The problem of justice : tradition and law in the Coast Salish world / Bruce G. Miller.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Miller, Bruce Granville, 1951-

Series:

Fourth world rising

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Coast Salish Indians--Legal status, laws, etc--Washington (State).

Coast Salish Indians.

Indians of North America--Legal status, laws, etc.

Washington (State).

Coast Salish Indians--Legal status, laws, etc--British Columbia.

Indians of North America--Legal status, laws, etc--Northwest, Pacific.

Indians of North America.

British Columbia.

Physical Description:

xiv, 240 pages : illustrations, maps ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Lincoln : University of Nebraska Press, [2001]

Summary:

For the indigenous peoples of North America, the history of colonialism has often meant a distortion of history, even, in some cases, a loss or distorted sense of their own native practices of justice. How contemporary native communities have dealt quite differently with this dilemma is the subject of The Problem of Justice, a richly textured ethnographic study of indigenous peoples struggling to reestablish control over justice in the face of conflicting external and internal pressures.

The peoples discussed in this book are the Coast Salish communities along the northwest coast of North America: the Upper Skagit Indian Tribe in Washington State, the Sto:lo Nation in British Columbia, and the South Island Tribal Council on Vancouver Island. Here we see how, despite their common heritage and close ties, each of these communities has taken a different direction in understanding and establishing a system of tribal justice. Describing the results - from the steadily expanding independence and jurisdiction of the Upper Skagit Court to the collapse of the South Island Justice Project - Bruce G. Miller advances an ethnographically informed, comparative, historically based understanding of aboriginal justice and the particular dilemmas tribal leaders and community members face. His work makes a persuasive case for an indigenous sovereignty associated with tribally controlled justice programs that recognize diversity and at the same time allow for internal dissent.

Contents:

1. Foreground 29

3. Upper Skagit Justice 93

4. The Sto:lo Nation 121

5. An Intertribal Justice Discussion 163

6. The South Island Justice Project 175.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 217-234) and index.

ISBN:

0803232217

0803282753

OCLC:

46384067