What’s yours is mine and what’s mine is mine? Re-thinking intellectual property and research ethics from the experience of the purhépecha community of Cherán

Abstract

Intellectual property and cultural policy are essential to the practice of cultural rights, however, in both legal frameworks, indigenous peoples have often found that the state has little consideration for their voices and their world views. In contrast, though no more representative of indigenous perspectives, the social sciences, while engaging with indigenous voices, have often treated them as a source to be appropriated with disregard of their rights and agency. Through an activist and collaborative methodology that includes the concerns of a wide group of indigenous and non-indigenous persons, this article explores how the oral history project of the Fogata Kejtsitani in the Purhépecha community of Cherán, Mexico, contributes to discussions on the appropriation and dissemination of culture. This community has managed the recognition of their right to autonomy, and in so doing, has founded a continuous process of law creation, on which Kejtsitani takes part.