Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T06:07:02.322Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

From Indigenous Economies to Market-Based Self-Governance: A Feminist Political Economy Analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 June 2011

Rauna Kuokkanen
Rauna Kuokkanen*
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
*
Rauna Kuokkanen, Department of Political Science and Aboriginal Studies Program, North Borden Building, 563 Spadina Avenue, University of Toronto, Toronto ON, M5S 2J7, [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Abstract. This paper examines the apparent contradiction between the current tendency of many Indigenous groups and their political institutions to embrace the capitalist economic model as the one and only solution in establishing contemporary Indigenous self-governance, on the one hand, and on the other, the detrimental force of the market economy on Indigenous societies, past and present. The starting point is the following question. If the global market economy historically played a significant role in the loss of political and economic autonomy of Indigenous societies and women, how meaningful or sustainable is it to seek to (re)build contemporary Indigenous governance on the very economic model that was largely responsible for undermining it in the first place? Shouldn't this history be taken into consideration when discussing and shaping models and policies for contemporary Indigenous governance and hence be more critical of the standard economic development frameworks hailed as the path toward self-governance?

Résumé. Cet article examine l'apparente contradiction entre la tendance actuelle de nombreux groupes autochtones et de leurs institutions politiques à adopter le modèle économique capitaliste contemporain en tant que seule et unique solution pour constituer une autonomie gouvernementale autochtone d'une part, et de l'autre, les forces néfastes de l'économie de marché dans les sociétés autochtones, passées et présentes. Au départ, se pose la question suivante : si l'économie de marché mondiale a historiquement joué un rôle important dans la perte d'autonomie politique et économique des sociétés autochtones et des femmes, jusqu'à quel point est-il pertinent ou viable de chercher à bâtir ou à rebâtir l'autonomie gouvernementale contemporaine des peuples autochtones sur le même modèle économique qui a été largement responsable de la saper en premier lieu? Cette dimension historique ne devrait-elle pas être prise en considération lors de l'examen et de l'élaboration des modèles et des politiques de gouvernance autochtone contemporains et, par conséquent, inciter à une vision plus critique des cadres de développement économique convenus qui sont salués comme le chemin vers l'autogouvernance?

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique , Volume 44 , Issue 2 , June 2011 , pp. 275 - 297
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Political Science Association 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Albers, Patricia. 1983. “Sioux Women in Transition: A Study of Their Changing Status in a Domestic and Capitalist Sector of Production.” In The Hidden Half: Studies of Plains Indian Women, ed. Albers, Patricia and Medicine, Beatrice. Lanham MD: University Press of America.Google Scholar
Alfred, Taiaiake. 1999. Peace, Power, Righteousness: An Indigenous Manifesto. Toronto: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Alfred, Taiaiake. 2005. Wasáse: Indigenous Pathways of Action and Freedom. Peterborough ON: Broadview Press.Google Scholar
Altamirano-Jimenez, Isabel. 2007. “Indigenous Peoples and the Topography of Gender in Mexico and Canada.” In Remapping Gender in the New Global Order, ed. Cohen, Marjorie Griffin and Brodie, Janine. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Amnesty International. 2004. Stolen Sisters: A Human Rights Response to Discrimination and Violence against Indigenous Women in Canada. Ottawa: Amnesty International.Google Scholar
Anderson, Karen. 1987. “A Gendered World: Women, Men and the Political Economy of the Seventeenth-Century Huron.” In Feminism and Political Economy: Women's Work, Women's Struggles, ed. Maroney, Heather Jon and Luxton, Meg. Toronto: Methuen.Google Scholar
Anderson, Karen. 1991. Chain Her by One Foot. The Subjugation of Native Women in Seventeenth-Century New France. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Anderson, Kim. 2000. A Recognition of Being: Reconstructing Native Womanhood. Toronto: Second Story Press.Google Scholar
