THEMATIC DOSSIER “Extreme Situations, Large Development Projects and Indigenous Peoples: Corporate Indigenism in Comparative Perspective” Deadline for submission of articles: June 30th 2018.

THEMATIC DOSSIER

“Extreme Situations, Large Development Projects and Indigenous Peoples: Corporate Indigenism in Comparative Perspective”

Deadline for submission of articles: June 30th 2018.

Coordinators

Dr. Stephen Grant Baines (UnB)

Dr. Cristhian Teófilo da Silva (UnB)

In the early 90’s of the XXth century, anthropologist Stephen Baines analyzed an aspect of the ethnic policy adopted by the Brazilian government that consisted (and still do) in the enlargement of the infrastructure of large economic entrepreneurships like dams for the generation of energy, mining sites, roads, sea port complexes etc., inside and across Indigenous Peoples territories. The “corporate indigenism” practiced henceforth among the Waimiri-Atroari people was directed by a Non Governmental Organization that operated inside Eletronorte Energy Company itself, the Waimiri-Atroari Program, implemented since April 1987, six months earlier the closure of the levees of Balbina High Dam in the state of Amazonas. The power plant flooded a vast area of the Waimiri-Atroari and it benefitted the immediate interest of Taboca Mining Company that had also invaded the indigenous territory. The “corporate indigenism” in this case was based on the promotion of “indigenous leaderships” as spokespeople of the companies and of the government agency in the field that prepared them to transmit the orders of the companies and of the program designed to “govern the Indians”. It was an extreme case of subordination of an Indigenous People to the national and international developmentalist interest that is similar to other circumstances affecting other Indigenous Peoples in Brazil. To mention just a few other cases, Eletronorte also promoted the Parakanã Program to “assist” an Indigenous People affected by the Tucuruí Dam in the state of Pará, and FURNAS company promoted the Avá-Canoeiro Program in the state of Goiás.

Considering the multiplicity and multiplication of extreme situations for the ethnic survival and autonomy of Indigenous Peoples facing the spatial expansion of neoliberal capitalism, it is urgent to comparatively share empirical studies of other cases of “corporate indigenism” in the Americas. It is crucial to investigate the consequences of such phenomena and the diverse strategies that corporate companies are implementing and also the Indigenous Peoples responses to it. In this way, we propose this dossier aiming to enlarge the descriptive and analytical depth of the notion of “corporate indigenism” encompassing not only cases of cooptation and capitulation to corporate power, but Indigenous Peoples diverse experiences with capitalist endeavors and neoliberal policies emphasizing neocolonial situations, social processes and social/cultural dynamics that threatens Indigenous Peoples’ autonomy. We also welcome empirical analysis of indigenous and local practices and forms of challenging and resisting capitalism. In this sense, this dossier is open to articles on ethnodevelopment and the “indigenization of development”, among other cases of Indigenous appropriation of companies and capitalist practices, following the seminal critical reflections on the topic advanced by Jean and John Comaroff in “Ethnicity Inc.” (2009). The main objective is to gather research that help to cover other regions and sectors of global capitalism that are being incorporated by different cosmological local systems at the same time that are being transformed by it, to mention the seminal contribution on this regard made by Marshall Sahlins (1988).

The dossier will be structured after two thematic axes: a) Empirical studies of extreme situations of capitalism affecting Indigenous Peoples and local communities and attempts to define “ethnodevelopment”, “ethnocapitalism” and its consequences and impacts; b) Reviews of empirical cases of “corporate indigenism” and of the cosmologies of capitalism that helps to construct comparative concepts and interpretations of such cases. Other related articles that are directly included under these thematic axes may be submitted if they address issues common to the problematic of “corporate indigenism” or can contribute to the comparative study of the topic.

Instructions to the authors and to submit the article please go to the following address: 

http://periodicos.unb.br/index.php/repam/about/submissions#authorGuidelines

Articles will be accepted in Portuguese, Spanish, French and English.

