Course Number: LAW 7686

Department: Law (LAW)

Examines the impacts that court decisions have historically had on relationships between indigenous peoples and their lands and identity, with a focus on the Indian tribes in the present-day United States, as well as a few international examples for the purpose of discussion and comparison. Analyzes how legal institutions have impacted indigenous peoples’ ability to retain or reassert the right to self-determination and to regulate their relationships with homelands and resources. Discusses where this has been problematic and how the law or legal institutions can be used as a tool to redress or reverse trends of dispossession and cultural assimilation.