Political Organization B.C. (Before Contact)
Abstract This chapter draws broadly from historical, legal, and anthropological literature to show how Indigenous societies were historically organized via extensive kinship networks that utilized clans, reciprocity, and responsibility in their structures and principles. The chapter emphasizes the i...
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| Format: | Book Part |
| Language: | unknown |
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Oxford University PressNew York
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| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190095994.003.0003 https://academic.oup.com/book/chapter-pdf/52978244/oso-9780190095994-chapter-3.pdf |
| Summary: | Abstract This chapter draws broadly from historical, legal, and anthropological literature to show how Indigenous societies were historically organized via extensive kinship networks that utilized clans, reciprocity, and responsibility in their structures and principles. The chapter emphasizes the ideas that are crucial to understanding how Indigenous peoples were organized socially, politically, and culturally before the European arrival. These include freedom, liberty, autonomy, a sense of territorial sovereignty and integrity, an understanding of peoplehood steeped in religious or spiritual understandings, and recognition of the importance of customary and natural law as a guiding force in individual and collective lives. Case studies of the Inuit and Yupic peoples within Alaska, the Tohono O’odham within Arizona and Mexico, and the Fox Nation are included to highlight the many differences in Native societies. |
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