Anderson, Robert B., Dana, Leo Paul and Dana, Teresa E.. 2006. “Indigenous Land Rights, Entrepreneurship, and Economic Development in Canada: ‘Opting-in’ to the Global Economy.” Journal of World Business 41(1): 45–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Archibald, Linda and Crnkovich, Mary. 1999. If Gender Mattered: A Case Study of Inuit Women, Land Claims and the Voisey's Bay Nickel Project. Ottawa: Status of Women Canada.Google Scholar
Bakker, Isabella, ed. 1994. The Strategic Silence: Gender and Economic Policy. London: Zed Books.Google Scholar
Barndt, Deborah, ed. 1999. Women Working the NAFTA Food Chain. Women, Food and Globalization. Toronto: Second Story Press.Google Scholar
Becker, Marc. 2004. “Indigenous Communists and Urban Intellectuals in Cayambe, Ecuador (1926–1944).” In Popular Intellectuals and Social Movements: Framing Protests in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, ed. Baud, Michiel and Rutten, Rosanne. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Beneria, Lourdes. 2003. Gender, Development and Globalization: Economics as if All People Mattered. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Berger, Thomas R. 1985. Village Journey: The Report of the Alaska Native Review Commission. New York: Hill and Wang.Google Scholar
Berman, Tressa. 2004. “'All We Needed Was Our Gardens': Women's Work and Welfare Reform in the Reservation Economy.” In Native Pathways: American Indian Culture and Economic Development in the Twentieth Century, ed. O'Neill, Colleen M. and Hosmer, Brian C.. Boulder CO: University Press of Colorado.Google Scholar
Bezanson, Kate and Luxton, Meg, eds. 2006. Social Reproduction: Feminist Political Economy Challenges Neo-Liberalism. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bourgeault, Ron. 1983. “The Indian, the Metis and the Fur Trade: Class, Sexism and Racism in the Transition from ‘Communism’ to Capitalism.” Studies in Political Economy 12 (Fall): 45–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bourgeault, Ron. 1989. “Race, Class and Gender: Colonial Domination of Indian Women.” In Race, Class, Gender: Bonds and Barriers, ed. Vorst, Jesse. Toronto: Between the Lines and Society for Socialist Studies.Google Scholar
Brodie, Janine. 1995. Politics on the Margins: Restructuring and the Canadian Women's Movement. Toronto: Harcourt Brace.Google Scholar
Buenadventura-Posso, Elisa and Brown, Susan E.. 1980. “Forced Transition from Egalitarianism to Male Domination: The Bari of Colombia.” In Women and Colonization: Anthropological Perspectives, ed. Etienne, Mona and Leacock, Eleanor. New York: Praeger.Google Scholar
Clarke, Tony. 2008. Tar Sands Showdown: Canada and the Politics of Oil in an Age of Climate Change. Toronto: James Lorimer.Google Scholar
Cohen, Marjorie Griffin and Brodie, Janine, eds. 2007. Remapping Gender in the New Global Order. New York: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coolican, Murray. 1986. Living Treaties, Lasting Agreements. Report of the Task Force to Review Comprehensive Claims Policy. Ottawa: Department of Indian and Northern Affairs.Google Scholar
Cornell, Stephen. 2005. “Indigenous Peoples, Poverty and Self-Determination in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States.” In Indigenous Peoples and Poverty: An International Perspective, ed. Eversole, Robyn, McNeish, John-Andrew and Cimadamore, Alberto D.. New York: Zed Books.Google Scholar
Cornell, Stephen, Curtis, Catherine and Jorgensen, Miriam. 2003. The Concept of Governance and Its Implications for First Nations: A Report to the British Columbia Regional Vice-Chief, Assembly of First Nations. Tucson AZ: Native Nations Institute for Leadership, Management and Policy.Google Scholar
Cornell, Stephen and Kalt, Joseph P.. 1998. “Sovereignty and Nation-Building: The Development Challenge in Indian Country Today.” American Indian Culture and Research Journal 22(3): 187–214.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cornet, Wendy. 2001. “First Nations Governance, the Indian Act and Women's Equality Rights.” In First Nations Women, Governance and the Indian Act: A Collection of Policy Research Reports. Ottawa: Status of Women Canada.Google Scholar
Coulter, Kendra. 2009. “Women, Poverty Policy, and the Production of Neoliberal Politics in Ontario, Canada.” Journal of Women, Politics & Policy 30(1): 23–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Denetdale, Jennifer. 2006. “Chairmen, Presidents, and Princesses: The Navajo Nation, Gender, and the Politics of Tradition.” Wicazo Sa Review 21(1): 9–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunaway, Wilma A. 2000. “Women at Risk: Capitalist Incorporation and Community Transformation on the Cherokee Frontier.” In A World-Systems Reader: New Perspectives on Gender, Urbanism, Cultures, Indigenous Peoples and Ecology, ed. Hall, Thomas D.. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Eikjok, Jorunn. 2000. “Indigenous Women in the North. The Struggle for Rights and Feminism.” Indigenous Affairs 3: 38–41.Google Scholar