For any further enquiries, please contact: revistaceppac@gmail.com

DOSSIÊ TEMÁTICO (English Version will follow) “Situações Extremas, Grandes Projetos de Desenvolvimento e Povos Indígenas: Indigenismo empresarial em perspectiva comparada” Prazo para Submissão de Artigos: 30/06/2018

DOSSIÊ TEMÁTICO (English Version will follow) “Situações Extremas, Grandes Projetos de Desenvolvimento e Povos Indígenas: Indigenismo empresarial em perspectiva comparada”  Prazo para Submissão de Artigos: 30/06/2018 Organizadores Prof. Dr. Stephen Grant Baines (UnB) Prof. Dr. Cristhian Teófilo da Silva (UnB) No início dos anos 1990, Stephen Baines analisou uma faceta da política indigenista adotada pelo governo brasileiro que consistia (e ainda consiste) em ampliar a infraestrutura para grandes empreendimentos econômicos como barragens para geração de energia hidrelétrica, mineração, rodovias, complexos portuários etc., no interior e através de terras indígenas. O “indigenismo empresarial” então praticado junto ao povo indígena Waimiri-Atroari, foi dirigido por uma Organização Não Governamental com sede dentro da própria Eletronorte, o Programa Waimiri-Atroari, instalado a partir de abril de 1987, seis meses antes do fechamento das comportas da Usina Hidrelétrica (UHE) de Balbina, no Amazonas, que inundou vasta área do território desse povo indígena, e em plena consonância com os interesses imediatos da empresa mineradora, Mineração Taboca, que já havia invadido parte do território indígena. O “indigenismo empresarial”, neste caso, apoiava-se na promoção de “lideranças” indígenas como porta-vozes das empresas e do órgão indigenista que eram formadas para trabalhar como transmissores das ordens das empresas e dos programas de assistência indigenista então criados entre estas e o órgão para governar os indígenas. Trata-se de um caso extremo de subordinação de um povo indígena a interesses desenvolvimentistas internacionais e nacionais, mas que encontra situações similares junto a outros povos indígenas no Brasil. Para citar apenas dois outros casos, a Eletronorte dirigiu também o Programa Parakanã, para um povo indígena atingido pela UHE Tucuruí no Pará, e a FURNAS promoveu o Programa Avá-Canoeiro em Goiás. Considerando a multiplicidade e multiplicação de situações extremas para a sobrevivência ou a autonomia dos povos indígenas diante da expansão territorial do capitalismo neoliberal, faz-se premente compartilhar de maneira comparativa estudos empíricos sobre casos de “indigenismo empresarial” nas Américas, investigando os desdobramentos mais recentes deste fenômeno e as diversas estratégias das empresas e respostas dos povos indígenas. Desse modo, propomos o presente dossiê com vistas a ampliar a abrangência descritiva e analítica da noção de indigenismo empresarial abarcando não somente casos de cooptação e capitulação diante dos poderes de grandes empresas, mas experiências diversas dos povos indígenas com empreendimentos econômicos capitalistas e políticas neoliberais enfatizando situações neocoloniais, processos sociais e dinâmicas de mudança social e cultural que ameaçam a autonomia dos povos indígenas, assim como suas correspondentes formas e práticas de enfrentamento e resistência. Nesse sentido, também serão aceitos trabalhos que abordem experiências de etnodesenvolvimento e casos de “indigenização do desenvolvimento”, dentre outros, de apropriação cultural indígena de empresas, empreendimentos e práticas capitalistas, tais como foram originalmente abordadas e problematizadas por Jean and John Comaroff em “Ethnicity Inc.” (2009). O objeto será reunir trabalhos que permitam explorar outras regiões e setores do capitalismo global que são incorporados por diferentes sistemas cosmológicos locais ao mesmo tempo que transformam estes, para nos servir da seminal contribuição de Marshall Sahlins (1988). A publicação estará estruturada em dois grandes eixos temáticos: a) Estudos empíricos de casos e situações extremas do capitalismo e tentativas de definir “etnodesenvolvimento”, “etnocapitalismo”, seus desdobramentos e seus impactos; e b) revisão bibliográfica de estudos empíricos de casos de “indigenismo empresarial” e das cosmologias do capitalismo com vistas à reelaboração conceitual com fins comparativos. Artigos com temáticas correlatas que não estejam diretamente incluídas nos dois eixos temáticos poderão ser submetidos desde que se estabeleça o diálogo com estudos de “indigenismo empresarial” ou contribuam para a pesquisa em perspectiva comparativa deste tema. Instruções para autores/as e submissão dos artigos deverá ser realizada até 30/05/2018 no endereço: http://periodicos.unb.br/index.php/repam/about/submissions#authorGuidelines Os trabalhos podem ser enviados nos seguintes idiomas: português, espanhol, francês e inglês. As dúvidas sobre a chamada poderão ser esclarecidas através do e-mail: revistaceppac@gmail.com ******************************

