Indigeneity in waiting: elusive rights and the power of hope

The international research project Indigeneity in Waiting: Elusive Rights and the Power of Hope studies questions of rights, hope and indigeneity. It views legal and institutional advances concerning indigenous peoples, and the promise of such advances, as an integral part of the ways in which political power is exercised today.

Significant institutional and legal advances concerning indigenous peoples have taken place both on national and international levels during the past two decades. The access of indigenous peoples to state-based political arenas has been improved and their rights are being increasingly negotiated and recognised. There is a sense of progress and a promise that change for the better is taking place.

Indeed, the focus of both research and politics has been on these institutional and formal developments that can be pinpointed. At the same time, the perception that progress is taken place has remained uncontested. The research project problematises this perception and claims that the promise of progress has engendered a new form of power that operates specifically through hope.

The project draws on three research contexts: Australia, Finland and Greenland. All of these countries have substantial developments – or a promise of such developments – in the status of indigenous peoples. The issues to be studied will be the two-decade-long discussions on ratifying ILO Convention 169 in Finland, the planned constitutional changes that would finally recognise the indigenous peoples in Australia and the rights of indigenous peoples after gaining self-government in Greenland in 2009.

The project is led by Professor Julian Reid, Faculty of Social Sciences and it employs two postdoctoral researchers: Marjo Lindroth from the Arctic Centre and Heidi Sinevaara-Niskanen from the Unit for Gender Studies, Faculty of Education. The research partners of the project are Professor David Chandler (University of Westminster, London), Professor Mitchell Dean (Copenhagen Business School), Senior Researcher Tanja Joona (University of Lapland), Professor Francesca Merlan (Australian National University, Canberra), Associate Professor Frank Sejersen (University of Copenhagen) and Associate Professor Jeffrey Sissons (Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand).

The project is funded by Kone Foundation (2016) and the Academy of Finland (2016-2020, decision no. 295557).

Julian Reid

Professor
julian.reid[at]ulapland.fi

Marjo Lindroth

University Researcher
marjo.lindroth[at]ulapland.fi

Heidi Sinevaara-Niskanen

University Researcher

heidi.sinevaara-niskanen[at]ulapland.fi