Subaltern Voices Series
Speaking & Theorizing from the Disciplinary Margins
Subaltern Voices Series
Speaking & Theorizing from the Disciplinary Margins
Dr. Kiera Ladner (Assistant Professor and Canada Research Chair (Indigenous
Politics and Governance), University of Manitoba)
Topic: “Decolonizing the Discipline: Indigenous Peoples and Political Science.”
Dr. Isabel Altamirano-Jimenez (Assistant Professor, Political Science and
Native Studies, University of Alberta).
Topic: “Indigenous Women and Feminism: Acting in the Political Space.”
Date: Thursday, 22 March, 2007
No recordings available for this session.
Dr. Ladner's Abstract: As a Masters student, I remember being told time and time again
that if I wanted to ‘study Indians’ I belonged in sociology, anthropology or Native
Studies. It seemed as if studies of Indigenous politics belonged anywhere but in political
science. Times have changed. Studies of Indigenous politics are increasingly becoming
an object of study within the discipline. Yet, political science continues to perpetuate a
western-eurocentric understanding of the world that virtually denies ‘others’ a voice
within the discipline. The emergence of Aboriginal peoples as an object of inquiry in the
discipline of political science reflects their becoming active (or at least noticed) in the
politics of the colonizer. Thus, Indigenous politics as an accepted field of inquiry within
political science has had little to do with an interest in Indian politics per se, as it has
simply been the study of Aboriginal people in mainstream, Canadian politics. Political
science’s ability to understand Indigenous politics is limited because its knowledge can
only view politics through western-eurocentric eyes within the disciplinary boundaries of
political science. Political science must be destabilized and decolonized. In this paper
will engage this process of decolonization and destabilization of the discipline, while
offering my thoughts as to how we can begin to study and explain Indigenous politics as
‘Indigenous’.
Dr Altamirano’s Abstract: Despite appearances to the contrary, Indigenous women are
complex figures to feminists. They are complex not only because of their double identity
but because Indigenous women’s actions and political positions seem to point in
contradictory directions. In fact, the divide between Indigenous women and feminism has
influenced many discourses centered on determining Indigenous women’s ultimate
political goal in the context of struggles for self-determination and sovereignty. In this
paper, I argue that developing a Native feminist politics focused on self-government and
self-determination requires a more critical analysis of Indigenous activists’ responses to
feminism and sexism within Indigenous communities. Indigenous women’s perspectives
cannot simply be reduced to the dichotomy of feminism versus non-feminism nor is there
a clear relationship between the extent to which Indigenous women call themselves
feminist and the extent to which they are ‘genuinely’ nationalists.
Dr. Keira Ladner's Bio: Dr. Ladner is an Assistant Professor and Canada Research
Chair in Indigenous Politics and Governance in the Department of Political Studies at the
University of Manitoba. Her research interests include: treaty constitutionalism,
Indigenist theory and methodology, decolonization, constitutional politics, Indigenous
governance (‘traditional’, Indian Act and self-government) and social movements. Her
current community based research into constitutional reconciliation and decolonization
attempts to create deeper understanding both within communities and between First
Nations and Canada. Some of her recent publications include: “Up the Creek: Fishing for
a New Constitutional Order,” Canadian Journal of Political Science (Dec. 2005); “De
inferioite negociee a l’inutilite negocier: la Loi sur la gouvernance des Premieres Nations
et le maintien de la politique coloniale,” Politique et Societes (2004, with M. Orsini);
“Governing Within an Ecological Context: Creating an AlterNative Understanding of
Blackfoot Governance,” in Studies in Political Economy 70, (Spring 2003): 125-52;
“Women in Blackfoot Nationalism,” in J. Vickers & M. De Seve, eds., “Women and
Nationalisms: Canadian Experiences,” Special Vol. Journal of Canadian Studies, (Sum
2000): 35-60.
Dr. Isabel Altamirano’s Bio:Dr. Altamirano is an Indigenous woman from southern
Mexico and holds a joint appointment as Assistant Professor in the Department of
Political Science and the Faculty of Native Studies at the University of Alberta. She has
done extensive research comparing Indigenous politics in Canada and Mexico. Her
research interests are: Indigenous comparative politics, nationalism, gender issues,
Indigenous development and land rights. Among her recent publications are: “The
Construction of Difference and Indigenous Transnationalism in North America”;
“Indigenous Peoples and the Topography of Gender in Mexico and Canada”; and “North
American First Peoples: Slipping up into Market Citizenship?