Elias, Peter Douglas. 1995. “Northern Economies.” In Northern Aboriginal Communities: Economies and Development, ed. Elias, Peter Douglas. North York, ON: Captus Press.Google Scholar
Feit, Harvey A. 2005. “Re-Cognizing Co-Management as Co-Governance: Visions and Histories of Conservation at James Bay.” Anthropologica 47(2): 267–88.Google Scholar
Findlay, Isobel M. and Wuttunee, Wanda. 2007. “Aboriginal Women's Community and Economic Development: Measuring and Promoting Success.” IRPP Choices 13(4): 4–26.Google Scholar
Fiske, Jo-Anne. 1988. “Fishing Is Women's Business: Changing Economic Roles of Carrier Women and Men.” In Native People, Native Lands: Canadian Indians, Inuit and Métis, ed. Cox, Bruce Alden. Ottawa: Carleton University Press.Google Scholar
Fiske, Jo-Anne. 2008. “Constitutionalizing the Space to Be Aboriginal Women: The Indian Act and the Struggle for First Nations Citizenship.” In Aboriginal Self-Government in Canada: Current Trends and Issues, ed. Belanger, Yale. Saskatoon: Purich.Google Scholar
FNWSRM Press Release. 2010. “First Nations Women Seek Sensitive Mining Companies for Meaningful Long-Term Relationships.” January 18.Google Scholar
Fontaine, Nahanni. 2002. “Aboriginal Women's Perspective on Self-Government.” Canadian Dimension 6: 10–11.Google Scholar
Francis, Daniel and Morantz, Toby. 1983. Partners in Furs: A History of the Fur Trade in Eastern James Bay, 1600–1870. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gagné, Marie-Anik. 1994. “Becoming a Periphery: The James Bay Cree from 1600–1920.” In A Nation within a Nation: Dependency and the Cree. Montreal: Black Rose Books.Google Scholar
Green, Joyce. 1985. “Sexual Equality and Indian Government: An Analysis of Bill C-31 Amendments of the Indian Act.” Native Studies Review 1(2): 81–95.Google Scholar
Green, Joyce. 2002. “Decolonizing in the Era of Globalization.” Canadian Dimension 1: 31–33.Google Scholar
Green, Joyce. 2004. “Cultural and Ethnic Fundamentalism. Identity, Liberation and Oppression.” In Contesting Fundamentalisms, ed. Schick, Carol, Jaffe, JoAnn and Watkinson, Ailsa M.. Halifax NS: Fernwood.Google Scholar
Green, Joyce and Voyageur, Cora. 1999. “Globalization and Development at the Bottom.” In Feminists Doing Development: A Practical Critique, ed. Porter, Marilyn and Judd, Ellen. London: Zed Books.Google Scholar
Hall, Anthony. 2003. The American Empire and the Fourth World. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press.Google Scholar
Harder, Lois. 2003. State of Struggle: Feminism and Politics in Alberta. Edmonton: University of Alberta Press.Google Scholar
Hull, Jeremy. 2006. “Aboriginal Women: A Profile from the 2001 Census.” In Report Prepared for Women's Issues and Gender Equality Directorate. Ottawa: Indian and Northern Affairs Canada.Google Scholar
Irlbacher-Fox, Stephanie. 2009. Finding Dahshaa. Self-Government, Social Suffering, and Aboriginal Policy in Canada. Vancouver: UBC Press.Google Scholar
Johnstone, Harvey. 2008. “Membertou First Nation Indigenous People Succeeding as Entrepreneurs.” Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy 2(2): 140–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klein, Alan. 1983. “The Political Economy of Gender: A 19th-Century Plains Indian Case Study.” In The Hidden Half: Studies of Plains Indian Women, ed. Albers, Patricia and Medicine, Beatrice. Lanham MD: University Press of America.Google Scholar
Klein, Laura F. 1980. “Contending with Colonization: Tlingit Men and Women in Change.” In Women and Colonization: Anthropological Perspectives, ed. Etienne, Mona and Leacock, Eleanor. New York: Praeger.Google Scholar
Kuokkanen, Rauna. 2008. “Globalization as Racialized, Sexualized Violence: The Case of Indigenous Women.” International Feminist Journal of Politics 10(2): 216–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leacock, Eleanor. 1980. “Montagnais Women and the Jesuit Programme for Colonization.” In Women and Colonization: Anthropological Perspectives, ed. Etienne, Mona and Leacock, Eleanor. New York: Praeger.Google Scholar
Littlefield, Lorraine. 1987. “Women Traders in the Maritime Fur Trade.” In Native People, Native Lands: Canadian Indians, Inuit and Metis, ed. Cox, Bruce Aldon. Ottawa: Carleton University Press.Google Scholar
