Doctoral Dissertation Research: International Law and Indigenous Land Claims in Eastern Nicaragua

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Since the end of the Contra war in 1990, maps have played a powerful role in the formulation of indigenous and black land claims in the Atlantic Coast region of eastern Nicaragua. While the maps have empowered legal recognition of land rights, they have also created a new set of political problems, particularly where claims made by different ethnic groups overlap. Though analysis of the basis for establishing rights to land has been linked to the ability to document "customary use" in the area claimed, this doctoral dissertation research project will examine the political and economic factors that figure prominently as traditions in the formulation of land claims. This research will develop a comparative study of two instances of overlapping land claims to analyze the interplay between identity, territory, and control over resources. The first case examines the Nicaraguan government's efforts to demarcate and title lands claimed by the indigenous Mayagna community of Awas Tingni. Miskito residents of Tasba Raya who were relocated to the region in the 1960s by a state agrarian reform project also claim portions of this area. Awas Tingni land rights were the subject of recent precedent-setting decision by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ordering the Nicaraguan government to demarcate and title lands claimed by the community. With funding from the World Bank, the government is using this case to test of procedures included in a recently approved land demarcation and titling law. The second case involves overlapping land claims by Miskito residents of Tasbapaunie and Afro-indigenous Garifuna groups residing in the vicinity of Pearl Lagoon, both of which produced maps of their claims as part of a World Bank commissioned land rights study. Both groups are using their maps to develop petitions for recognition of their claims under the new law for demarcation and titling indigenous and black lands. Miskito groups have increasingly argued that their status as indigenous peoples should give their claims priority over Garifuna claims in spite of the fact that the Miskito themselves are often referred to as an Afro-indigenous group. The research involves three components: (1) documentation and analysis of oral history relating to the identity and land use of each group, (2) in-depth interviews with people who have participated in mapping claims, and (3) analysis of the similarities and differences between colonial maps depicting the region in ethnic terms and contemporary maps of land claims. This information will be synthesized through an analysis of peoples' everyday patterns of resource use and social relations in comparison with what the maps show and how the claims they depict are institutionalized, situating an analysis of the region's changing geography.This project will look at how indigenous identity is constructed through political mobilization linking racialized dispossession with international human rights. The research will apply spatial analytics to questions of race and the politics of identity, building on existing debates in human geography. In particular, it will analyze how maps are used to create rights-bearing subjects, linking social and spatial categories in a manner legible within the frameworks of international and national law. It will also critically examine how, when normatively applied, such constructed understandings of identity both empower and constrain protection of the very rights they were intended to safeguard. This research has implications for conservation and development policy involving indigenous peoples, international human rights law, and implementation of land reform legislation in Nicaragua. It will also contribute to the literature in political ecology on the links between identity and resources as well as to the development of participatory mapping techniques and critical cartography. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.