Indigenous geographies I: mere resource conflicts? the complexities in Indigenous land and environmental claims
Abstract
Indigenous peoples live in challenging environments and engage in complex negotiations to access their rights. Yet research on their social mobilization often stereotypes them as victims of environmental management. We review three debates through which human geographers are beginning to engage more meaningfully with Indigenous environmentalism: the political ecology of neoliberalism; deliberation within claims settlement; and propertization of socio-ecological relations. A movement away from conflating Indigenous with local is evident in those debates, producing recognition of diversity in Indigenous motivations but also a range of challenges to geographical practice.
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Some scholars argue that there is more at stake in mining conflicts than competition over resources, highlighting that Indigenous movements are motivated by broader issues of recognition and resistance to extractivism.
“In contrast, some scholars have argued that there is more at stake in mining conflicts than competition over resources.These studies highlight that Indigenous movements are not only motivated by immediate concerns, but by broader issues of recognition and, in many cases, resistance to extractivism (Conde, 2017;Coombes et al., 2012).”
From Mining indigenous territories: Consensus, tensions and ambivalences in the Salar de Atacama (2022) · cites this paper as Coombes et al., 2012
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Geography and indigeneity I: Indigeneity, coloniality and knowledge
Radcliffe, S. A. (2017) · Progress in Human Geography · doi:10.1177/0309132515612952 · Cited by 163 · see citing works
Mining indigenous territories: Consensus, tensions and ambivalences in the Salar de Atacama
Lorca, M., Olivera Andrade, M., Escosteguy, M., Köppel, J., Scoville-Simonds, M., & Hufty, M. (2022) · The Extractive Industries and Society · doi:10.1016/j.exis.2022.101047 · Cited by 62 · see citing works
- Authors
- Coombes, B., Johnson, J. T., & Howitt, R.
- Affiliations
- University of Auckland (NZ)
- University of Kansas (US)
- Macquarie University (AU)
- Venue
- Progress in Human Geography
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2011-12-13
- Volume
- 36
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 810-821
- ISSN
- 0309-1325 (ISSN-L)
- 1477-0288
- OpenAlex
- W2099856803
- Cited by
- 159
- References
- 62
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 19 · 2020: 14 · 2019: 19 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 16 · 2016: 11 · 2015: 16 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 6
- FWCI
- 18.08
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Progress in Human Geography (publishedVersion)
- ResearchSpace (University of Auckland) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Anthropology › Indigenous Cultures and History
- Social Sciences › Health › Indigenous Health, Education, and Rights
- Social Sciences › Law › Indigenous Peoples' Rights and Law
- Keywords
- indigenous peoples, Indigenous environmentalism, political ecology, neoliberalism, claim settlement, deliberation, socio-ecological relations, indigenous rights, social mobilization, geographical practice
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