Problem of Justice

Granville Miller Bruce

Description

For the indigenous peoples of North America, the history of colonialism has often meant a distortion of history, even, in some cases, a loss or distorted sense of their own native practices of justice. How contemporary native communities have dealt quite differently with this dilemma is the subject of The Problem of Justice, a richly textured ethnographic study of indigenous peoples struggling to reestablish control over justice in the face of conflicting external and internal pressures.

 

The peoples discussed in this book are the Coast Salish communities along the northwest coast of North America: the Upper Skagit Indian Tribe in Washington State, the Stó:lo Nation in British Columbia, and the South Island Tribal Council on Vancouver Island. Here we see how, despite their common heritage and close ties, each of these communities has taken a different direction in understanding and establishing a system of tribal justice. Describing the results—from the steadily expanding independence and jurisdiction of the Upper Skagit Court to the collapse of the South Island Justice Project—Bruce G. Miller advances an ethnographically informed, comparative, historically based understanding of aboriginal justice and the particular dilemmas tribal leaders and community members face. His work makes a persuasive case for an indigenous sovereignty associated with tribally controlled justice programs that recognize diversity and at the same time allow for internal dissent.

Sujets

• América del Norte
• Human biology
• Indigenous peoples
• Biological anthropology
• North America
• Anthropology

Informations

• Publié par: Nebraska
• Date de parution: 01 septembre 2001
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780803201941
• Langue: English

Extrait

t he p robl e m of j us t i c e

Fourth World Risingseries editors:

Gerald M. Sider The College of Staten Island,cuny

Kirk Dombrowski John Jay College of Criminal Justice,cuny

bruc e g. mi l l e r

The Problem of Justice Tradition and Law in the Coast Salish World

University of Nebraska Press Lincoln and London

Acknowledgments for the use of previously published material appear on page xiv. Copyright © 2001 by the University of Nebraska Press. Maps Copyright © 2000 by Brian Thom. All rights reserved. Manufactured in the United States of America ` V

World Map: Peters Projection. Copyright Akademische Verlags anstalt. Available from ODT, Inc., PO Box 134, Amherst MA 01004 USA; 8007361293 or www. petersmap.com.

l i b r a r y o f c o n g r e s s c a t a l o g i n g i n p u b l i c a t i o n d a t a Miller, Bruce G., 1951– The problem of justice : tradition and law in the Coast Salish world / Bruce G. Miller. p. cm. – (Fourth world rising) Includes bibliographical refer ences and index. isbn0803232217 (cl.: alk. paper) –isbn0803282753 (pbk.: alk. paper) 1. Coast Salish Indians – Legal status, laws, etc. – Washington (State) 2. Coast Salish Indians – Legal status, law, etc. – British Columbia. 3. Indians of North America – Legal status, laws, etc. – Northwest, Pacific I. Titla. II. Series. kfw505.5.c63m55 2001 305.897'90795–dc21 2001027347

For Laraine, Cameron, and Alastair

c o n t e n t s

List of Illustrations Series Editors’ Introduction Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Foreground 2. Background 3. Upper Skagit Justice 4. The Stó:lo¯ Nation 5. An Intertribal Justice Discussion 6. The South Island Justice Project 7. Conclusion Series Editors’ Afterword References Index

viii ix xiii 1 29 55 93 121 163 175 201 211 217 235

i l l u s t r at i o n s

Photographs 107 Upper Skagit court officials in the courtroom 126 Stó:lo¯ leaders in ritual costumes 127 Stó:lo¯ longhouse at Coqualeetza 134FrankMalloway(Stó:l¯o)infrontof his longhouse

Maps 6 The Coast Salish world 123TheStó:l¯oNationmemberbands 178 South Island Tribal Council member bands

Tables 104 1. Offenses of the Upper Skagit, 1990–1991 109 2. Key legal statuses and their entitlements and restrictions

Series Editors’ Introduction

The Problem of Justiceis the second volume in Fourth World Rising, a new series of contemporary ethnographies from the University of Nebraska Press. The series focuses on contemporary issues, including class, gender, religion, and politics: in sum, it addresses social and cultural differentiation among and between native peoples as they confront those around them and each other in struggles for better lives, better futures, and better visions of their own pasts. This focus thus represents a departure from many of the monographs produced by anthropologists about native peoples, which often have sought to reproduce either visions of ways of life now long past or else pasts refracted through current idealization. In the process, traditional anthropology has helped enshrine a backwardlooking focus to native culture that has, at times, been influential in the way laws are framed and even in how native peoples come to see their own identity. Ideas, especially when enshrined in law and lent the authority of governments, have power. And the idea that native cultures and societies are historical artifacts rather than ongoing projects has served to narrow the politics of native identity or indigenism worldwide. One purpose of this series is to change this focus and broaden the conception of native struggle to match its current complexity. This is especially important now, for the last two decades have provided prominent examples of native peoples seeking to recast the public ultimately political basis of their native identity in ways other than the reproduction of often fanciful, even fictional pasts. Our hope is that by offering a variety of texts focused on these and other contempo rary issues, structured for classroom use and a general audience, we can help change the public perception of native struggle allowing people to see that native cultures and societies are very much ongoing (and to a surprising extent on their own terms) and that the issues they confront carry important practical and theoretical implications for a more general understanding of cultural and political processes. ix