MacDonald, Martha. 1999. “Restructuring, Gender and Social Security Reform in Canada.” Journal of Canadian Studies 34(2): 57–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mander, Jerry and Tauli-Corpuz, Victoria, eds. 2006. Paradigm Wars: Indigenous Peoples' Resistance to Globalization. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books and University of California Press.Google Scholar
Manuel, Arthur. 2003. “Aboriginal Rights on the Ground: Making Section 35 Meaningful.” In Box of Treasures or Empty Box? 20 Years of Section 35, ed. Walkem, Ardith and Halie, Bruce. Penticton BC: Theytus Books.Google Scholar
Marchand, Marianne H. and Sisson Rynyan, Anne, eds. 2000. Gender and Global Restructuring. Sightings, Sites and Resistances. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Martin-Hill, Dawn. 2008. The Lubicon Lake Nation: Indigenous Knowledge and Power. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCue, June. 1998. “Treaty-Making from an Indigenous Perspective: A Ned'u'ten-Canadian Treaty Model.” Master's thesis, University of British Columbia, Vancouver BC.Google Scholar
McIvor, Sharon. 1995. “Aboriginal Women's Rights as Existing Rights.” Canadian Woman Studies 15(2-3): 34–38.Google Scholar
M'Closkey, Kathy. 2004. “The Devil's in the Details: Tracing the Fingerprints of Free Trade and Its Effects on Navajo Weavers.” In Native Pathways: American Indian Culture and Economic Development in the Twentieth Century, ed. O'Neill, Colleen M. and Hosmer, Brian C.. Boulder CO.: University Press of Colorado.Google Scholar
Membertou Nation. 2008. The Success Story of Membertou. http://www.membertou.ca/success_story.asp (January 31).Google Scholar
Mihesuah, Devon. 2003. Indigenous American Women: Decolonization, Empowerment, Activism. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.Google Scholar
Monture, Patricia A. 2004. “The Right of Inclusion. Aboriginal Rights and/or Aboriginal Women?” In Advancing Aboriginal Claims. Visions, Strategies, Directions, ed. Wilkins, Kerry. Saskatoon: Purich.Google Scholar
Monture-Angus, Patricia. 1995. Thunder in My Soul: A Mohawk Woman Speaks. Halifax NS: Fernwood.Google Scholar
Moss, Wendy. 1990. “Indigenous Self-Government in Canada and Sexual Equality under the Indian Act: Resolving Conflicts between Collective and Individual Rights.” Queen's Law Journal 15(2): 279–305.Google Scholar
Mowbray, Martin. 2006. “Localizing Responsibility: The Application of the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development to Australia.” Australian Journal of Social Issues 41(1): 87–103.Google Scholar
Nahanee, Teressa. 1993. “Dancing with a Gorilla: Aboriginal Women and the Charter.” In Aboriginal Peoples and the Justice System: Report of the National Round Table on Aboriginal Justice Issues Canada. Ottawa: Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples.Google Scholar
Natcher, David C. 2009. “Subsistence and the Social Economy of Canada's Aboriginal North.” The Northern Review 30(Spring): 83–98.Google Scholar
Newhouse, David R. 1993. “Modern Aboriginal Economics: Capitalism with an Aboriginal Face.” In Sharing the Harvest, the Road to Self-Reliance: Report of the National Round Table on Aboriginal Economic Development and Resources. Ottawa: Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples.Google Scholar
NWAC. 1991. Aboriginal Women, Self-Government and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Ottawa: Native Women's Association of Canada.Google Scholar
NWAC. 2004. The Native Women's Association of Canada Background Document for the Canada-Aboriginal Peoples Roundtable Economic Opportunities Sectoral Session. Ottawa: Native Women's Association of Canada.Google Scholar
NWAC. 2008. Leadership Creation: Economic Development and Removing Barriers, Self-Government and Traditional Knowledge/Governance. Policy Paper. Ottawa: Native Women's Association of Canada.Google Scholar
O'Neill, Colleen M. 2004. “Rethinking Modernity and the Discourse of Development in American Indian History, an Introduction.” In Native Pathways: American Indian Culture and Economic Development in the Twentieth Century, eds. O'Neill, Colleen M. and Hosmer, Brian C.. Boulder CO: University Press of Colorado.Google Scholar
Paine, Robert. 1977. The White Arctic: Anthropological Essays on Tutelage and Ethnicity. St John's: Institute of Social and Economic Research.Google Scholar
Perkins, Tara. 2010. “First Nations, CEOs Signal New Era.”Globe and Mail (Toronto), January 19.Google Scholar
Pickering, Kathleen Ann. 2000. Lakota Culture, World Economy. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.Google Scholar
