Negotiating Sovereignty: Aboriginal Perspectives on a Settler-Colonial Constitution, 1975-1983
In contrast to settler colonial legal understandings of Aboriginal rights and title as existing within the Canadian state, BC Aboriginal political actors in the 1970s and 1980s relied on philosophical notions of Aboriginal rights as stemming from the inherent, pre-colonial sovereignty and nationhood...
Main Authors: | , |
---|---|
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
The University of British Columbia
2016
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://ojs.library.ubc.ca/index.php/bcstudies/article/view/187229 https://doi.org/10.14288/bcs.v0i190.187229 |
id |
ftubcjournals:oai:ojs.library.ubc.ca:article/187229 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftubcjournals:oai:ojs.library.ubc.ca:article/187229 2023-11-12T04:17:13+01:00 Negotiating Sovereignty: Aboriginal Perspectives on a Settler-Colonial Constitution, 1975-1983 Knickerbocker, Madeline Rose Nickel, Sarah 2016-07-14 application/pdf http://ojs.library.ubc.ca/index.php/bcstudies/article/view/187229 https://doi.org/10.14288/bcs.v0i190.187229 eng eng The University of British Columbia http://ojs.library.ubc.ca/index.php/bcstudies/article/view/187229/186089 10.14288/bcs.v0i190.187229.g186089 http://ojs.library.ubc.ca/index.php/bcstudies/article/view/187229 doi:10.14288/bcs.v0i190.187229 Copyright (c) 2016 BC Studies: The British Columbian Quarterly BC Studies: The British Columbian Quarterly; No. 190: Histories of Settler Colonialism: Summer 2016; 67-88 0005-2949 10.14288/bcs.v0i190 Aboriginal sovereignty constitutional patriation community-based research settler colonialism politics Constitution of Canada Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) aboriginal rights Sto lo F1086-1089.7 info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion research-article 2016 ftubcjournals https://doi.org/10.14288/bcs.v0i190.18722910.14288/bcs.v0i190 2023-10-29T18:41:12Z In contrast to settler colonial legal understandings of Aboriginal rights and title as existing within the Canadian state, BC Aboriginal political actors in the 1970s and 1980s relied on philosophical notions of Aboriginal rights as stemming from the inherent, pre-colonial sovereignty and nationhood of First Nations peoples. These concepts run throughout the history of Aboriginal experience and remained foundational to the discourse of Aboriginal sovereignty in British Columbia during debates surrounding the patriation of the Canadian constitution. Existing Canadian historiography has located Aboriginal activists as key and yet marginal figures in the constitutional debates, while a broad range of interdisciplinary scholarship has helped us understand the concept of Aboriginal sovereignty in theory. Building on these insights, our work shifts Aboriginal people into the foreground and emphasizes their centrality in the patriation debates, which, as an example, grounds and historicizes the theoretical work on Aboriginal sovereignty. As we argue, between 1975 and 1983 Aboriginal peoples relied on oral histories and traditions of sovereignty and mobilized these in response to the settler colonial state’s push for constitutional patriation. In this sense, BC Aboriginal peoples who protested constitutional patriation were not ahistorical agents participating in an isolated movement, but were informed by both their knowledge of their communities’ embedded sovereignties, and generations of historically entrenched Aboriginal resistance. Article in Journal/Newspaper First Nations Open Access Journal Hosting (University of British Columbia) Canada Indian British Columbia ENVELOPE(-125.003,-125.003,54.000,54.000) |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Open Access Journal Hosting (University of British Columbia) |
op_collection_id |
ftubcjournals |
language |
English |
topic |
Aboriginal sovereignty constitutional patriation community-based research settler colonialism politics Constitution of Canada Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) aboriginal rights Sto lo F1086-1089.7 |
spellingShingle |
Aboriginal sovereignty constitutional patriation community-based research settler colonialism politics Constitution of Canada Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) aboriginal rights Sto lo F1086-1089.7 Knickerbocker, Madeline Rose Nickel, Sarah Negotiating Sovereignty: Aboriginal Perspectives on a Settler-Colonial Constitution, 1975-1983 |
topic_facet |
Aboriginal sovereignty constitutional patriation community-based research settler colonialism politics Constitution of Canada Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) aboriginal rights Sto lo F1086-1089.7 |
description |
In contrast to settler colonial legal understandings of Aboriginal rights and title as existing within the Canadian state, BC Aboriginal political actors in the 1970s and 1980s relied on philosophical notions of Aboriginal rights as stemming from the inherent, pre-colonial sovereignty and nationhood of First Nations peoples. These concepts run throughout the history of Aboriginal experience and remained foundational to the discourse of Aboriginal sovereignty in British Columbia during debates surrounding the patriation of the Canadian constitution. Existing Canadian historiography has located Aboriginal activists as key and yet marginal figures in the constitutional debates, while a broad range of interdisciplinary scholarship has helped us understand the concept of Aboriginal sovereignty in theory. Building on these insights, our work shifts Aboriginal people into the foreground and emphasizes their centrality in the patriation debates, which, as an example, grounds and historicizes the theoretical work on Aboriginal sovereignty. As we argue, between 1975 and 1983 Aboriginal peoples relied on oral histories and traditions of sovereignty and mobilized these in response to the settler colonial state’s push for constitutional patriation. In this sense, BC Aboriginal peoples who protested constitutional patriation were not ahistorical agents participating in an isolated movement, but were informed by both their knowledge of their communities’ embedded sovereignties, and generations of historically entrenched Aboriginal resistance. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Knickerbocker, Madeline Rose Nickel, Sarah |
author_facet |
Knickerbocker, Madeline Rose Nickel, Sarah |
author_sort |
Knickerbocker, Madeline Rose |
title |
Negotiating Sovereignty: Aboriginal Perspectives on a Settler-Colonial Constitution, 1975-1983 |
title_short |
Negotiating Sovereignty: Aboriginal Perspectives on a Settler-Colonial Constitution, 1975-1983 |
title_full |
Negotiating Sovereignty: Aboriginal Perspectives on a Settler-Colonial Constitution, 1975-1983 |
title_fullStr |
Negotiating Sovereignty: Aboriginal Perspectives on a Settler-Colonial Constitution, 1975-1983 |
title_full_unstemmed |
Negotiating Sovereignty: Aboriginal Perspectives on a Settler-Colonial Constitution, 1975-1983 |
title_sort |
negotiating sovereignty: aboriginal perspectives on a settler-colonial constitution, 1975-1983 |
publisher |
The University of British Columbia |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
http://ojs.library.ubc.ca/index.php/bcstudies/article/view/187229 https://doi.org/10.14288/bcs.v0i190.187229 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-125.003,-125.003,54.000,54.000) |
geographic |
Canada Indian British Columbia |
geographic_facet |
Canada Indian British Columbia |
genre |
First Nations |
genre_facet |
First Nations |
op_source |
BC Studies: The British Columbian Quarterly; No. 190: Histories of Settler Colonialism: Summer 2016; 67-88 0005-2949 10.14288/bcs.v0i190 |
op_relation |
http://ojs.library.ubc.ca/index.php/bcstudies/article/view/187229/186089 10.14288/bcs.v0i190.187229.g186089 http://ojs.library.ubc.ca/index.php/bcstudies/article/view/187229 doi:10.14288/bcs.v0i190.187229 |
op_rights |
Copyright (c) 2016 BC Studies: The British Columbian Quarterly |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.14288/bcs.v0i190.18722910.14288/bcs.v0i190 |
_version_ |
1782334165512880128 |