Sovereignty and Self-Determination

Multiculturalism

relating to other racialized groups

Ideological Sovereignty

related to representation

Politics of Legal Recognition

relationship to the federal government

Justice

internal consideration of sovereignty

How might Indigenous people push back against settler colonial consciousness and ideologies?

• Not defining selves against settler society but rather looking from within; creating their own representations

• Like racial formation, the concept of sovereignty is historically contingent

Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl (2013)

• Baby given up for adoption by (non-Native mother) to white family

• Father, who was Cherokee, tried to claim parental rights through the ICWA

• Court ruled against him because child had never lived with the father

Haaland v. Brackeen (2023)

• Supreme Court upholds ICWA

• Decision affirmed the sovereignty of Native tribes, but also illustrates ongoing vulnerability in terms of self-determination

Self-determination within 1960s - 1970s Social Movement Era

• TWLF at San Francisco State

  • Students wanted to determine the content and the purpose of their college education

• Chicano/a community

  • Independent schools (Escuela Tlatelolco in Denver); Police (Brown Berets)

Chicano Park Takeaways

• Chicano/a community in SD, Barrio Logan, bisected by the freeway and the Coronado Bridge

• Land promised as park, but City reneged

• Activists occupied the land until City fulfilled its promise to create a park

• Barrio Logan residents paint murals and create cultural space for Latinx community