Poppel, Birger. 2006. “Interdependency of Subsistence and Market Economies in the Arctic.” In The Economy of the North, ed. Glomsrød, Solveig and Aslaksen, Iulie. Oslo: Statistics Norway.Google Scholar
Porter, Robert. 1996. “In Troubled Times: A Vision of Nation-Building.” Native Americas 13(4): 52–57.Google Scholar
Ray, A. 1974. Indians in the Fur Trade: Their Role as Hunters, Trappers and Middlemen in the Lands Southwest of Hudson Bay 1660–1870. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.Google Scholar
Ray, A. and Freeman, D.. 1978. “Give Us Good Measure”: An Economic Analysis of the Relations between the Indians and the Hudson's Bay Company before 1763. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
RCAP. 1996. The Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. Ottawa: Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples.Google Scholar
Rude, Darlene and Deiter, Connie. 2004. From the Fur Trade to Free Trade: Forestry and First Nations Women in Canada. Ottawa: Status of Women Canada.Google Scholar
Sassen, Saskia. 2000. “Women's Burden: Counter-Geographies of Globalization and the Feminization of Survival.” Journal of International Affairs 53(2): 503–24.Google Scholar
Satsan (Herb George). 2007. “Afterword.” In Rebuilding Native Nations. Strategies for Governance and Development, ed. Jorgensen, Miriam. Tucson AZ: University of Arizona Press.Google Scholar
Slowey, Gabrielle. 2008a. Navigating Neoliberalism. Self-Determination and the Mikisew Cree First Nation. Vancouver: UBC Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Slowey, Gabrielle. 2008b. “Unfinished Business: Self-Government and the James Bay Northern Quebec Agreement Thirty Years Later.” In Aboriginal Self-Government in Canada: Current Trends and Issues, ed. Belanger, Yale. Saskatoon: Purich.Google Scholar
Smith, Andrea. 2005a. Conquest. Sexual Violence and American Indian Genocide. Boston: South End Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, Andrea. 2005b. “Native American Feminism, Sovereignty, and Social Change.” Feminist Studies 31(1): 116–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stout, Madeleine Dion and Kipling, Gregory D.. 1998. Aboriginal Women in Canada: Strategic Research Directions for Policy Development. Ottawa: Status of Women Canada.Google Scholar
Thistle, Paul Q. 1986. Indian-European Trade Relations in the Lower Saskatchewan River Region to 1840. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press.Google Scholar
Thomas-Müller, Clayton. 2008. “Tar Sands. Environmental Justice, Treaty Rights and Indigenous Peoples.” Canadian Dimension 2(March/April): 11–14.Google Scholar
Timoney, Kevin P. 2007. A Study of Water and Sediment Quality as Related to Public Health Issues, Fort Chipewyan, Alberta. Fort Chipewyan AB: Nunee Health Board Society.Google Scholar
Timoney, Kevin P. and Lee, Peter. 2009. “Does the Alberta Tar Sands Industry Pollute? The Scientific Evidence.” The Open Conservation Biology Journal 3: 65–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trigger, Bruce. 1985. Natives and Newcomers. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press.Google Scholar
United Nations. 2009. State of the World's Indigenous Peoples. New York: United Nations, Secretariat of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.Google Scholar
Van Kirk, Sylvia. 1980. Many Tender Ties: Women in Fur Trade Society in Western Canada, 1670–1870. Winnipeg: Watson and Dwyer.Google Scholar
Venne, Sharon H. 1999. “The Meaning of Sovereignty.” Indigenous Woman 6: 27–30.Google Scholar
Walkem, Ardith and Halie, Bruce, eds. 2003. Box of Treasures or Empty Box? 20 Years of Section 35. Penticton BC: Theytus Books.Google Scholar
Wallis, Maria A. and Kwok, Siu-ming, eds. 2008. Daily Struggles: The Deepening Racialization and Feminization of Poverty in Canada. Toronto: Canadian Scholars' Press.Google Scholar
White, Richard. 1983. The Roots of Dependency: Subsistence, Environment, and Social Change among the Choctaws, Pawnees, and Navajos. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.Google Scholar
Wien, Fred. 2009. “The State of the First Nation Economy and the Struggle to Make Poverty History.” Paper prepared for the Inter-Nation Trade and Economic Summit, Toronto.Google Scholar
Woodford, Peter. 2007. “Health Canada Muzzles Oilsands Whistleblower.” National Review of Medicine 4.6. http://www.nationalreviewofmedicine.com/issue/2007/03_30/4_policy_politics1_6.html (Jan. 31, 2009).Google Scholar
York, Geoffrey. 1990. “Inside the Reserves.” In The Dispossessed: Life and Death in Native Canada. London: Vintage.Google Scholar