Doctoral Dissertation Research: Indigenous Rights, Cultural Politics, and the Gaps Between International and Domestic Law

这个博士论文研究项目将侧重于延迟执行国际人权法院关于征收土地以尊重土著社区的土地要求作为侵犯人权的赔偿的建议的原因和影响。博士生将对三种不同的法院裁决进行案例研究，以回答三组一般性问题：(1)导致执行延迟的因素是什么，为什么这三种情况都持续延迟？(2)索偿社区成员如何看待从国家争夺领土的经历及其对他们的文化认同和政治权力的影响？(3)参与索赔过程的土著社区、私人土地所有者和国家机构如何将领土作为一个概念和实践来表达和执行？该项目的研究成果将有助于政治经济学、法律地理学和文化地理学领域关于法律和领土、多元文化主义和土著权利的理论辩论。该项目将为探索增添新的见解，其中领土不被视为特定政治管辖权的代名词，而是被视为由政治，经济，法律和文化活动组成的空间组织形式，其中资源控制处于危险之中，权力关系是动态的，新的文化身份和政治主体性被创造出来。该项目将加强国际合作关系，并将通过向土著社区成员提供社区测绘方法方面的培训来建设能力。该项目的调查结果将与国际法院的代表和参与争端的社区分享。虽然侧重于一组具体的案例研究，但在这项关于法律程序及其对人民领土的影响的研究中获得的见解和信息将与广泛的其他地方有关，在这些地方，恢复土地是一种旨在纠正过去所犯错误的方法。作为博士论文研究改进奖，该奖项还将提供支持，使有前途的学生建立一个强大的独立研究生涯。博士研究生将进行这项研究，重点是美洲人权法院颁布的三项具体裁决，即征收土地作为对巴拉圭土著人民侵犯人权行为的赔偿。学生将采用混合方法的定性方法，包括半结构化访谈、参与性观察、档案研究和社区测绘。参与该项目的人员包括提出并赢得索赔的土著社区的领导人和其他成员，参与该过程的政府机构代表、律师、非政府组织代表和学者，以及将被征用土地的所有者。

This doctoral dissertation research project will focus on reasons for and impacts of delays in the implementation of recommendations from an international court of human rights to expropriate land to honor land claims of indigenous communities as restitution for human rights violations. The doctoral student will conduct case studies of three different court rulings to answer three general sets of questions: (1) What factors have led to the implementation delays, and why do they continue in all three cases? (2) How do claimant community members perceive the experience of fighting for territory from the state and its effect on their cultural identity and political power? (3) How do the indigenous communities, private landowners, and state agencies involved in the claims process articulate and perform territory as a concept and in practice? The project findings will contribute to theoretical debates in the fields of political economy, legal geography, and cultural geography regarding the performance of law and territory, multiculturalism, and indigenous rights. The project will add new insights to lines of inquiry in which territory is not viewed as synonymous with a specific political jurisdiction but instead is viewed as a form of spatial organization made from political, economic, legal, and cultural activities where resource control is at stake, power relations are dynamic, and new cultural identities and political subjectivities are created. The project will enhance international collaborative relationships and will build capacity by providing training in community-based mapping methods for members of indigenous communities. The project's findings will be shared with representatives of the international court and with communities engaged in the disputes. Although focusing on a specific set of case studies, the insights and information obtained in this study of legal processes and their impact on the territoriality of people will have relevance to a broad range of other locales where restitution of land is an approach aimed to try to redress wrongs that have been committed in the past. 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.The doctoral student will conduct this research by focusing on three specific rulings issued by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to expropriate land as restitution for human rights violations against indigenous peoples in Paraguay. The student will employ a mixed-methods qualitative approach that includes semi-structured interviews, participant observation, archival research, and community-based mapping. Among those involved in the project are leaders and other members of the indigenous communities that have made and won their claims, representatives from government institutions, lawyers, representatives from nongovernmental organizations and academics involved in the process, and the owners of the lands to be expropriated.