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

自1990年反政府战争结束以来，地图在尼加拉瓜东部大西洋沿岸地区土著和黑人土地权利主张的形成中发挥了重要作用。 虽然这些地图使土地权得到法律的承认，但也产生了一系列新的政治问题，特别是在不同族裔群体提出的主张相互重叠的情况下。 虽然对确定土地权的基础的分析与记录所主张地区“习惯使用”的能力有关，但本博士论文研究项目将审查在提出土地主张时作为传统而突出的政治和经济因素。 本研究将对两个重叠土地主张的实例进行比较研究，以分析身份、领土和对资源的控制之间的相互作用。 第一个案件审查了尼加拉瓜政府为划定和授予土著玛雅尼亚社区Awas Tingni所声称的土地所有权所作的努力。 Tasba Raya的米斯基托居民在1960年代通过国家土地改革项目搬迁到该地区，他们也声称拥有该地区的部分土地。 Awas Tingni的土地权是美洲人权法院最近作出的一项开创先例的裁决的主题，该裁决命令巴布亚新几内亚政府对该社区声称拥有的土地进行划界和产权登记。 在世界银行的资助下，政府正在利用这一案件来测试最近批准的土地划界和所有权法中的程序。 第二个案件涉及Tasbapaunie的Miskito居民和居住在珍珠泻湖附近的非洲土著Garifuna群体的重叠土地主张，这两个群体都制作了其主张的地图，作为世界银行委托进行的土地权研究的一部分。 这两个群体都在利用他们的地图编写请愿书，要求根据新的土著和黑人土地划界和产权法承认他们的主张。 米斯基托人群体越来越多地争辩说，他们作为土著人民的地位应使他们的要求优先于加里富纳人的要求，尽管米斯基托人本身往往被称为非洲土著群体。 这项研究包括三个组成部分：（1）记录和分析与每个群体的身份和土地使用有关的口述历史，（2）与参与绘制土地所有权图的人进行深入访谈，（3）分析以种族术语描绘该地区的殖民地图与当代土地所有权图之间的异同。 将综合这些资料，分析各民族日常使用资源的模式和社会关系，与地图所显示的情况进行比较，并分析地图所描绘的权利主张是如何制度化的，从而分析该区域不断变化的地理状况，该项目将研究如何通过政治动员，将种族化的剥夺与国际人权联系起来，来建立土著身份。 该研究将在人文地理学现有辩论的基础上，将空间分析应用于种族和身份政治问题。 特别是，它将分析如何使用地图来创建具有权利的主题，在国际和国家法律框架内以清晰的方式将社会和空间类别联系起来。 它还将严格审查，当规范应用时，这种构建的身份理解如何既授权又限制保护他们打算维护的权利。 这项研究对涉及土著人民的保护和发展政策、国际人权法和尼加拉瓜土地改革立法的执行具有影响。 它还将为关于特性与资源之间联系的政治生态学文献以及参与性制图技术和批判性制图的发展作出贡献。 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的研究生涯。

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.