How Do Real Indians Fish? Neoliberal Multiculturalism and Contested Indigeneities in the Colorado Delta
Abstract
There has been a growing interest in anthropology regarding how certain political conditions set the stage for “articulations” between indigenous movements and environmental actors and discourses. However, relatively little attention has been paid to how these same conditions can suppress demands for indigenous rights. In this article, I argue that the pairing of neoliberalism and multiculturalism in contemporary Mexico has created political fields in which ethnic difference has been foregrounded as a way of denying certain rights to marginalized groups. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in northern Mexico, I analyze how the arguments of a group of Cucapá for fishing rights in the Colorado Delta have been constrained within these political circumstances. I argue that cultural difference has been leveraged by the Mexican federal government and local NGOs to prevent the redistribution of environmental resources among vulnerable groups such as the Cucapá.
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Conflicts over whaling and other similar debates, such as hunting and fishing rights, are directly linked to political and legal infrastructures that have historically worked to marginalise and even erase Indigeneity and Indigenous practices.
“Conflicts over whaling and other similar debates, such as hunting and fishing rights, are directly linked to political and legal infrastructures that have historically worked to marginalise and even erase Indigeneity and Indigenous practices (see Harris, 2008; Muehlmann, 2009; Durney, 2020).”
From On the edges of extinction: Indigenous whaling governance, the 1977 “bowhead controversy” and its legacy (2024) · cites this paper as Muehlmann, 2009
The subsistence framing of Indigenous whaling has been criticised for reproducing the idea of the "tribal slot" by trapping customary practice in a static state of "authenticity" dictated by colonial imaginaries.
“been criticised for reproducing the idea of the “tribal slot” by trapping customary practice in a static state of “authenticity” dictated by colonial imaginaries (see Trouillot, 1991; Li, 2000; Muehlmann, 2009; Brigham, 2017; Durney, 2020).”
From On the edges of extinction: Indigenous whaling governance, the 1977 “bowhead controversy” and its legacy (2024) · cites this paper as Muehlmann, 2009
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Durney, F. (2020) · Environment and Society · doi:10.3167/ares.2020.110104 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Åman, S. (2024) · Cambridge Prisms: Extinction · doi:10.1017/ext.2024.14
“…(see Coté, 2010; Reid, 2015; Shoemaker, 2015), and b. been criticised for reproducing the idea of the “ tribal slot ” by trapping customary practice in a static state of “ authenticity ” dictated by colonial imaginaries (see Trouillot, 1991; Li, 2000; Muehlmann, 2009; Brigham, 2017; Durney, 2020).”
2 Entangled Endangerments: “Revitalising the Gray Whale and its Hunt”
Åman, S. (2024) · Arrivals and Departures · doi:10.1515/9783111215273-003
- Authors
- Muehlmann, S.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Berkeley (US)
- Corresponding author
- Muehlmann, Shaylih
- Venue
- American Anthropologist
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2009-11-17
- Volume
- 111
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 468-479
- ISSN
- 0002-7294 (ISSN-L)
- 1548-1433
- OpenAlex
- W2105259195
- Cited by
- 93
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 20 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 5 · 2014: 22 · 2013: 1 · 2012: 6
- FWCI
- 110.39
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- American Anthropologist (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Cultural Studies › Indigenous Studies in Latin America
- Social Sciences › Anthropology › Indigenous Cultures and History
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Extractivism and Socioeconomic Issues
- Keywords
- neoliberal multiculturalism, neoliberalism, multiculturalism, indigenous rights, fishing rights, ethnic differences, indigenous movements, non-governmental organizations, Mexican federal government, northern Mexico
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