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Paper short abstract:

In this panel, I'll talk through examples about strategies and tactics used by the Skolt Saami village councils. I will also discuss how to make indigenous peoples active actors in their own histories even when source material is made by settlers and settler societies.

Paper long abstract:

In my dissertation (Tanhua 2023) I studied the history of the siida council systems of the three Skolt Saami siidas. I also asked how the Skolt Saami have been able to apply their system as part of the governance of the current mainstream society. To open up this development, I used concepts of strategy and tactics that illustrated the extent which the Skolt Saami have been able to influence their own circumstances and opportunities.

I outlined several ways in which the Skolt Saami have pursued their goals from the activities of siida councils and headmans. The goals appeared to be the to safeguard the exercise of traditional livelihoods and the preservation of decision-making power, above all over the natural resources of its area and their use.

In our new project ”Suomen unohdettu siirtomaa? Petsamo kansallisessa muistissa ja ylirajaisissa yhteyksissä” one of my questions is how Finland and Finnish authorities took possession and justified use and possession of the lands and waters of the Skolt Sami communities. And what kind of tools and strategies Skolt Saami communities had and used against conquers and settlers in 1920 s Petsamo?

In this panel, I will go through the strategies and tactics used by the Skolt Saami siidas and village councils. I will also discuss how to make indigenous peoples active actors in their own histories even when source material is made by settlers and settler societies. And how to write history that is ethically sustainable for indigenous peoples and that respects their culture?

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Examines how Diné actors, negatively impacted by uranium mining, pursued transnational survivance strategies: forging solidarity ties and reshaping global anti-nuclear debates through their interactions with Japanese and Pacific Islander environmental, anti-nuclear, and indigenous rights activists.

Paper long abstract:

The historically traumatic impacts of uranium mining on the Diné (Navajo) peoples of the American Southwest – from high cancer rates among mineworkers and their families to the contamination of local reservation resources – have become well-known cases of environmental injustice. Much less understood is how these experiences reverberated on a global stage. Diné activists in the late 1970s and early 1980s pursued particular transnational survivance strategies as they contended with their ongoing settler colonial predicaments and vulnerabilities to the predations of multinational energy corporations: seeking allies and building solidarity networks in ever-widening transnational and trans-indigenous directions. This paper examines how Diné actors in these years especially forged solidarity bonds with Japanese environmental, anti-nuclear, and peace activists as well as indigenous rights and anti-nuclear activists from across the Pacific. At rallies, workshops, and conferences – from the Navajo Reservation to Nagasaki – Diné participants’ personal accounts of uranium mining’s toxic toll encouraged Japanese activists to move beyond their narrower conventional concerns over bombs and energy production, to instead confront all implicated stages of the nuclear fuel cycle and their toxic impacts – from uranium mining on indigenous lands in North America to nuclear waste dumping’s effects on Pacific Islanders. At the same time, through their growing interactions with indigenous actors from across the Pacific, Diné activists helped foster and widely communicate a deeper appreciation of the interconnected nuclear predicaments and vulnerabilities of indigenous people globally, and how such problems were intimately tied to deeper questions of sovereignty and survival.

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How are young Indigenous urbanites utilizing beadwork to connect with each other and their urban environments, and unsettling former settler colonial narratives that excluded Indigeneity from the city? The study points to ongoing transformations of Indigenous identities in urban environments.

Paper long abstract:

Settler colonial cities have historically displaced Indigenous Peoples while actively excluding them from urban life well into the twentieth century. Nevertheless, Indigenous Peoples became important members of urban communities, as was the case in Canada, where many moved to the city including First Nations peoples who had lost their “Indian” status (especially women), Metis, and Inuit. Since the 1950s, there has been a progressive transition toward urban life, with nearly half of Canada’s Indigenous Peoples now residing in urban areas. Given that the settler state has encouraged a narrative which roots “authentic” Indigenous livelihoods in distant, natural environments, how has this transition to urban life contributed to the transformation of Indigenous livelihoods, cultures, and identities? This paper draws from oral interviews with a group of young Indigenous urbanites living in Canada’s national capital, Ottawa, who have turned to the traditional practice of beadwork in order to connect with each other and their surrounding urban environment. Not only do beading circles provide important social networking opportunities, but they also contribute to the formation of an urban Indigenous sense of place. Adopting a transdisciplinary approach that draws from Indigenous studies, human geography, and environmental history, the paper illustrates how urban environments and Indigenous cultural resilience are far from being mutually exclusive.

