Indigenous Treaties & Future Relations

This subject critically examines the role that treaties have played, and might play, in relations between Indigenous peoples and contemporary settler societies across temporal and international contexts, and investigates the possibilities and limitations of treaties for transforming contemporary relations. Learners will engage with, and analyse, theories of sovereignty, including related concepts such as self-determination and autonomy, from historical and contemporary viewpoints and how these concepts shape and inform treaty negotiations. Through critical analysis of how Indigenous settler relations came to be seen as unlawful, learners will examine how these ideas came to be recognised in international law through the United Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and how these legal frameworks relate to contemporary treaty negotiations. Learners will explore and critically reflect on the interlinked concepts and practices of Indigenous recognition, reconciliation, and refusal; and examine the strengths and weaknesses of these concepts and their intersection with treaty-making.