes, and assimilate Native Americans - threatened to effectively native cultures. Yet beginning with a campaign in which Pueblo people persuaded Congress to return their sacred Blue Lake, one by one, Indian tribes started to speak up and call for their rights. These were battles that could be fought and won not by violence, but through politics, and the fruits of victory were reduced poverty, improved health, a lessening of the all-too-common adoption of Indian children out of Indian families, the creation of schools and colleges, the freedom to practice Native American religions and more. A remarkable true story of can-do vindication, and enthusiastically recommended for Native American modern history and reference shelves.
A History of Indian Self-Determination.......2005-05-18
The second half of the Twentieth Century was a period of great social upheaval in the United States. The changes wrought by the Civil Rights, women's, environmental, and anti-war movements are well-known. Perhaps less well-known, but of great importance, are the changes brought about by American Indian Tribes as they sought to organize their governments, implement and determine their treaty rights, and revitalize their traditional cultures. The story of tribal self-determination is told with eloquence and passion by Professor Charles Wilkinson in his recent book, "Blood Struggle: The Rise of Modern Indian Nations" (2005). Professor Wilkinson is a Distinguished University Professor at the University of Colorado School of Law and the author of twelve books dealing with Indian affairs and with the American West. He is also a distinguished advocate and has worked as counsel to many Indian tribes on matters discussed in this book.
In his comprehensive and readable history, Professor Wilkinson places the self-determination movement against the backdrop of earlier Indian policy. He begins with the General Allotment Act of 1887 in which Congress provided for the division of Reservation lands to individual Indians with the goal of assimilating the Indians into the broader society and selling-off the tribal land base. He follows this with a discussion of Indian policy during the New Deal which partly reversed this trend but which lead to the policy of termination in the 1950s and early 1960s. The termination policy was also assimilationist in nature and had the goal of ending Federal supervision of and the special Federal relationship to Indian tribes. The tribes succeeded in reversing the termination policy when, in 1973, Congress passed a law restoring the Federal relationship to the Menominee Tribe of Wisconsin. Professor Wilkinson was instrumental in securing this legislation.
Professor Wilkinson offers an intellectual, legal, and cultural history of Indian self-determination. His book is full of stories and anecdotes of tribal people and their leaders: this multi-dimensional approach brings his study to life. I learned a great deal from his discussion of the work of three influential Indian writers: Charles Eastman, Black Hawk, (primarily in the famous book "Black Elk Speaks" by John Neihardt) and Darcy McNickle. Wilkinson's treatment of these writers provides a good understanding to the tribal movement and is frequently overlooked in other treatments of this subject.
Professor Wilkinson offers well-paced accounts of the Indian attempted takeovers at Alcatraz and of portions of the BIA buildings in Washington, D.C. in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The book discusses, with the perspective of the insider, the salmon fishing litigation in the Northwest in which tribes secured a recognition of their treaty rights (the "Boldt" decision), the story of Indian land claims in the Northeast, tribal efforts to restore land unjustly taken from them and much else. He discusses the shifting fortunes of Indian litigants in recent years before the Supreme Court of the United States. The book also covers tribal business endeavors in such areas as forest management, resorts, oil and gas pipelines, and most recently and controversially, casino gambling.
Professor Wilkinson writes with a mastery of his subject and a deep commitment to the rightness of Indian causes. This is the source of great strength and eloquence in the book but also the source of some questions. At times, Professor Wilkinson doesn't let the reader see that there are (at least) two sides to every question. Too often, objections to the tribal position in various matters are swept aside or belittled. Tribal positions on various separate issues are indiscriminately lumped together with little effort to distinguish what is valuable with what is questionable. In his effort to set forth what he deems to be the values of Indian culture ( a slow-pace of life, living close to the land, a spiritual tie to land and community, environmentalism) Professor Wilkinson perhaps simplifies and romanticizes many individual cultures which differ widely from each other. Conversely, he oversimplifies and is overly critical of life in the broader United States which Professor Wilkinson finds conformist, materialistic, and destructive, and intolerant of differences. There is too much easy caricature here on both sides and, I think, too great a stress on the values of ethnicity and nationalism. The interplay and relationship between a traditional and a common culture is an important question faced by every group in the United States and deserves closer thought than it receives in this study.
