Whose Land Are We Standing On? : Negotiating Borders, Governance, Land, and Selfhood in the North American Borderlands

Sammanfattning: The imposition of European borders in North America has given rise to a need to inquire into the impact of the overlay of colonial borders upon earlier ideas of geographical boundaries, and upon indigenous border nations and their connections to places and ways of being. Here, we look to delineate a tentative approach to further such inquiries into indigenous border nations who have found themselves on or near an international border by examining the relationship with ancestral lands. A thematic analysis will be conducted in the framework of a case study research design. Two cases are discussed, which suggest the relationship with ancestral lands is often discussed in transboundary terms. The discussion further illustrates cross-border mobility enacts indigenous understandings of borders, governance, land, and selfhood, and has led to negotiations over the rights which flow from these. For the future, this suggests attention to transboundary indigenous nations is necessary.