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In this powerful, timely study Ronald Niezen examines the processes by which cultural concepts are conceived and collective rights are defended in international law. Niezen argues that cultivating support on behalf of those experiencing human rights violations often calls for strategic representations of injustice and suffering to distant audiences. The positive impulse behind public responses to political abuse can be found in the satisfaction of justice done. But the fact that oppressed peoples and their supporters from around the world are competing for public attention is actually a profound source of global difference, stemming from differential capacities to appeal to a remote, unknown public. Niezen's discussion of the impact of public opinion on law provides fresh insights into the importance of legally-constructed identity and the changing pathways through which it is being shaped - crucial issues for all those with an interest in anthropology, politics and human rights law.

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• Preface(p. xi)
• 1 The imagined order(p. 1)
• 2 The power of persons unknown(p. 26)
• 3 Cultural lobbying(p. 67)
• 4 The invention of indigenous peoples(p. 105)
• 5 Civilizing a divided world(p. 137)
• 6 Reconciliation(p. 179)
• 7 Juridification(p. 217)
• References(p. 235)
• Index(p. 245)

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CHOICE Review

Niezen (McGill Univ., Canada) builds on his previous work advocating the recognition of the collective human rights of indigenous groups (The Origins of Indigenism, CH, Jun'08, 40-5869). He closely examines the vital impact of engaged public opinion in achieving visibility and justice for indigenous peoples. Niezen's study addresses the fluidity and complexity of relevant topics, including the vagaries of concepts such as "publics" and "indigenism," the location of public opinion at the fulcrum, the dynamics of states' roles, the impact of the international institutions in framing the venues and outcomes, and the irony of universal human rights applied to groups identified by their distinctiveness. Writing for the "New Departures in Anthropology" series, Niezen seeks to move beyond the conventional assumptions regarding the process and meaning of achieving collective human rights for indigenous peoples in the context of state power, international bureaucracies, and global capitalism. The author's ultimate focus lies in the transformative possibilities of "juridification from below" leading not only to the consolidation of indigenous human rights, but also to the restoration of traditional knowledge and cultural values among the very "publics" who facilitate this achievement. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. N. N. Haanstad Weber State University

Notas de autor provistas por Syndetics

Ronald Niezen is Professor of Anthropology and Canada Research Chair at McGill University. He has undertaken wide-ranging international research, including work with the UN Forum on Indigenous Issues and the Arctic Council. His publications include The Origins of Indigenism: Human Rights and the Politics of Identity (2003), a World Beyond Difference: Cultural Identity in the Age of Globalization (2004), and The Rediscovered Self: Indigenous Identity and Cultural Justice (2009).