INST 430: Indigenous Governance Report a Broken Link

This course introduces students to Indigenous forms and traditions of governance from the perspective of Indigenous Peoples and the Nations to which they belong. 

Note regarding Items without links: Use this form to request a print copy of article, book chapter, etc. from the AU Library.

Unit 1


Required Readings
Barsh, R.L. 1986. The Nature and Spirit of North American Political Systems. American Indian Quarterly Summer 10(1): 181-198.
Monture-Angus, P. (Mohawk). 1999. To Break with the Past: Searching for The Meaning of Self-Determination. In: Journeying Forward: Dreaming First Nations Independence. Fernwood Publishing, Halifax, NS. pp. 21-40.

Alfred, T. (Mohawk). 1999. Native American Political Traditions. In: Peace, Power and Righteousness: An Indigenous Manifesto. Oxford University Press, Toronto, ON. pp. 1-30.

Final Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. Volume 2: Restructuring the Relationship. 1996. Canadian Publishing Group, Ottawa, ON. pp. 105-135.
Supplementary Readings
Barsh, R.L. 1995. Indigenous Peoples and the Idea of Individual Human Rights. Native Studies Review, 10(2):35-55.
Boldt, M. and J.A. Long. 1984. Tribal Traditions and European-Western Political Ideologies: The Dilemma of Canada's Native Indians. Canadian Journal of Political Science, 17(3):537-553
Royal Commision on Aboriginal Peoples, 1996. Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, Volume 1. Canada Communications Group, Ottawa, ON. pp.43-90

Unit 2


Required Readings

Battiste, M. (Mi'kmaq). 1997. Nikanikinutmaqn. In: J. Youngblood Henderson's The Mikmaw Concordat. Fernwood Publishing, Halifax. pp. 13-22.

Peacock, T (Anishinaabe) and M. Wisuri. 2002. The Creator's Vision. In: The Good Path. The Afton Historical Society, Afton, MN. pp. 13-22.

Porter, T. (Mohawk). 1985. Traditions of the Constitution of the Six Nations. In: L. Little Bear, M. Boldt and J. Long. eds. Pathways to Self Determination: Canadian Indians and the Canadian State. University of Toronto Press, Toronto, ON. pp. 14-25.

Alfred, T. (Rotinohshonni), N.D.  The People. In: Haudenosaunee Environmental Task Force, Words That Come Before Else: Environmental Philosophies of the Haudenosaunee. Haudenosaunee Environmental Task Force and the Native North American Traveling College. pp. 8-15.

Unit 3


Required Readings

Clarkeson, L., V. Morrissette and G. Regallet. (Anishinaabe).  1992. Our Responsibility to the Seventh Generation: Indigenous Peoples and Sustainable Development. International Institute for Sustainable Development, Winnipeg, MB. pp. 3-10.

Paul, D.N. (Mi'kmaq). 1993. We Were Not the Savages: A Micmac Perspective on the Collision of European and Aboriginal Civilizations. Nimbus Publishing, Halifax, NS. pp. 1-8.
Wa, G. (Gitksan/Wet'suwet'en). 1989. The Spirit in the Land: The Opening Statement of the Gitksan and Wet'suwet'en Hereditary Chiefs in The Supreme Court of British Columbia. Reflections, Gabriola, BC. pp. 71-89.
Ladner, K.L. 2003. Governing within an Ecological Context: Creating AlterNative Understandings of Siiksiikaawa Governance. Studies in Political Economy 70(Spring): 125-152.

Unit 4


Required Readings
Ladner, K.L. 2000. Women and Blackfoot Nationalism. Journal of Canadian Studies 35(2): 35-60.

Anderson, K (Cree/Métis). 2000. The Dismantling of Gender Equality. In: A Recognition of Being: Reconstructing Native Womanhood. Second Story Press, Toronto, ON. pp. 57-78.

Armstrong, J. (Okanagan). 1997. Invocation: The Real Power of Aboriginal Women. In: C. Miller and P. Chuchryk, Women of the First Nations: Power, Wisdom and Strength. University of Manitoba Press, Winnipeg, MB. pp. ix-xii.
Minor, T. 2002. Political Participation of Inuit Women in the Government of Nunavut. Wicazo Sa Review17(1):pp. 65-90.

Gunn, P.A.  1986. (Laguana Pueblo/Sioux). The Sacred Hoop: Recovering the Feminine in American Indian Traditions. Beacon Press, Boston. pp. 13-30.

Supplementary Readings

Kehoe, A.B. 1995. Blackfoot Persons. In: Laura F. Klein and Lillian A. Ackerman (eds.), Women and Power in Native North America. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman. pp. 113-125.

Carter, S. 1997. Capturing Women: The Manipulation of Cultural Imagery in Canada's Prairie West. McGill-Queens University Press, Kingston.
Wagner, S.R. 1989. The Roots of Oppression Is the Loss of Memory: The Iroquois and the Early Feminist Vision. Akwesasne Notes pp 11-13.
Turpel, M.E. 1997. "Patriarchy & Paternalism". In: C. Andrews & S. Rodgers (eds.), Women and the Canadian State. McGill-Queens University Press, Kingston. pp. 64-78.
Nahanee, T. 1997. Indian Women, Sexual Equality and the Charter. In: C. Andrews & S. Rogers (eds.), Women and the Canadian State. McGill-Queens University Press, Kingston. pp. 89-103.

