Our institutions are on or near the homelands as well as served as a site of healing, trade, and travel for the Peoples of the Council of Three Fires (the Ojibwe, Potawatomi, and Odawa), Menominee, Miami, Ho-Chunk, Peoria, Kaskaskia, Peankashaw, Wea, Mascoutin, Sauk, Mesquaki, Kickapoo, and Chickasaw Nations. We also recognize Northwestern University’s historical relationship with the Cheyenne and Arapaho. These lands continue to carry the stories of these Nations, their forced removal, and their struggles for survival and recognition. As scholars, we have a responsibility to acknowledge both the Peoples as well as the histories of dispossession that have allowed for the growth of these institutions. By reflecting on these histories, we hope to actively address the role that our universities have played in shaping them.
Project Overview
The United Nations has identified indigenous peoples and women as two groups most affected by environmental change, including climate change (UN 2010). Although indigenous peoples make up approximately five percent (5%) of the global population, they constitute more than one-third of the world’s poorest people and govern, occupy, or use nearly 22% of global land area, thus suggesting that indigenous peoples, and indigenous women in particular, are key stakeholders in global environmental governance (UN 2010, UN n.d.). Moreover, there has been an upwelling of different forums and groups associated with indigenous peoples, women, and forest governance related to climate change, including the Indigenous Peoples Forum on Climate Change, Indigenous Women in REDD, the International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity, and the Forest Peoples Programme, among many others, that engage global policy arenas. Until the mid-1990s, however, indigenous peoples had limited—if any—formal representation in international environmental policy-making. The primary mechanism for representation is traditionally through formal state channels, many of which fail to recognize indigenous peoples and rights, thus excluding them from any formal political representation in international policy-making arenas.
In recent years, however, indigenous peoples and local communities have steadily gained access and opportunities to participate in international policy-making arenas. This increased participation is particularly visible in global environmental governance venues, such as the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Convention on Biological Diversity. Despite, however, the resources and attention dedicated to indigneous representation and the increased presence of indigenous peoples in global environmental governance, their influence on decision outcomes remains weak (Witter et al 2015).
In this project, we seek to identify and examine the ways in which marginalized and underrepresented groups effectively influence governance processes that directly impact their ways of living.
In recent years, however, indigenous peoples and local communities have steadily gained access and opportunities to participate in international policy-making arenas. This increased participation is particularly visible in global environmental governance venues, such as the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Convention on Biological Diversity. Despite, however, the resources and attention dedicated to indigneous representation and the increased presence of indigenous peoples in global environmental governance, their influence on decision outcomes remains weak (Witter et al 2015).
In this project, we seek to identify and examine the ways in which marginalized and underrepresented groups effectively influence governance processes that directly impact their ways of living.
Objectives
Global environmental governance is comprised of complex and expansive networks of actors, ranging from nation-states, to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and industry partners. This project seeks to examine how these networks and governance practices at sites of global environmental governance engage in the politics of indigenous representation to shape the outcomes of the negotiations.
We have six specific goals:
We have six specific goals:
- Analyze the process of negotiation and decision-making surrounding forest and biodiversity issues by and for indigenous and marginalized peoples at sites of global environmental governance to expand our conceptual understanding of influence
- Examine how dominant narratives of global environmental governance are presented, shaped, and legitimized at such meetings
- Enhance the contributions of the method to our understanding of global environmental governance by integrating emerging digitial ethnography methods into our study
- Refine and further innovate the collaborative event ethnography approach
- Provide methodological training and research opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students
- Build an interdisciplinary event ethnography research team between Northwestern University and Purdue University to enhance our ability to secure funding for future projects
Citations and Further Reading
United Nations. 2010. State of the World’s Indigenous Peoples Report. Available online: http://undesadspd.org/IndigenousPeoples/LibraryDocuments/StateoftheWorldsIndigenousPeoples.aspx
United Nations. N.d. http://www.unesco.org/new/en/indigenous-peoples/
Witter, R., Marion Suiseeya, K. R., Gruby, R. L., Hitchner, S., Maclin, E. M., Bourque, M., & Brosius, J. P. (2015). Moments of influence in global environmental governance. Environmental Politics, 24(6), 894-912.
United Nations. N.d. http://www.unesco.org/new/en/indigenous-peoples/
Witter, R., Marion Suiseeya, K. R., Gruby, R. L., Hitchner, S., Maclin, E. M., Bourque, M., & Brosius, J. P. (2015). Moments of influence in global environmental governance. Environmental Politics, 24(6), 894-912.