Call for Papers on Remedies to Racial Inequality Deadline Extended: MAY 15, 2018, International Conference on Remedies to Racial Inequality Vitoria Brazil, September 26-29, 2018

Call for Papers on Remedies to Racial Inequality

Deadline Extended:  MAY 15, 2018

International Conference on Remedies to Racial Inequality

Vitoria Brazil, September 26-29, 2018

Paper and panel submission deadlines have been extended to May 15, 2018 for the 5^th World Conference on Remedies to Racial and Ethnic Economic Inequality.  Co-hosts are Universidade Federal do Espirito Santo and the University of Minnesota. Conference languages are English, Portuguese, Mandarin and Spanish. Papers on any aspect of racial and ethnic economic inequality are welcome. For more information, abstract submissions, and registration, click here.

A limited number of travel scholarships offered to the best papers submitted by junior scholars.

SUBTOPICS THAT EMBRACE THE CONFERENCE THEME

·        Longer term consequences of persistent poverty and inequality in access to quality health care among low-income, racial and ethnic minority group members.

·        Comparative analysis of the effectiveness of alternative policy interventions designed to reduce racial and ethnic economic inequality 

·        Problems of political corruption and uneven development.

·        Causes and consequences of inequalities in access to health care and alternative health care delivery systems.

·        Racial identity and the evolution of policies in higher education, public employment, and government contracting and procurement.

·        Innovative policies designed to remedy racial and ethnic economic inequality: baby bonds, universal employment, guaranteed minimum income plans.

For questions related to the conference, please email rwilkins@umn.edu. 

-- 

Samuel Myers
University of Minnesota
263 Humphrey Center
301 19th Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55455

Association of Mexican American Educators Journal Special Issue Call for Proposals: Latinx Education Policy and Resistance in the Trump Era

CALL FOR PAPERS

Association of Mexican American Educators (AMAE) Journal Special Issue

LATINX EDUCATION POLICY AND RESISTANCE IN THE TRUMP ERA

Guest Editors:

Patricia D. López (San José State University) and William Pérez (Claremont Graduate University)

The 2016 U.S presidential election and evolving political climate has confronted us all with the perpetual existence of systemic racism and xenophobia that has arguably been concealed by post racial rhetoric. Since taking office, the Trump administration has asserted its grip on power, enabling a hostile climate that places money and greed above the sovereignty and human rights of indigenous and historically marginalized people and land. Public, K12 and higher education campuses continue to be sites of horrific waves of racism, bigotry, and violent extremism (SPLC, 2016) at the same time convicted racial profilers like Joe Arpairo are granted pardons. This is most recently demonstrated in Charlottesville where hundreds of white supremacists and neo-Nazi’s took to the University of Virginia campus motivated by racial hatred. The administration’s initial responses to Charlottesville demonstrate one of many ways that political and educational institutions maintain an inherited legacy of structural racism in tact (see Flores & Rosa, 2017).

Furthermore, Trump’s policy pistol has waged war on people of color and the free press, while appointing high-level advisors with nationalist ties to white supremacy and ethical violation rap sheets that far exceed mere conflicts of interest. The administration’s draconian budget plan include drastic cuts to research including the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that studies and trains scientists invested in finding treatments and cures for life threatening illnesses, and the Environmental Protection Agency, which strives to protect our air, water and health, as well as a proposal to eliminate the National Endowments for the Arts (NEA) and Humanities (NEH) and public broadcasting media outlets. The appointment of U.S. Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos and Supreme Court Justice Neil M. Gorsuch represent an unapologetic attack on public education and an anti-union agenda that threaten the due process and academic freedom rights of millions of K12 and postsecondary educators, alike. Lacking experience and tainted in unscrupulous conflicts of interest, Education Secretary DeVos makes no apologies for enabling corporate profiteers’ strongholds on education policy, bolstering the illusion of voucher and for-profit charter agendas as the great equalizer despite a blatant lack of evidence (Carnoy, 2017). Rather, what we are witnessing are a reprehensible curtailing of Title IX programs, pardons for convicted racial profiling and diminished civil/human right protections for sexual assault victims, immigrant communities, and special needs and transgender youth.

