History, power and indigenous rights

• Students develop a detailed knowledge of Indigenous peoples’ legal status and rights that belong to Indigenous peoples.
• Students are able to take a critical approach to legal structures and the way they regulate the rights of minorities and Indigenous peoples, especially in the case of Sámi in the Nordic countries
• Students will have a good knowledge of Indigenous governance, self-determination and the past and present of Indigenous movements.
• Students can recognize and analyze Indigenous histories, temporalities, and altering relations of power.

Study material for a general exam covering the content of this study unit:

Choose three of the following:

Ben, Saul 2016: Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights. International and Regional Jurisprudence. Oxford: Hart.

Dahl, Jens 2012: The Indigenous Space and Marginalized Peoples in the United Nations. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Gilbert, Jérémie 2016: Indigenous peoples’ land rights under international law: from victims to actors. Leiden: Brill Nijhoff.

Graham Laura R. & H. Glenn Penny 2014: Performing Indigeneity. Global Histories and Contemporary Experiences. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.

Lindroth, Marjo & Heidi Sinevaara-Niskanen. (eds.) 2022: The Colonial Politics of Hope: Critical Junctures of Indigenous–State Relations. London: Routledge.

Conversations About Indigenous Rights: The UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People and Aotearoa New Zealand, Selvyn Katene, and Rawiri Taonnui. Massey University Press.

Methods of completion

Lectures or independent study (exam or essay).

Recommended time or stage of studies for completion

Study units can be takein in the student’s own preferred order.

Target group

Indigenous Studies is open for students from all degree programmes of the University of Helsinki.

Assessement

General scale 0–5.