Whether the approximately 500 million Indigenous peoples of the world live in Canada, the United States, Australia, India, Peru, or Russia, they have faced a similar fate at the hands of colonizing powers. That fate has included assaults on their language and culture, commercialization of their art, and use of their plant knowledge in the development of medicine, all without consent, acknowledgement or benefit to them.
The authors paint a passionate picture of the devastation this assault has wrought on Indigenous peoples. They illustrate why current legal regimes are inadequate to protect Indigenous knowledge and put forward ideas for reform. The book looks at the issues from an international perspective and explores developments in various countries including Canada, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and the work of the United Nations, as well as relevant international agreements.
Some of the specific topics covered in this book include: Eurocentric views on what constitutes cultural and intellectual property; what constitutes Indigenous knowledge and who may use it; the importance of preserving Indigenous languages; the relationship between Indigenous languages and culture; how knowledge is transmitted in Indigenous communities; issues in performing arts and artwork; and proposals for creating a legal regime that will help revive and protect Indigenous knowledge and require consent for its use.
This book received the 2000 Saskatchewan Book Award for First Peoples Publishing.
About the Author, Marie Battiste
Dr. Marie Battiste is a Mi’kmaw educator and professor in the Indian and Northern Education Program at the University of Saskatchewan. Her historical research of Mi’kmaw literacy and education as a graduate student at Harvard University and later at Stanford University, where she received her doctorate degree in curriculum and teacher education, provided the foundation for her later writings in cognitive imperialism, linguistic and cultural integrity, and the decolonization of Aboriginal education. A recipient of two honorary degrees—from St. Mary’s University, Halifax, and from the University of Maine at Farmington—she has worked actively with First Nations schools as an administrator, teacher, consultant, and curriculum developer, advancing Aboriginal epistemology, languages, pedagogy, and research. Her research interests are in initiating institutional changes to decolonize education, language, and social justice policy and power, and in devising educational approaches that recognize and affirm the political and cultural diversity of Canada. She is senior editor of First Nations Education in Canada: The Circle Unfolds, a 1995 publication from the University of British Columbia Press, and editor of Reclaiming Indigenous Voice and Vision, published by the University of British Columbia Press in 2000. She is a board member of the International Research Institute (IRI) for Maori and Indigenous Education in New Zealand and a member of the Board of Governors for the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) in Canada. (Update 2010: In 2008, Dr. Battiste received a National Aboriginal Achievement Award, National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation. She is currently Academic Director, Aboriginal Education Research Centre (AERC), College of Education, University of Saskatchewan.)
James [Sa’ke’j] Youngblood Henderson is Chickasaw, born to the Bear Clan of the Chickasaw Nation and Cheyenne Tribe in Oklahoma. Sa’ke’j is one of the leading tribal philosophers, advocates, and strategists for North American Indians. In 1974, he was one of the first American Indians to receive a Juris Doctorate from Harvard Law School. After graduation, he sought through scholarship and litigation to restore Indigenous culture, institutions, and rights. In Canada, he served as a leading constitutional advisor for the Assembly of First Nations and the Mi’kmaw Nation, and he is a noted human rights lawyer and member of the Advisory Board of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. He is currently a member of the College of Law at the University of Saskatchewan, and the senior administrator and research director of the Native Law Centre. He is the author of Mi’kmaw Concordat (1997), co-author of The Road: Indian Tribes and Political Liberty (1980), co-author of Aboriginal Tenure in the Constitution of Canada (2000), and co-editor of Continuing Poundmaker and Riel’s Quest (1995). [Update 2010: His achievements in international and national law have been recognized by being named Indigenous Peoples’ Counsel (2005), and receiving the National Aboriginal Achievement Award for Law and Justice (2006) and an Honorary Doctorate of Laws, Carlton University (2007)].
