Identity Politics

Knobe and Appiah discuss identity politics.

(HT: Leiter)

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Winona LaDuke on Climate Change and Sustainability

Here’s a lecture LaDuke gave last year (Sept, 2007) at UCF on climate change, sustainability and some of the things native communities are doing to create sustainable societies.

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Cognitive Neuroscience, Moral Psychology and Psychopathology

Interesting stuff right here.

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ya tusahyatekhwahlakhwa tslatok^hti tslata•sé•

And you thought translating German was hard!

According to this article, the title of this post is a single Oneida word that means, “the two of them went around to the other side of the altar again.”

The word is formed, according to linguist Cliff Abbot, by “add[ing] nine prefixes to the simple root verb “-tase-“, which means “to go around” — all without forgetting that the final sounds might need to be whispered.”

And so I ask you this: “Chahta imanumpa ish anumpola hinla ho?”

For most people in the world, the answer to that question is “No.” For me, the answer is, “A teensy, weensy bit. Hardly enough, really, to count for much.” For some people I know, it is, “Yep. Fluently.”

Read the article I’ve linked to above in order to see why it’s unfortunate that more people I know don’t answer the last way. Refer to my previous posts on Indian Boarding Schools to see some of the causes of native language endangerment. And, finally, click here to translate the question I’ve asked.

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Women Philosophers Update

A while back, I interviewed Professor Emerita Kate Lindemann about the website women-philosophers.com.

Professor Lindemann has added many new women philosophers to the website since that time and I encourage you to check out all the interesting information on the site.

There is also information about how to incorporate the work of women philosophers into your courses. There are lists of books about and by women philosophers that would make lovely summer reading and would be great for your local public or university library.

When I interviewed Professor Lindemann, she needed financial support to keep the project going and expanding. She now has ways for everyone to put their money where their mouth is! If you would like to support the women-philosophers.com project, you can buy from online stores that keep the project going.

Online shopping that supports women philosophers. What could possibly be better?

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“Indians, in their nature and habits, are like other animals.”

That’s a quote from United States vs. Lucero (1869). As is this:

“The idea that a handful of wild, half-naked, thieving, plundering, murdering savages should be dignified with the sovereign attributes of nations, enter into solemn treaties, and claim a country five hundred miles wide by one thousand miles long as theirs in fee simple, because they hunted buffalo and antelope over it, might do for beautiful reading in Cooper’s novels or Longfellow’s Hiawatha, but is unsuited to the intelligence and justice of this age, or the natural rights of mankind. The government of the United States, while thus dignifying these savages with the title of quasi nations, with whom the United States has, from time to time, and quite often, entered into stipulations to purchase their lands, have generally purchased at an average of about two cents an acre, and then sold it out to the people at from one dollar and a quarter to ten dollars and fifty cents per acre, thus making a speculation off of the Indian lands of over fifty millions of dollars, if their title is anything but an ingenious and benevolent fiction.”

Therefore, kiddos, pay attention to history so it doesn’t repeat itself.

(For smarter commentary, click here to read an old-ish article.)

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Two Notes on Indigenous Boarding Schools

I’ve mentioned boarding schools* before with regard to forced assimilation policies.

The Canadian Government is issuing compensation to survivors of the schools. As I’ve noted, many of the people who went to those school experienced atrocious abuses. Survivors are eligible for additional compensation on top of what’s called a collective experience sum if they experienced exceptionally bad abuse. But apparently they have to write down and document the abuses in order to receive this additional compensation.

This may seem reasonable, but as this article** notes, it is easier said than done. A lot of documents were destroyed by hospital and school staff (when specific incidents were even documented). Additionally, for many survivors, recalling the abuse they experienced in the schools and telling others about it can be very difficult, painful and embarrassing.

“I don’t think I can do it,” says Sylvia Gould, a former student at the Shubenacadie Indian Residential School in Nova Scotia.

“It’s going to be hard. I tried for the last 10 years to write what happened to me at that residential school. I only get as far as my life before the residential school.”

Gould, from Waycobah, tears up as she recalls the time she fell close to a coal pit.

“The pieces of coal were embedded in my knee, and I went to show the nun, and she slapped me. She said, ‘get to school,’” said Gould.

There is also a new film about boarding schools called Older Than America that has a very excellent cast. (Watch the trailer here.) Hopefully it will open at a theatre near you, but if not, hopefully it will be available at places like amazon soon. It could be a good teaching tool when discussing these things in class, like the film Rabbit Proof Fence is.

*A note on terminology: The schools are usually called boarding schools in the U.S. and residential schools in Canada.
**A note of caution: Tread carefully around some of the comments to this article. As Jender reminds us, we still live in a racist world.

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Yankton Sioux Hog Farm Protest

Here’s an issue going on right now that’s relevant to my sporadic ongoing series on American Indian political issues.

