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This article examines the manner in which representatives of indigenous peoples use the platform of the United Nations and an international movement in ninety countries to construct the principles upon which they may be recognized as collective, rights bearing subjects. In 2007, this movement -- largely unstructured but effective in terms of strategic alliances -- successfully established a legal instrument at the level of the international community: the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. In order to be moral and because they can have political, financial and legal consequences, these measures are capable of giving rise to significant transformations in the fields of politics, governance and autonomy. The need to participate in the activities of the United Nations allowed the formation of a collective native "us", structured a space for demands that went beyond the institution and related it to the field of human rights in other areas of public policy. By contributing to the fabrication of norms, this multi-headed policy actor furnished itself with a collective voice on the international scene capable of resolving the tensions inherent to spatial dispersion, linguistic fragmentation and political atomization. As an international entity, it raises a number of questions regarding locally observed discrepancies, modes of identification, state classifications and political and economic experiences. Adapted from the source document.

With the recent global economic crisis, the dominant western paradigm has begun to crumble, giving rise to a new postcolonial anxiety that a subsequent collapse of Western thought is also imminent. In this article, the author examines the conceptual transitions that have arisen in the wake of the economic crisis through the theoretical framework of Jean-Loup Amselle's L'Occident decroche. Enquete sur les postcolonialismes (The West Undone: Inquiry into Postcolonialism). W. A. Butler

"Auf der Grundlage von Feldforschung in der Europäischen Kommission nähert sich die Autorin der Frage nach methodischen Neuerungen in der politischen Anthropologie aus zwei Blickwinkeln. Zum einen beschäftigt sie sich mit der Identifizierung der Europäischen Kommission als Feld für anthropologische Forschung und mit der Frage, welche Veränderungen für die Anthropologie selbst die Wahl eines solchen Feldes mit sich bringt. Zum anderen beleuchtet sie das Problem der Konstruktion eines Forschungsobjekts innerhalb einer Institution sowie der Subjektivität der/s Forschenden. Die Verschiebung des analytischen Fokus auf sowohl die internen (Herausbildung einer spezifischen 'europäischen Kultur') als auch die externen Aspekte (Verhältnis zu anderen Organisationen) der europäischen Institutionen bedeutet nicht nur eine Herausforderung für die politische Anthropologie, sondern auch für die Institutionen selbst, insbesondere, wenn diese zukünftig tatsächlich eine neue Politik der 'Transparenz und Offenheit' implementieren wollen." (Autorenreferat)

The debate on the European Enlargement to East & Central Europe & the negotiations with presently 13 & possibly more countries later raises a cultural problem at large, briefly summarized by two questions: what do we have in common? And, what is the European identity? Practically, the debate raises the problem of what language we will speak. The paper, written by an anthropologist, is based on extensive periods of observation of EU institutional life & several months of participation in the Commission working operations. It intends to clarify the linguistic situation of the EU, considered as a political entity, by making explicit the relationships between three articulated layers that are (1) the realm of an official polity, (2) the world of the institutions, & (3) society at large. Within the general context of EU making, I distinguish the problematic of the official European languages policy, the use of languages that is made by European officials & their impact on policy making, & the delicate shifting from monolingualism to multilingualism in a social context. The EU's destiny is to carry two antagonistic perspectives such as unity & diversity, which constitute its motto. Diversity is at the core of the European identity & within the institutional process itself, bringing in terms of language interesting issues for improving communication through translation, interpretation, & personal attitudes. Progress towards the forms of unity that represent the integration policies & the adoption of a single currency do not lead simply to a linguistic unification, nor to the adoption of English as a common vehicular language. European elite (usually trained in English) & people (located in their own multiple languages) do not live in identical linguistic situations. What is at stake is the possibility for individuals to manage several languages for genuinely being a part of European space, which does not limit itself to national & regional boundaries. 16 References. Adapted from the source document.

Cover -- Half Title -- Series Page -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Contents -- List of contributors -- Acknowledgments -- Indigenous peoples' rights: global circulation, colonial heritage, and resistance -- PART I: Circulating between the scales: the global, the national, and the local -- 1 Participation of indigenous peoples in issues affecting them: a matter of negotiation at the United Nations -- 2 Defining the terms of indigenous peoples' rights in Namibia: the role of the International Labor Organization -- 3 Indigenous peoples' rights and policies: the role of the UN in Mexico -- 4 Traversing the scales of rights: interventions from indigenous peoples of Cambodia at the United Nations -- PART II: Colonial legacies -- 5 Colonial legacy and public policy: from primitive to indigenous in French Guiana (1930-present) -- 6 Decoloniality put to the test: the Plurinational State of Bolivia -- 7 Leveraging international power: private property and the human rights of indigenous peoples in Canada -- 8 The logic of elimination in (post-)colonial law: indigenous entanglements in the Kimberley region of Australia -- PART III: Resisting processes of invisibilization -- 9 Criminalization and judicialization of indigenous peoples' rights in Chile: current dynamics -- 10 Burning a home that "doesn't exist," arresting people who "aren't there": a critique of eviction-based conservation and the Sengwer of Embobut forest, Kenya -- 11 Redefining university research enterprises: partnership and collaboration in Laxyuup Gitxaa?a -- Index.

The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007) marks a significant shift in the relations whereby indigenous peoples define themselves and their claims. They are now faced with the challenge of implementing international standards within national spaces. By adopting a global comparative perspective, our article aims to explore how this movement unfolds in a variety of local issues and strategies, building transnational links and differences. We first examine the acceptance of indigenous peoples' status across the globe before exploring the transformative effects of recognition around two major themes, indigenous rights to education and to land and natural resources. We argue that the recognition of indigenous peoples as subjects of international law has far-ranging implications for the global system as a whole, implicating other global or transnational agents, and potentially affecting the balance between economic and political powers. Adapted from the source document.