Adding to an ongoing list of ideological motives is the cancellation of the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which has put in limbo the lives of 800,000 young adults and has closed the door on future beneficiaries.i This anti-immigrant agenda follows Trump’s previous executive order on “Enforcing Statutory Prohibitions on Federal Control of Education,”ii both of which tout the notion of state’s rights and local control. This agenda represents yet another racialized, homonationalist dog whistle (Haney López, 2015), this exemplifying what David Gillborn (2005) terms tacit intentionality—or the active structuring of racism and racial inequality—that are deeply embedded in education policy and the power relations from which they transpire. Echoing long-standing arguments by critical race and feminist scholars (Crenshaw, et al., 1996; Delgado & Stefancic, 2000; Hurtado, 1997; Leonardo, 2004; Ladson-Billings & Tate, 2005; López, 2016; Bonilla-Silva, 2017) the framing of tacit intentionality evokes the intersections between education policy, white supremacy, and the subordination of people of color and how they manifest in legal and policy processes. 

For this call, we are interested in submissions focused on K12 and higher education policy and legal analyses, state and local forms of resistance and organizing, critical pedagogies and praxis. We encourage interdisciplinary scholarship that draws from critical theories and methodologies. Questions to consider: How are the racialized, xenophobic threats posed by Trump politics adding further vulnerability to Latinx communities? What forms of action are institutions, including legal and legislative bodies taking in today’s political climate? How are sanctuary campus, sanctuary city, and sanctuary state policies being developed or redefined as a response to the Trump administration? What are the complexities of organizing and resistance movements as they relate to Latinx education and policy issues? 

Submissions may include empirical studies, essays, reflections, conceptual pieces, poetry, and other creative works.

The selection of manuscripts will be conducted as follows:

1. Manuscripts should not have been previously published in another journal, nor should they be under consideration by another journal at the time of submission.

2. Each manuscript will be subjected to a blind review by a panel of reviewers with expertise in the area treated by the manuscript. Those manuscripts recommended by the panel of experts will then be considered by the AMAE guest editors and editorial board, which will make the final selections. PLEASE NOTE: For a manuscript to be accepted for review, each contributing author (or at least one among co-authors) must agree to review one manuscript submitted to this special issue.

3. Manuscripts will be judged on strengths and relevance to the theme of the special issue. 

Manuscripts should be submitted as follows:

1. Submit via email both a cover letter and copy of the manuscript in Microsoft Word to: Patricia D. López (patricia.d.lopez@sjsu.edu).

2. Cover letter should include name, title, short author bio (100 words), and institutional affiliation; indicate the type of manuscript submitted and the number of words, including references. Also, please indicate how your manuscript addresses the call for papers. 

3. Prepare the manuscript for anonymous peer review. Authors should make every effort to ensure that the manuscript contains no clues to the author's identity. The manuscript should not include author’s name, institutional affiliation, contact information, or acknowledgements. This information can be included in the cover letter at the time of submission.

4. Manuscripts should be no longer than 7,500 words (including references) and have an abstract of 200 words or less. Please follow the standard format of the American Psychological Association (APA). Include within the text all illustrations, charts, and graphs. Manuscripts may also be submitted in Spanish. 

5. Deadline for submissions is May 31, 2018. Please address questions to Patricia D. López (patricia.d.lopez@sjsu.edu) or William Pérez (william.perez@cgu.edu). Authors will be asked to address revisions to their manuscripts during the summer months of 2018. This special issue is due to be published in December 2018.