You can listen to this recent broadcast of Native America Calling to get a sense of the issues. (And there are many: tribal borders, jurisdiction, and environmental impacts, to name a few.)

From the Native America Calling website:

More arrests have been made in South Dakota as tribal members continue to protest across the site where a hog farm is being built. The farm is being built near Yankton Sioux tribal lands and tribal members are concerned about potential air and water contamination. State troopers have arrested dozens of protestors for disorderly conduct. A group called the Yankton Sioux Tribe Head Start Concerned Parents filed a complaint in federal court to halt the project. Who will win out? Our guest is Oi Zephier (Yankton Sioux), a former tribal police officer for the Yankton Sioux Tribe.

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Sweet Deal

Via the wonderful SWIP-L list, I’m informed of a new collection of essays called Global Ethics: Seminal Essays (Eds. Pogge and Horton). Here’s a blurb from the publisher:

In recent decades, there has been an explosion of interest in global ethics — the study of ethical issues with significant global dimensions. This book, a companion volume to Global Justice: Seminal Essays, provides a sample of the best recent work on those issues. Topics treated include whether individuals and governments in rich countries should give more aid to people in poor countries, and what the nature of any such duties might be; the causes of persistent poverty in certain countries; the conditions under which military action aimed at protecting human rights in foreign countries might be morally justified; the moral basis for the right to self-determination; whether attitudes such as patriotism and nationalism are morally justified in today’s world, and if so, what justifies them; what “development” is; whether there could be a genuinely universal consensus on human rights; and what response might be morally required to such global problems as population growth and climate change.

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Don’t know much about tribal sovereignty?

Well, read this, then!

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New Era of Indigenous Rights

Off blog obligations have kept me from writing about the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples here. But fear not, dear readers! I shall not miss the opportunity to pass along this article discussing the new era of indigenous rights.

Here’s a snippet:

Over the past 30 years, indigenous peoples around the world have expressed greater public self-consciousness of their needs for recognition of land, resources and greater political and cultural autonomy. While indigenous peoples have always sought to protect their cultures throughout colonial history, the last three decades mark a dramatic increase in the recognition of indigenous rights and self-expression in local, national and global contexts.

Indigenous peoples are surrounded by nation-states as well as regional and local governments that often do not fully honor or recognize indigenous land, or cultural and political rights. Implementation of the indigenous peoples’ movement’s recent achievement, the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, will make it difficult for world governments to ignore indigenous rights.

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Article 10

In my most recent writing on the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, I looked at Articles 1 and 2. Today, I’m going to jump down a little bit to Article 10 simply because forced relocation has been on my mind lately.

Article 10 is this:

Indigenous peoples shall not be forcibly removed from their lands or territories. No relocation shall take place without the free, prior and informed consent of the indigenous peoples concerned and after agreement on just and fair compensation and, where possible, with the option of return.

In keeping with my American Indian theme, I’ll discuss forced relocation of Indians, although we should keep in mind that indigenous peoples outside of the U.S. have been subject to similar polices.

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Articles 1 and 2

All of the commentary on the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples I have read says that the Declaration creates no new rights. For now, I’m going to assume that’s true.

What does the Declaration do then, if not create new rights? Well, it affirms that rights that exist elsewhere (like in other UN documents and international law) apply to indigenous peoples and individuals. This is significant because the rights in the Declaration have very often been—and very often are—denied to indigenous peoples and individuals.

There’s a lot to say about each Article and the Declaration itself, but today I thought I’d write a little bit about the first two Articles.

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Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: Forced Assimilation

In comments, I mentioned the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples that was adopted by the United Nations this past September. For those unfamiliar with a document of this sort, it is not legally binding but sets a minimum standard that States should aim at and could be the foundation for future law.

The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples has been in the works for quite some time and many American Indians were instrumental to its development.

In the next few weeks I’ll be writing about different Articles in the Declaration. I welcome comments from everyone, especially indigenous readers in the United States and elsewhere. Since it is the minimum standard the international community thinks we ought to aim at, it is good for Indians and non-Indians to discuss the Declaration together in, as the Declaration says, a spirit of partnership and mutual respect.

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Reserved Rights

I know what you’ve been thinking. You’ve been staying up at night tossing and turning, wondering to yourself, “What is a reserved right in a treaty?”

Well, say goodbye to sleepless nights for I shall tell you what a reserved right is. Not only will you then be able to sleep, you will also understand why some Indians can hunt or fish in places, at times or in ways plain old United States citizens cannot, or why some Indians are allowed to hunt, fish or gather off their reserved lands. What’s more, you will be liberated from thinking that Indians are getting unfair special treatment based on their race, which is a common misunderstanding for those who haven’t fully grasped the concept of a reserved right.

