Nature Conservation, Extractivist Conflicts, and Indigenous Rights in the Americas

Abstract

What if a political scientist, anthropologist, and geographer walked into a bar to talk about indigenous contributions to environmental protection? It is not clear how well the conversation would go. Their different theoretical frameworks would prompt different questions, concerns, and methods. Still, if they could break through their disciplinary jargon, they would find enough overlapping interests, and even conclusions, to sit through a couple of beers. The goal in reviewing these three volumes is to search for overlapping concerns and points of agreement amid disagreements. Searching for common concerns and points of agreement is urgent, since, as Indigeneity and the Sacred points out, roughly 80 percent of the world’s biodiversity and 95 percent of the world’s cultural diversity is found on land belonging to indigenous peoples and local communities.