Natacha Gagné

Appeals to indigeneity: insights from Oceania

The indigenous peoples of Oceania have long actively resisted and responded to colonization, struggling in different ways for the recognition of their rights and sovereignty (for an historical overview, see Denoon, Firth, Linnekin, Meleisa & Nero, 1997; see also Gagné & Salaün, 2010a). The end of the Second World War, and the subsequent ‘Pacific renaissance’ of the 1960s and 1970s (for a regional overview, see Ethnies, 1989) opened new possibilities for their struggles within a global context. They have achieved increased visibility and have challenged the colonial powers, the modern states and the majority populations that dominate them politically, culturally and economically with varying degrees of success. Depending on their specific situation, some peoples have achieved complete independence. This is the case in Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and Fiji, to name just a few. Others have recovered a certain degree of autonomy while remaining under the supervision of another state. Take for example, the peoples of Hawai‘i, New Caledonia, French Polynesia and the Cook Islands. Elsewhere, as in New Zealand and Australia, the indigenous populations, which became a demographic minority, have acquired different measures of protection and control over their own destinies. However, the struggles continue for many of the peoples of Oceania, although the movements involved have changed considerably over the years. From our experience, new movements, new claims and new ways of expressing those demands as well as a new generation of activists are emerging today. Some speak in the name of the indigeneity of their people. These particular claims and the struggles they entail are the focus of this special issue. It examines how and when a rhetoric of indigeneity emerges in particular local contexts in Oceania and examines what such a rhetoric involves in terms of actions, organisations, and demands. The contributions gathered here also look at how these indigenous struggles are different from or similar to previous struggles or movements, how they are experienced and enacted at the ‘grass roots’ level and how they develop or change through time. This special issue is thus made up of original empirical studies of a single cross-cutting phenomenon of indigenous politics as it takes place in Hawai‘i, New Zealand, Fiji

The Law of the Community and Community Rights: Implications for the Métis in Canada

This paper is based on the result of a qualitative content analysis of the transcripts of the Hirsekorn trial which took place from 4 May 2009 to 24 June 2010 before the Provincial Court of Alberta. The case was based on the framework established in the Powley case, handed down in 2003, the Supreme Court of Canada’s first decision on Metis rights. In defence, the accused asserted an aboriginal right to hunt protected by section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982 . Hence, the judges had to render a decision on the Metis identity of the accused and his membership in a rights-holding Metis community. The main question at issue then becomes the existence of such a community. In this paper, the authors analyze the concept of “community” as a legal category and as a holder of rights. They highlight the various definitions given to that concept by the Crown and the defence and their implications. This analysis follows the path of anthropological work regarding the concept of “community.”

L’Océanie peut-elle être décolonisée ?

Invisible dans l’historiographie de la colonisation, tout comme dans celle de la decolonisation, la Nouvelle-Caledonie appartient a cet espace geographique oublie du monde colonise, l’Oceanie. Les situations coloniales diverses qui se rencontrent dans cette partie du globe, une fois rappele leur contexte historique et politique, permettent d’apprehender le sort specifique de la population kanak de Nouvelle-Caledonie sous un jour nouveau. Longtemps victime d’une colonisation de peuplement, la sortie du colonialisme, comme le suggerent les cas de l’Australie et de la Nouvelle-Zelande, engage pour le peuple kanak bien plus qu’un surcroit d’autonomie ou le recouvrement d’une souverainete nationale.

The Study of Colonial Situations: The Emergence of a New General Approach?

There has been an upsurge of scholarship on colonialism since the 1980s. By re-examining the cross-influences of anthropology and history in recent decades, this article attempts to situate contemporary studies within the development of both disciplines, and to identify the main directions of current research. It also demonstrates how the three works discussed here share similar concerns to those of the protagonists of a recent trend identified as the new “Colonial Studies,” which points more broadly to the emergence of a new general approach in the anthropology and the history of colonial situations.