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Is There An Eidos of Women: Part 2

Some arguments from biology try to reduce a woman to what she is in society. However, no man or woman within society has escaped its powers to shape them as people. And as people are in society is in no way related to biology. One can hardly imagine a woman in the state of nature dreaming of a Channel purse. Rather, the way we are is directly related to the way that the world is given to us. Whoever a person is, is somehow a response to the rules of society. Moreover, the rules of societies are somewhat fluid. If the rules that help to shape people are always in flux, we can infer that the people themselves are the same way.

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Happy Belated Birthday: Simone de Beauvoir

January 9th marked Simone de Beauvoir’s 100th birthday.

(HT: SWIP-List)

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American Indian Political Issues: A Blogger’s Resolution

In mid-December, Russell Means and a group of Lakota people declared they are withdrawing from treaties entered into with the United States, including but not limited to the Fort Laramie treaties. This declaration made some headlines, but apparently wasn’t widespread news.

At the time Means made the declaration I did some internet searches to see how people—Indian and non-Indian—reacted to it. What I saw was that many people do not know much about American Indian political issues, as was evidenced in their commentary. I decided my New Years Blog Resolution would be to blog more about Indian issues so readers have access to information that will hopefully aid in thinking about such things.

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December 29th 1890

Today, December 29, is the anniversary of the Massacre at Wounded Knee. As Tim Giago reports, in an article earlier this month:

December 29, 2007 will mark the 117th anniversary of the slaughter of innocents at Wounded Knee. As is their custom, the Lakota people will gather at the mass grave where the bodies of men, women and children were dumped and they will pray and ask the United States government to apologize for this day of death. They will pray that the Medals of Honor handed out to the murderers be rescinded and they will pray for peace between the Lakota and the rest of America. There will be a ceremony called “Wiping Away the Tears,” and this ceremony will conclude a day of mourning, a day when the Lakota reach out to the rest of America for peace and justice.

Americans may have forgotten Wounded Knee and pushed it to the back pages of history, a bad memory to some, but the Lakota people have not nor will they ever forget this terrible day until they at last see justice.

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Martha Nussbaum Interview

While searching for something related to research on Bernard Williams, I got sidetracked by this interview with Martha Nussbaum (from last year, Sept 2006) that I hadn’t seen before. I thought I’d link it here for those who are interested; it has a transcript and webcast.

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Black Women Philosophers

Here are a few items of interest.

First is an article on the Collegium of Black Women Philosophers. It sounds like it was a wonderful event. For those who may be unfamiliar with her, note that Joyce Mitchell Cook is in the photo accompanying the article. She is the first black woman to obtain a PhD in philosophy in the United States (1965). The article observes a bit of the difficulty she faced as a philosophy student at Yale.

Second is an article about the keynote speaker at the Collegium, Anita Allen. Allen notes that given certain aspects of academic philosophy today she might not necessarily encourage particular students to pursue a career in academic philosophy. One reason she brings to support this is philosophy’s unfriendliness towards diversity. However, she also says she wishes philosophy were more open to diversity.

Third is an older article about the Collegium written before it took place (for those who didn’t know about it and want to learn more).

(HT: Feminist Philosophers for items one and two; PEA Soup for item three.)

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Kate Lindemann: The Interview

The Florida Student Philosophy Blog warmly welcomes Kate Lindemann to the blog to chat about her new website, Women-Philosophers.com.

FSPB: Hi, Kate, welcome to the blog!

You have just launched a website called Women-Philosophers.com. What exactly is the idea behind it? What, in other words, is the website about and what information can be found there?

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Philosophers’ Carnival #53

Class is officially in session for the 53rd Philosophers‘ Carnival!

Since we at the Florida Student Philosophy Blog have recently returned to class, we thought you should too. We would like to thank all those who submitted, and we hope that you find the current selection as engaging as we did. Courses (or posts if you prefer) are organized by major subject, so go straight to your specialty or feel free to survey the catalog.

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Philosophy Soup, the Second Helping

With the Fall semester fully in swing there are great articles and discussions abound. Here are some for your consideration:

In his most recent post, Efficiency and Value, Richard from Philosophy, Etc. wonders whether supporting high-efficiency superstores provides more value than less efficient craft oriented systems.

Over at Brains, the most recent post is a discussion on Analytic vs. Continental Philosophy.

Brian Leiter’s Nietzsche blog is picking up steam.

In Changing the Ideology and Culture of Philosophy: Not by Reason (Alone). Sally Haslanger addresses the issue of women in academic philosophy. Here is Brian Leiter’s brief comment on the essay.

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Women in Philosophy

Does anyone ever feel like their reading lists or syllabi are a bit estrogen deficient? If you are curious about what women philosophers have been up to then you might find that this website gives you some of the answers you are looking for. The website lists over twenty women who are contributing significantly to philosophy.

-Amy

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