Introduction: International discourses of indigenous rights and responsibilities

Abstract

The articles in this second of a series of three issues edited by faculty in the Political Science Department at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa examine the concept of "indigeneity" as it pertains to aspects of law, policy, and governance. Focused on the array of temporal and historical issues surrounding nationhood, citizenship, law, and policy, the authors interrogate how historical legal systems evolve through control of and resistance by indigenous peoples and what the actions by state actors say about how legal institutions treat the concept of "indigeneity." The key issues surrounding "indigeneity" as a site of critical inquiry within legal systems and governmental structures raise key questions that these articles explore: What new policies and systems are being created in the wake of global imperialism, the war on terror, and the policing of national borders? How are indigenous peoples rearticulating understandings of governance and policy in their struggles for recognition, independence, self-determination, and sovereignty? Finally, what distinguishes indigenous governance, law, and policy, and what are the possibilities and challenges facing such institutions both locally and transnationally?