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NIBR is happy to announce that the Institute for Social Research (Jo Saglie), the University of Auckland (Ann Sullivan) and us will be organizing a workshop at the ECPR Joint Session of Workshops in St. Gallen, Switzerland in 2011. The subject of the workshop will be Indigenous Politics: Mobilization, Representation, Internationalization. For more information, please read the abstract below.

We invite researchers from all disciplines and all countries to participate in the workshop. Deadline for applications is December 1, 2010. More information on how to apply will be be published later, both on ECPR’s homepages and here.

Abstract: Indigenous politics – Mobilization, Representation, Internationalization

Over the last fifty years, indigenous politics has become an increasingly important subfield of political science. The acknowledgment of indigenous rights in a growing number of states provides new opportunities for comparative research. There are competing and complementary ideas about what is best for indigenous peoples and society as a whole. How are those ideas articulated or resolved?

Firstly an increasingly visible indigenous mobilization has taken place. Indigenous peoples have applied and adapted many similar strategies for their key issues of self-determination, natural resource guardianship, resource ownership and customary rights. Secondly nation-states have responded to indigenous demands for self-determination in different ways: separate institutions have been created for indigenous political representation, and arrangements and processes for indigenous peoples have been established within existing institutions. Thirdly modern indigenous politics has through decades of border-transcending cooperation developed an internationalized nature through conferencing, participating in international forums and establishing international organizations. Furthermore, many indigenous groups have developed specific international strategic behaviours when in conflict with their states.

The workshop welcomes papers on these three aspects of indigenous politics – political mobilization and participation, representation mechanisms and international cooperation – and the interplay between them. We look for in-depth case studies, as well as papers that compare the political processes of different indigenous groups in any of these three areas. The overall aim of the workshop is to facilitate new research into the topic outlined here, and create a strong and collaborative network between European and other researchers working in the discipline of indigenous politics.