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

本博士论文研究项目将侧重于国际人权法院关于征用土地以荣誉土著社区的土地主张作为侵犯人权行为赔偿的建议的延迟执行的原因和影响。 博士生将对三个不同的法院裁决进行案例研究，以回答三个一般性问题：（1）是什么因素导致了执行延迟，为什么在所有三个案件中都继续存在？ (2)申索人社区成员如何看待与国家争夺领土的经历及其对他们文化认同和政治权力的影响？ (3)土著社区、私人土地所有者和国家机构如何在权利主张过程中将领土作为一个概念和在实践中加以阐述和执行？ 该项目的研究结果将有助于政治经济学、法律的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执行情况的理论辩论。 该项目将增加新的见解，以调查线，其中领土不被视为一个特定的政治管辖区的同义词，而是被视为一种形式的空间组织，从政治，经济，法律的，和文化活动，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的创建。 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绘图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。 本研究报告虽然侧重于一组具体的案例研究，但对法律的程序及其对人民领土权的影响的研究所获得的见解和信息，将对归还土地是试图纠正过去所犯错误的一种办法的其他许多地方具有相关性。 作为博士论文研究改进奖，该奖项还将为有前途的学生提供支持，使其能够建立强大的独立研究事业。博士生将通过关注美洲人权法院发布的三项具体裁决来进行这项研究，以征用土地作为对巴拉圭土著人民人权侵犯的赔偿。 学生将采用混合方法的定性方法，包括半结构化访谈，参与者观察，档案研究和基于社区的映射。 参与该项目的有提出并赢得权利主张的土著社区的领导人和其他成员、政府机构的代表、律师、参与该进程的非政府组织和学术界的代表以及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.