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Analyses publications of Michigan's Mount Pleasant Indian Industrial Boarding School: the state's only federally funded and operated boarding school for Indigenous students (1893 - 1934). Also examined: the lingering effects of school policies built upon settler colonialism and state paternalism.

Paper long abstract:

The rural town of Mount Pleasant, Michigan serves as the former location of the Mount Pleasant Indian Industrial Boarding School, a federally established boarding school for Indigenous students. Created by the United States Congress in 1891 and active from 1893 to 1934, this boarding school claimed average yearly enrolments of around 300 Indigenous children. Designed to wholly assimilate these students into American culture, the school was integrated within the surrounding community, as many students entered the city’s workforce upon graduation. The school’s history is rife with accounts of abuse, neglect, mandated attendance and compulsive labour; deeply affecting the Saginaw Chippewa community’s cultural memory and history. This article draws on critical discourse analysis to explore ways in which paternalistic and colonial rhetoric used within materials such as annual school inspection reports, local newspapers, and other regional publications established particular power structures and created broader societal attitudes towards Chippewa students and their education within the surrounding community of Mount Pleasant and state of Michigan. The article will further examine lasting effects of these power dynamics and attitudes upon perceptions of the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe within the state of Michigan today; particularly in the forms of local terminology, beliefs, and community-held stereotypes.

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Within the Anishinaabe thought world that Vizenor’s concept of survivance emerges from, elements of Land are agential persons. This paper uses stories of other-than-human survivance against the Trent-Severn Waterway to explore how other-than-human persons can teach and inspire decolonial praxis.

Paper long abstract:

Much of Gerald Vizenor’s thought emerges from Anishinaabe philosophies that also recognize elements of Land, including plants, animals, waters, rocks, and others, as persons, kin, and nations possessing agency, animacy, and spirit. From an Anishinaabe perspective, other-than-human persons undertake acts of survivance, actively and agentially surviving against settler colonialism and environmental destruction.

This paper explores other-than-human survivance against the Trent-Severn Waterway (TSW) and how it can teach and inspire decolonial praxis. The TSW is a 386-kilometer-long system of locks, dams, and canals built onto waterbodies throughout what is now colonially considered central Ontario, Canada, in order to connect Chi’Niibish (Lake Ontario) with Waasegamaa (Georgian Bay). The waterway was constructed throughout the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries to facilitate colonial settlement, logging, and commercial shipping. However, at the same time that it expanded access to central Ontario for settler Canadians, the TSW had devastating impacts on the Indigenous—principally Anishinaabe—Nations whose territory it cut through, and many of their other-than-human relations. The construction of the waterway reshaped rocks and waterbodies, flooded forests, destroyed manoomin beds (wild rice; Zizania palustris), and caused the extirpation of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) and American eels (Anguilla rostrata). However, other-than-human persons also resisted and survived against the colonial imposition of the TSW through floods, logjams, inclement weather, disease outbreaks, and other acts of survivance. Using these stories of other-than-human survivance, this paper highlights the varied and dynamic nature of survivance and considers the lessons that other-than-human persons can teach about dismantling settler colonialism.

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In the midst of numerous ecological crises, indigenous communities have found their own way. Two indigenous communities in Bandung, Indonesia treat nature as an equal partner, recognising that it needs rest and celebration before resuming work.

Paper long abstract:

Amidst the numerous ecological crises, there is much to be learned from indigenous communities. This research introduces two communities in Bandung, Indonesia, which continue to follow a unique path towards environmental governance and sustainable lifestyles. They view nature not as a resource to be exploited but as an equal partner in their coexistence.

The indigenous communities, named Cirendeu and Budi Daya, have recognised that nature is not an endless source of resources to be exploited relentlessly. Instead, they perceive it as a living entity deserving of appreciation and care. To them, the land, rivers, and forests are akin to fellow subjects, each with its own rhythms and needs.

There is an idea of giving nature the opportunity for rejuvenation and celebration. In a world where productivity often takes precedence, these communities appreciate the need to allow the land to rest and recover. They understand that nature, like any other living being, can become depleted if constantly pushed beyond its limits.

Through their strong connection with their environment, these indigenous communities have demonstrated that coexistence with nature is not only possible but also beneficial. Their practices not only preserve the local ecosystem but also offer lessons that extend beyond the boundaries. In an era of global environmental concern, their example serves as a crucial reminder of the importance of recognising nature as a subject rather than an object of exploitation. It reminds us that in our pursuit of sustainability, we must learn to live harmoniously with the world that sustains us.

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We develop the idea of “collaborative survival” between humans, especially Dayak Benuaq smallholders and nonhuman species living in the massive monoculture projects. We argue that gardening in the plantation is collaborative way to keep every species alive in the disturbed monocultural environments.

