Readings on Race and Justice: Indigenous Peoples
Articles and books on race and justice in urban planning and the built environment
Last Updated: May 13, 2024 3:21 PM
Books
- Conquest by Law byCall Number: ebookJohn Marshall's landmark 1823 decision in Johnson v. M'Intosh gave the European sovereigns who "discovered" North America rights to the land, converting Native Americans in one stroke into mere tenants. In 1991, while investigating the historical origins of this highly controversial decision, Lindsay Robertson made a startling find in the basement of a Pennsylvania furniture-maker--the complete corporate records of the Illinois and Wabash Land Companies, the plaintiffs in the case. Drawing on these records, Conquest by Law provides, for the first time, a complete and troubling account of collusion, detailing how a spurious claim gave rise to a doctrine--intended to be of limited application--which led to the massive displacement of Native Americans and the creation of a law that governs indigenous people to this day.
- Indigenous Rights Entwined with Nature Conservation byCall Number: Law General Collection K3247 .D47 2011Increasing biodiversity loss makes the call for effective nature conservation sound louder and louder. Most remaining biodiversity-rich areas are inhabited or used by indigenous peoples and local communities. In recent years a new paradigm of nature conservation with respect for the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities was put forward. This study investigates how nature conservation initiatives interact with the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities, taking a human rights and legal anthropological perspective.
- Land Justice: Re-Imagining Land, Food, and the Commons byCall Number: ebookIn recent decades, the various strands of the food movement have made enormous strides in calling attention the many shortcomings and injustices of our food and agricultural system. Farmers, activists, scholars, and everyday citizens have also worked creatively to rebuild local food economies, advocate for food justice, and promote more sustainable, agroecological farming practices. However, the movement for fairer, healthier, and more autonomous food is continually blocked by one obstacle: land access. As long as land remains unaffordable and inaccessible to most people, we cannot truly transform the food system. The term land-grabbing is most commonly used to refer to the large-scale acquisition of agricultural land in Asian, African, or Latin American countries by foreign investors. However, land has and continues to be "grabbed" in North America, as well, through discrimination, real estate speculation, gentrification, financialization, extractive energy production, and tourism.
- The New Resource Wars byCall Number: LML: E99.C6 G44 1993ISBN: 9780896084636"Our present ecological crisis is the greatest man-made disaster this planet has ever faced -- its accelerating climate change, species depletion, pollution and acidification of the oceans. A central but rarely addressed aspect of this crisis is our forgetfulness of the sacred nature of creation, and how this affects our relationship to the environment. There is a pressing need to articulate a spiritual response to this ecological crisis. This is vital and necessary if we are to help bring the world as a living whole back into balance"--Back cover.
- Original Instructions byCall Number: LML: GF50 .O74 2008Indigenous leaders and other visionaries suggest solutions to today's global crisis * Original Instructions are ancient ways of living from the heart of humanity within the heart of nature * Explores the convergence of indigenous and contemporary science and the re-indigenization of the world's peoples * Includes authoritative indigenous voices, including John Mohawk and Winona LaDuke For millennia the world's indigenous peoples have acted as guardians of the web of life for the next seven generations. They've successfully managed complex reciprocal relationships between biological and cultural diversity. Awareness of indigenous knowledge is reemerging at the eleventh hour to help avert global ecological and social collapse. Indigenous cultural wisdom shows us how to live in peace--with the earth and one another. Original Instructions evokes the rich indigenous storytelling tradition in this collection of presentations gathered from the annual Bioneers conference. It depicts how the world's native leaders and scholars are safeguarding the original instructions, reminding us about gratitude, kinship, and a reverence for community and creation.
- Seed Sovereignty, Food Security byCall Number: Law Library: QK981.5 .S44 2016In this unique anthology, women from around the world write about the movement to change the current, industrial paradigm of how we grow our food. As seed keepers and food producers, as scientists, activists, and scholars, they are dedicated to renewing a food system that is better aligned with ecological processes as well as human health and global social justice. Seed Sovereignty, Food Security is an argument for just that--a reclaiming of traditional methods of agricultural practice in order to secure a healthy, nourishing future for all of us. Whether tackling the thorny question of GMO safety or criticizing the impact of big agribusiness on traditional communities, these women are in the vanguard of defending the right of people everywhere to practice local, biodiverse, and organic farming as an alternative to industrial agriculture.
- Walleye Warriors byCall Number: LML: E99.C6 W43 1994"Each spring when the ice clears, the Anishinabe (Chippewa) harvest fish from the lakes of Wisconsin and Minnesota. Their ancient subsistence fishing and hunting tradition is protected by treaties and reinforced by Federal Court rulings, but for years they were met by stones, racial epithets, and death threats hurled by local sports fishermen, resort and cottage owners, and other white neighbors. Walleye Warriors tells the exciting and empowering story of how a multi-race and class alliance of Anishinabe, local residents, and activists defused these dramatic and tense confrontations by witnessing and documenting them.
- Water, Cultural Diversity, and Global Environmental Change byCall Number: Lockwood Library General Collection TD353 .W38 2012Co-published with UNESCO A product of the UNESCO-IHP project on Water and Cultural Diversity, this book represents an effort to examine the complex role water plays as a force in sustaining, maintaining, and threatening the viability of culturally diverse peoples. It is argued that water is a fundamental human need, a human right, and a core sustaining element in biodiversity and cultural diversity. The core concepts utilized in this book draw upon a larger trend in sustainability science, a recognition of the synergism and analytical potential in utilizing a coupled biological and social systems analysis, as the functioning viability of nature is both sustained and threatened by humans.