Special Issue Call for Papers: The Impact of Reserve and Reservation Systems on Indigenous Well-Being

The International Indigenous Policy Journal

• Call for Papers
• Call for Special Issue Papers

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Scholarship@Western > IIPJ

Special Issue Call for Papers: The Impact of Reserve and Reservation Systems on Indigenous Well-Being

Guest Editor: Cristhian Teófilo da Silva, Universidade de Brasília and CIÉRA - Centre interuniversitaire d'études et de recherches autochtone of Université Lava

In several countries around the world, non-Indigenous-dominated governments have created reserves or reservations where Indigenous populations have been placed. These land areas are legal designations for circumscribed territories occupied by one or more Indigenous Peoples in order to allow the State to perform the rational or bureaucratic administration of the lives of these peoples. They form an integral role in the longstanding colonial policy experiences aimed largely at assimilation and control of Indigenous populations. 

The IIPJ is calling for policy and research submissions that relate to the impacts of the creation of reserves or reservations. We welcome submissions that are empirically grounded and relate to the impacts of these systems on the social, health, economic, political, or environmental well-being of Indigenous Peoples. The IIPJ welcomes a full range of methodological approaches but does seek contributions that are policy relevant and will be of interest to readers worldwide. Comparative studies are particularly welcome.

Submissions should be submitted for review no later than November 30, 2018

We expect to publish accepted manuscripts in summer (Northern Hemisphere) 2019.

Submission guidelines can be found in our Author Guide

 

Efrain Ríos Montt dies and the struggle for justice continues

Dear Friends of GHRC,

The April 1, 2018  death of ex-dictator Efrain Rios Montt marks a milestone in the decades long struggle to prosecute military commanders for the Guatemalan genocide. GHRC remains committed to supporting victims of crimes against humanity and the efforts of Guatemalan human rights organizations to acheive justice, today attending the close of the Ixil genocide trial today.  We report on that hearing below, followed by the GHRC translation of the official statement of the Association for Justice and Reconciliation, comprised of the genocide survivors who are plantiffs in the case.

After trial of ex-dictator Efrain Rios Montt closes, victims remind the world he died convicted of genocide

Jackie McVicar, Guatemala City with

Ayla Bailey and Annie Bird, Washington, DC

April 6, 2018

This morning in the High Risk “B” Courtroom, presiding judge Maria Eugenia Castellanos officially terminated the Ixil genocide trial against former military dictator general, Efrain Ríos Montt following his death Sunday from a heart attack. A separate proceeding against Ríos Montt for the 1982 massacre at Las Dos Erres was in pretrial hearings and will also be terminated.

“As survivors of genocide, we want the world to know, Guatemalans and new generations to know, what happened in this country, so that the same history we lived is not repeated,” said Maya Ixil survivor Antonio Caba Caba outside the courtroom.

Ríos Montt was convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity on May 10, 2013. Due to a Constitutional Court (CC) ruling accepting a procedural challenge related to pretrial motions, a repeat trial was underway when Ríos Montt, 91, died under house arrest. Ixil plaintiffs and legal experts contend that the 2013 ruling was never overturned and the original conviction still stands.

In a recent comment, current President Jimmy Morales praised Ríos Montt’s service to the country. Genocide survivor Miguel de Leon Ceto responded: “He’s not the President of the Guatemalan people. He’s the President for a sector of the country and it doesn’t surprise us that he has made these kinds of declarations...We are the ones who survived genocide. For us massacring and killing is not ‘service’.”

Maya Ixil survivors, members of the Association for Justice and Reconciliation (AJR) and plaintiffs in the case were present to hear the trial end. In a press conference outside the courtroom, they assured the public that they would continue the struggle for justice against the other members of the military high command responsible for the genocide.  “We reject the declarations that affirm that Ríos Montt died unpunished and free, he died convicted and was facing a second trial.” Maya Ixil survivors also reiterated their solidarity with other indigenous communities who suffered genocide in Guatemala. In 2000, the AJR filed charges of crimes of genocide against Efrain Ríos Montt and other members of the military high command in the Ixil region of the Quiche department, but other cases, like the Maya Achi genocide, have not yet been tried.

Following the hearing, Jaime Hernandez, Ríos Montt’s lawyer, denied there was genocide in Guatemala. “We should consider Jose Efrain Ríos Montt a national hero, a person who didn’t allow communism and the left to take power because if not, Guatemala today would be like a Venezuela or Cuba. Thanks to God, General Ríos Montt had the courage to be strong and not allow the counter-insurgency to take power.” Hernandez previously said that the Maya Ixil people who were killed during Ríos Montt’s dictatorship were members of the guerilla.  

