1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910778592203321

Autore

Whitt Laurelyn

Titolo

Science, colonialism, and Indigenous peoples : the cultural politics of law and knowledge / / Laurelyn Whitt [[electronic resource]]

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cambridge : , : Cambridge University Press, , 2009

ISBN

0-511-69926-3

1-107-18853-9

1-107-67507-3

0-511-60430-0

0-511-60352-5

0-511-65156-2

0-511-60274-X

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (xviii, 265 pages) : digital, PDF file(s)

Disciplina

346.04/8

Soggetti

Indians of North America - Legal status, laws, etc

Indigenous peoples - Legal status, laws, etc

Intellectual property

Traditional ecological knowledge - Law and legislation

Sociological jurisprudence

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Imperialism then and now -- Indigenous knowledge, power, and responsibility -- Value-neutrality and value-bifurcation : the cultural politics of science -- The rhetoric of research justification -- Indigenist critiques of biocolonialism -- The commodification of knowledge -- Intellectual property rights as means and mechanism of imperialism -- Transforming sovereignties.

Sommario/riassunto

At the intersection of indigenous studies, science studies, and legal studies lies a tense web of political issues of vital concern for the survival of indigenous nations. Numerous historians of science have documented the vital role of late-eighteenth- and nineteenth-century science as a part of statecraft, a means of extending empire. This book follows imperialism into the present, demonstrating how pursuit of



knowledge of the natural world impacts, and is impacted by, indigenous peoples rather than nation-states. In extractive biocolonialism, the valued genetic resources, and associated agricultural and medicinal knowledge, of indigenous peoples are sought, legally converted into private intellectual property, transformed into commodities, and then placed for sale in genetic marketplaces. Science, Colonialism, and Indigenous Peoples critically examines these developments, demonstrating how contemporary relations between indigenous and Western knowledge systems continue to be shaped by the dynamics of power, the politics of property, and the apologetics of law.