Wagner, S.R.  1992. The Iroquois Influence on Women's Rights. In: Jose Brarreiro (ed.) Indian Roots of American Democracy. Akwe:Kon Press, Ithaca, NY. pp. 115-133.

Jaimes, M.A. Guerrero. 1997. Exemplars of Indigenism: Native North American Women for De/Colonization and Liberation. In: C. Cohen, K. Jones and J. Tronto (eds.), Women Transforming Politics: An Alternative Reader. New York University Press, NY. pp. 205-222.

Unit 5


Required Readings

Churchill, W. (Keetoowah Cherokee).  1997. A Little Matter of Genocide: Holocaust and Denial in the Americas 1492-Present. City Lights Books, San Francisco. pp. 1-19.

Churchill, W. (Keetoowah Cherokee). 1993. Struggling for the Land: Indigenous Resistance to Genocide, Ecocide and Expropriation in Contemporary North America, Common Courage Press, Monroe. pp. 33-63.

Mitchell, M. (Mohawk).  1989. Akwesasne: An Unbroken Assertion of Sovereignty. In: B. Richardson (ed.), Drum Beat: Anger and Renewal in Indian Country, Summerhill Press, Toronto. pp. 105-136.

Supplementary Readings

Stannard, D.  1992. American Holocaust: Columbus and the Conquest of the New World. Oxford University Press, New York.

Unit 6


Required Readings
The Indian Act
Tobias, John L. 1991. Protection, Civilization & Assimilation. In: J.R. Miller (ed.) Sweet Promises: A Reader on Indian-white Relations in Canada, University of Toronto Press, Toronto, ON. pp. 127-144.
Supplementary Readings
Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, 1996. Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples Volume 1, Canada Communications Group, Ottawa, ON. pp. 99-132.

Cardinal, H. (Cree). 1969. An Unjust Society: The Tragedy of Canada's Indians. M.G. Hurtige, Edmonton, AB.

Unit 7


Required Readings
Cardinal, H. (Cree) and W. Hildebrandt. 2000. Treaty Elders of Saskatchewan: Our Dream is That Our Peoples Will One Day be Clearly Recognized as Nations. University of Calgary Press, Calgary, AB. pp.5-59

Treaty 7 Elders and Tribal Council, W. Hildebrandt, S. Carter and D. First Rider.  1996. The True Spirit and Original Intent of Treaty 7. McGill-Queen's University Press, Kingston. pp. 67-82.

Supplementary Readings
Henderson, James Youngblood. (Sákéj). 1994. Empowering Treaty Federalism. Saskatchewan Law Review, 58(2): 241-332.

Warrior, R.A. (Osage). 1999. Linking Arms Together: American Indian Treaty Visions of Law and Peace, 1600-1800. Routledge, New York.

Unit 8


Required Readings
Aboriginal Self-Government Federal Policy Guide 1995.
Asch, M. 2002. Self Government in the New Millennium. In: J. Bird, L. Land and M. Macdam, eds. Nation to Nation: Aboriginal Sovereignty and the Future of Canada. New Edition. Irwin Publishing, Toronto, pp. 65-74.
Monture-Angus, P. (Mohawk). 1999. Journeying Forward: Dreaming First Nations' Independence. Fernwood Publishing, Halifax, NS. pp. 40-61

Isaac, T. 1999. Chapter 8: Self-Government. In: Aboriginal Law: Cases, Materials and Commentary, Second Edition. pp. 496-511.

Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, 1996. Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, Volume 1. Canada Communications Group, Ottawa. pp. 255-319. *Read selectively.
Supplementary Readings
Flanagan, T. 2000. First Nations? Second Thoughts. Queens University Press, Kingston. pp. 89-112.
Cairns, A. 2000. Citizens Plus: Aboriginal People and the Canadian State. University of British Columbia Press, Vancouver, pp. 161-213.
Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. 1996. Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, Volume 2. Canada Communications Group, Ottawa. pp. 105-310.

Unit 9


Required Readings
Roth, C. 2002. Without Treaty, Without Conquest: Indigenous Sovereignty in Post-Delgamuuwk British Columbia. Wicazo Sa Review 17(2): 143-165.

LaDuke, W. (Anishinaabekwe). 1999. Buffalo Nations, Buffalo Peoples. In: All Our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life. South End Press, Boston, M.A. pp. 139-167.

Marshall, Donald Sr. 1989. The Mi'kmaq: The Covenent Chain. In: B. Richardson ed., Drum Beat: Anger and Renewal in Indian Country. Summerhill, Toronto. pp. 71-104.

Supplementary Readings

Young, Iris Marion. 2000. Hybrid Democracy: Iroqouis Federalism and the Post Colonial Project. In: Duncan Ivison, Paul Patton & Will Sanders (eds.), Political Theory and the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. pp. 237-258.

Ladner, K.L. 2001. Negotiated Inferiority: The RCAP Vision of a Renewed Relationship. American Review of Canadian Studies:Vol. 31, Iss. 1/2, pp. 241-264.