Professor Wilkinson's study teaches a great deal about the development of Indian tribes and institutions in our recent history. The book held my interest and deeply moved me. It will encourage the reader to think about a part of our Nation's history and its present that is too often ignored.
Book Description
The concept of self-determination has played a very important role in the shaping of the international community in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It is closely linked in a number of different ways to the status of minorities and minorities frequently make claims to self-determination as a right for themselves. This meticulously researched book explores the relationship between self-determination and minority rights in international law. It is highly detailed in its treatment of the subject, discussing very recent events, such as the atrocities in the former Yugoslavia, in a valuable historical context. His analysis of the issues provide the reader with a significant clarification of the legal issues involved, especially since the establishment of the UN and the development of international norms of human rights. As such, the book will hold particular appeal for all those who are interested in international law and politics, as well as students of modern history wishing to be informed on this hotly debated issue.
Customer Reviews:
Great book on self-determination and minority rights........2003-04-28
Australian legal scholar Musgrave explores the relationship between self-determination and minority rights in international law, clarifying the issues involved, especially since the establishment of the United Nations and the development of international norms of human rights. He includes a treatment of the dissolution of Yugoslavia within a historical context, and discusses the origins of national consciousness, developments up to World War II, international instruments and judicial decisions, the practice of states, the protection of minorities, the definition of the term people, secession, irredentism, and historical title
Book Description
This book deals with the perennial tensions between ethnic groups and the modern nation-state and does so from the perspective of a leading Mexican anthropologist with deep and long experience in these matters. As such, it is both a superb introduction to the basic issues and a presentation of the author's own original contributions. The appearance of this book in English gives North American readers access to these important and political currents in Latin American anthropology and political economy. It is required reading for anyone wishing to understand the current recrudescence of indigenous peoples at this moment in history-when conventional wisdom had predicted its demise.
Book Description
Sovereignty Matters investigates the multiple perspectives that exist within indigenous communities regarding the significance of sovereignty as a category of intellectual, political, and cultural work. Much scholarship to date has treated sovereignty in geographical and political matters solely in terms of relationships between indigenous groups and their colonial states or with a bias toward American contexts. This groundbreaking anthology of essays by indigenous peoples from the Americas and the Pacific offers multiple perspectives on the significance of sovereignty.
The noted Mohawk scholar Taiaiake Alfred provides a landmark essay on the philosophical foundations of sovereignty and the need for the decolonization of indigenous thinking about governance. Other essays explore the role of sovereignty in fueling cultural memory, theories of history and change, spiritual connections to the land, language revitalization, and repatriation efforts. These topics are examined in varied yet related contexts of indigenous struggles for self-determination, including those of the Chamorro of Guam, the Taíno of Puerto Rico, the Quechua of the Andes, the Mäori of New Zealand (Aotearoa), the Samoan Islanders, and the Kanaka Maoli and the Makah of the United States. Several essays also consider the politics of identity and identification.
Sovereignty Matters emphasizes the relatedness of indigenous peoples' experiences of genocide, dispossession, and assimilation as well as the multiplicity of indigenous political and cultural agendas and perspectives regarding sovereignty.
Customer Reviews:
Finally, an collection of Indigenous writings on sovereignty.......2006-01-15
Evo Morales is elected the first Ingigenous president of Bolivia and the Indigenous people's movement of Mexico is on the march. Around the world activists and movement intellectuals have been making history by moving Indigenous peoples' struggles to the forefront of grass-roots politics. Accompanying these developments has been a lively and challenging discussion about Sovereignty in relationship to the Nationstate, global capital, cultural production, feminism and sexuality, eco-politics and so on. English-speaking activists and movement intellectuals can now access the currents of those discussions thanks to this anthology. Bringing together writings from North America, New Zealand/Aotearoa, Puerto Rico. Samoa, etc, this book is an excellent crash course in the terms of the debates around Sovereignty. Given the recent currency Sovereignty has received thanks to struggles in Latin America as well as recent writings by philosophers like Virno, Negri and Balibar, here's a book that offers an approach to Sovereignty from the perspective of Indigenous activists and scholars themselves. This book couldn't have come at a better time!
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