International human rights organizations that have closely accompanied the case, including GHRC, put out a public declaration which states, “We are deeply concerned about the slow pace and negligence of the Guatemalan judicial system to investigate, prosecute, and punish those responsible of serious crimes committed during the armed conflict.” The statement calls on the Guatemalan congress to “reject legislative proposal 5377, which aims to reform the National Reconciliation Law and ensure impunity for those responsible for the crimes of the past.”

As the selection process for the new Attorney General comes to a close, the AJR asked the nomination committee to withdraw Judge Roberto Molina Barreto from the list of candidates for “obstructing justice for the victims of human rights violations.” They accuse Molina Barreto of abusing his power when he was a Constitutional Court Judge and making an illegal ruling to protect Ríos Montt with the 2013 ruling. In a written statement, the UN High Commission for Human Rights in Geneva reiterated, “It’s important that the newly elected Attorney General shows a strong commitment to continue the struggle against impunity for crimes of the past.”

The trial against ex-head of military intelligence, Jose Rodriguez Sanchez for genocide and crimes against humanity will continue this afternoon in Guatemala City. The AJR is demanding that the Guatemala Public Prosecutor’s Office charge and prosecute other members of the military high command responsible for serious human rights violations, many now fugitives. “The victims have waited more than 30 years for justice...This is another debt the judicial system has for the victims of this country. We hope that there is prompt justice for the other cases of transitional justice that are being litigated in Guatemala,” said Francisco Soto, Director of the Center for Human Rights Legal Action (CALDH), co-plaintiffs in the Ixil genocide case.

The Ixil People Will Continue to Seek Justice

Association for Justice and Reconciliation (AJR) and the survivors of the Ixil Massacre

For the last 18 years, we’ve been seeking justice for the genocide committed against our communities by the Guatemalan Army. That demand for justice will not end with the death of Ríos Montt. The trial against Mauricio Rodriguez Sánchez, ex- Director of Military Intelligence under Ríos Montt will continue, as will other cases against those responsible for the genocide and the crimes committed during the armed conflict.

On May 10th, 2013, the ‘High Risk Court “A”’ sentenced Ríos Montt to 80 years in prison for genocide and crimes against humanity, which is why he died with a guilty sentence and under house arrest. We reject claims that he died a free man and is acts went unpunished. In fact, he died condemned and facing a second conviction.

We regret that the victims and perpetrators of the genocide are dying before justice is served. As of now, 5 witnesses and 3 senior military officers who were responsible for the military crimes of 1982 and 1983 have died. This shows the State’s lack of political willpower to guarantee justice for the survivors of genocide and the crimes of the armed conflict.

By signing the Peace Accords, the State committed to prosecuting those responsible for crimes against the civilian population, especially crimes against children, women and campesinos. Nevertheless, the State continues to deny the truth and delay justice for these victims and for the Ixil people in particular.

Thus, We Demand:

1. That the ‘High Risk Court “B”’ speed up the case against Mauricio Rodriguez Sánchez. It is difficult for the victims to have to travel every 8 days to the capitol to take part in the hearings. We demand that the case be resolved quickly and that Mauricio Rodriguez Sánchez be sentenced.

2. That the Public Prosecutor investigate all of the high and mid- ranking army officers responsible for the Ixil genocide and those responsible for the genocide against the Achí, Kaqchikel, Chuj and Q’anjob’al people.

3. That the Appointments Committee exclude Mr. Roberto Molina Barreto from consideration for Attorney General, because he has denied justice to victims of human rights violations. After Rios Montt was convicted, Roberto Molina Barreto illegally ordered a repeat trial in order to protect the ex-dictator from his rightful sentence.  

4. That the government of Guatemala recognize the truth of our history and stop denying the past. The truth is important value for the Mayan people and we demand that the victim testimonies and the genocide sentence be respected. Reconciliation can only be built upon the foundations of truth and justice and we will forever honor the memory of our parents and grandparents.

Kab’laval “e”

Nebaj, Quiché, April 6, 2018