Indigenous Peoples and Borders

The legacies of borders are far-reaching for Indigenous Peoples. This collection offers new ways of understanding borders by departing from statist approaches to territoriality. Bringing together the fields of border studies, human rights, international relations, and Indigenous studies, it features a wide range of voices from across academia, public policy, and civil society. They explore the profound and varying impacts of borders on Indigenous Peoples around the world and the ways borders are challenged and worked around. From Bangladesh’s colonially imposed militarized borders to resource extraction in the Russian Arctic and along the Colombia-Ecuador border to the transportation of toxic pesticides from the United States to Mexico, the essays examine sovereignty, power, and the obstruction to Indigenous rights and self-determination as well as globalization and the economic impacts of borders. Indigenous Peoples and Borders proposes future action that is informed by Indigenous Peoples’ voices, needs, and advocacy. Contributors. Tone Bleie, Andrea Carmen, Jacqueline Gillis, Rauna Kuokkanen, Elifuraha Laltaika, Sheryl Lightfoot, David Bruce MacDonald, Toa Elisa Maldonado Ruiz, Binalakshmi “Bina” Nepram, Melissa Z. Patel, Manoel B. do Prado Junior, Hana Shams Ahmed, Elsa Stamatopoulou, Liubov Suliandziga, Rodion Sulyandziga, Yifat Susskind, Erika M. Yamada

“This insightful and important volume offers readers, teachers, scholars, and students a collection of essays that widen our understanding of the global phenomenon of Indigenous People’s politics. Indigenous Peoples and Borders is a singular, well-structured source for teaching and analyzing Indigenous studies through a comparative and global perspective. It will become a go-to book for the field.”, “This volume tackles important, current, and novel topics in view of the current neoliberal challenges faced by Indigenous communities worldwide, from human rights and genocide of Indigenous peoples to the experiences of Indigenous women and children to sovereignty and nationhood. Indigenous Peoples and Borders will be very valuable for courses in Indigenous studies, political science, history, international studies, globalization, neoliberalism, and human rights.”

Sheryl Lightfoot is Professor of Political Science at the University of British Columbia and author of Global Indigenous Politics: A Subtle Revolution. She was Canada Research Chair of Global Indigenous Rights and Politics from 2013 to 2023. Elsa Stamatopoulou is Director of the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Program at the Institute for the Study of Human Rights at Columbia University and author of Cultural Rights in International Law. She became the first Chief of the Secretariat of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in 2003.