Paper long abstract:

Oil palm plantation has increasingly expanded since 1968 in the island of Kalimantan under the New Order regime. Most of the lands used to be covered in forest, but now it mostly turned into oil palm monocultures. In 1997, Dayak Benuaq community took an act of resistance against transnational oil palm company called London Sumatera Corporation (LonSum) due to land grabbing. But until 1999, Dayak Benuaq people and office workers at LonSum decided to to resolve the land conflict by holding ritual called guguq as a symbol of peace among them (Haug, 2014). Meanwhile, Dayak Benuaq smallholders also usually build gardens locally known as "simpukng" surrounding their oil palm plantation. Some scholars may consider this model of land use practices as agroforestry. The smallholders also often found many kinds of endemic animals, especially endemic primates living in the smallholders’ garden. A lot of endemic species living in the garden also shows how narrow the forest is from time to time due to the massive monoculture projects which make it more difficult to find a decent place to live. From this case, we develop the idea of “collaborative survival” between humans, especially Dayak Benuaq smallholders and more-than-human species living in the massive monoculture projects. Humans have to collaborate with more-than-human plants and animals in order to survive (Tsing, 2015: 27). We argue that gardening in the plantation is one of the survival ways to keep human and more-than-human species alive in the disturbed monocultural environments.

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Paper short abstract:

The use of fish skin for garments and accessories is an ancient tradition shared by coastal Arctic societies. This paper proposes a vision of sustainability as an anthropological study of the resourcefulness of Arctic Indigenous Peoples, their subsistence lifestyles, and fish skin practices.

Paper long abstract:

To obtain the warmth needed from their clothing, Arctic and Subarctic Peoples have used for millennia fish skins, transforming them through highly specialized processes into garments, shoes and containers. They maintained a subsistence lifestyle linked with their natural surroundings, in one of the most demanding climates in the world. The specific groups with historical evidence of fish skin production are the Inuit, Yup’ik, Alutiiq and Athabascan of Alaska; the Nivkh and Nanai Siberian Peoples; the Ainu from Hokkaido Island in Japan and Sakhalin Island in Russia; the Hezhe from northeast China and the Saami of northern Scandinavia.

Arctic fish skin practices have historical connection with nature, from sustainable salmon fishing to lower consumption in the Arctic where resources were scarce and precious, respecting the relationship between all things on earth, in stark contrast to our contemporary vision destroying in the name of commerce. Colonisation has negatively impacted traditional Arctic fish skin heritage. Denying Indigenous fishing rights also damaged their relationships with the environment and their own sense of identity. For many Indigenous communities, colonialism has been a history of myriad dispossessions, of their land, water, traditional knowledge and practices both material and spiritual. This research explores fish skin craft produced by the Indigenous groups mentioned above, providing broader understandings of their linked past and heritage. This craft is embedded in their own environments and within a global environmental that is in crisis, a crisis that disproportionally endangers Indigenous communities, who had no part in causing it.

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Paper short abstract:

I would like to discuss the environmental and social dimensions of Morocco's ancient hydraulic techniques, in order to present a local vision. i will therefor focus on the social dimension (strengthening solidarity and cooperation ..) and the environmental aspect (preserving the ecosystem,...)

Paper long abstract:

By exploring the foundations and transformations of indigenous hydraulic techniques in Morocco, either to mobilise or to divide and distribute water, I intend to present the main values ignored by colonialism. Identifying their ecological and social dimensions is also an important way of recovering an important part of Morocco's indigenous technical memory, which has been underestimated by the engineers and technicians of the Protectorate, whose visions were based on numerical reasoning and economic logic. In addition, the ethnographic studies in the Protectorate period and the research of modern scholars focus on the analysis of ideals and beliefs related to water, such as myths, rituals, customs, charms and magic. The technical aspect of Moroccan water management is therefore too limited compared to their creativity and effectiveness in this field.

The researcher Mohamed El Faiz, an economic historian, has analyzed a famous "khettaras" and irrigation canals in the context of a natural landscape and a harmonious water heritage. Despite their simple form and widespread presence in many areas of the country's daily life, these techniques of sharing and distribution reveal the genius and intelligence of the Moroccans in mobilizing, sharing and transferring water.

We will therefore first discuss the environmental and social dimensions of Morocco's ancient hydraulic techniques. Secondly, we will focus on the social dimension (strengthening solidarity and cooperation - preserving the existing social order...) and the environmental aspect (preserving the ecosystem, providing water for birds and plants in an ecological way...).