Native Authors
- All Our Relations byCall Number: ebook'A brilliant, gripping narrative.' Ralph Nader This eagerly awaited non-fiction debut by acclaimed Native environmental activist Winona LaDuke is a thoughtful and in-depth account of Native resistance to environmental and cultural degradation. LaDuke's unique understanding of Native ideas and people is borne from long years of experience, and is deepened by inspiring testimonies from local Native activists sharing the struggle for survival. LaDuke speaks forcefully for self-determination and community. Hers is a beautiful and daring vision of spiritual and environmental transformation.
- Last Standing Woman byCall Number: LML: PS3562 .A268 L37 1997A powerful and poignant novel tracing the lives of seven generations of Anishinaabe (O)bwe/Chippewa).'...an impressive fiction debut....skillfully intertwines social history. oral myth and character study...." Publishers Weekly.
- The Militarization of Indian Country byCall Number: ebookWhen it became public that Osama bin Laden's death was announced with the phrase "Geronimo, EKIA!" many Native people, including Geronimo's descendants, were insulted to discover that the name of a Native patriot was used as a code name for a world-class terrorist. Geronimo descendant Harlyn Geronimo explained, "Obviously to equate Geronimo with Osama bin Laden is an unpardonable slander of Native America and its most famous leader." The Militarization of Indian Country illuminates the historical context of these negative stereotypes, the long political and economic relationship between the military and Native America, and the environmental and social consequences. This book addresses the impact that the U.S. military has had on Native peoples, lands, and cultures. From the use of Native names to the outright poisoning of Native peoples for testing, the U.S. military's exploitation of Indian country is unparalleled and ongoing.
- Recovering the Sacred byCall Number: LML: E98 .R3 L33 2005When she invites us to "recover the sacred," well-known Native American organizer Winona LaDuke is requesting far more than the rescue of ancient bones and beaded headbands from museums. Calling as ever on her lyrical sensibility and caustic wit, moving from the popular to the politic, from the sacred to the profane, LaDuke uses these essays not just to indict the current situation, but to point out a way forward for Native Americans and their allies.
Apps
- Whose LandWhose Land is a web-based app that uses GIS technology to assist users in identifying Indigenous Nations, territories, and Indigenous communities across Canada. The app can be used for learning about the territory your home or business is situated on, finding information for a land acknowledgement, and learning about the treaties and agreements signed across Canada.
Websites and Videos
- Indigenous Food Systems NetworkThe Indigenous Food Systems Network Website was developed by the WGIFS and is designed to allow individuals and groups involved with Indigenous food related action, research, and policy reform to network and share relevant resources and information.
- National Native NewsAmerican and Indigenous communities. The program began in 1987 and is currently produced in Albuquerque, New Mexico. NNN appeals to radio listeners who are engaged in the world around them and who seek out a broader range of viewpoints.
- Native LandA visualization tool to map Indigenous territories, treaties, and languages across the world in a way that goes beyond colonial ways of thinking in order to better represent how Indigenous people want to see themselves
- Tribesourcing Southwest Film ProjectBased on the collection of nearly 500 films in the American Indian Film Gallery housed at the University of Arizona, this project tribe sources mid-20th century educational and sponsored films about Native peoples of the U.S. Southwest by recording Native narrations and contextual information for film content from the Native communities they represent.
UB Libraries Videos
- Thunderbird Woman: Winona LaDuke / by Bertram Verhaag and Claus BiegertThis is an inspiring portrait of Winona La Duke, a unique and dynamic activist and member of the Anishinaabe tribe from the White Earth reservation in Northern Minnesota. Her father was a Native American who worked as a stuntman in Hollywood; her mother was a Jewish artist from New York. After completing her studies in economics at Harvard, Winona settled on the reservation.
- Standing on sacred ground / a co-production of Pacific Islanders in Communications, Vision Maker Media and Sacred Land Film Project. byCall Number: LML MultiMedia: DVD: BL580 .S73 2013Volume 1: Pilgrims and tourists / produced and directed by Christopher McLeod ; written and co-produced by Jessica Abbe (57 min.) -- Volume 2: Profit and loss / produced and directed by Christopher McLeod ; written and co-produced by Jennifer Huang (57 min.) -- Volume 3: Fire and ice / produced and directed by Christopher McLeod ; written and co-produced by Jennifer Huang (57 min.) -- Volume 4: Islands of sanctuary / produced and directed by Christopher McLeod ; written and co-produced by Jessica Abbe ; co-produced by Jennifer Huang (57 min.)
- Honorable Nations / Produced by Chana Gazit and David StewardSalamanca is the only city in the United States that is situated entirely on land owned by Native Americans. For 99 years, the townspeople have rented the land upon which their homes stand from the Seneca Indians for $1 a year. They have gotten used to their right to live and to do business on Indian property. But on February 19, 1991 the lease expired. The Seneca Nation felt that it has been badly exploited by the old terms, and now insisted on huge increases - or else it would take back the land. Many of the townspeople were outraged at higher rents, especially as the town was suffering from a depressed economy. The film follows the five years of negotiation, as each side heatedly defended their position. Archival footage, historical photographs and interviews help tell the story of two communities caught in a web of historical injustice. Eventually, a landmark agreement was hammered out which enabled the town to survive. Among its terms is $60 million in reparation by the Federal government to the Senecas, the first Native American tribe to receive this acknowledgement of past wrongs.