The Present Politics of the Past

This work applies Jacques Derrida's framework of "spectropolitics" to (post)coloniality in order to investigate the emergence of indigenous peoples' movements, advances a poststructural approach to the analysis of liberal politics based upon the historical sociology of Michel Foucault, and critically engages the literatures on ethnic politics, critical legal studies, and multicultural democracy. In addition, two historical case dossiers (the Mabo v. Queensland decision and its aftermath in Australia; and the diverse legal strategies of First Nations activism in Canada following the Delgamuukw v. B.C. decision) focus on the "strategic space" in which new indigenous political identities are produced and performed.