Chasing the Raven: Practices of Sovereignty in Non-State Nations

Abstract

This dissertation examines 'sovereignty' as not only a theoretical abstraction of power relations within finite territories, but also as a very alive practice, a daily defense of inherent rights based on Indigenous philosophical notions of power and space. I examine the perspectives of Indigenous practitioners who either through their conversations and/or life ways cultivate an original conception of sovereignty, specifically the governance of the Gwich'in people, a nation of 15 villages in the Arctic Circle. As an Indigenous nation living within legal structures of a settler state, they offer an alternative understanding of collective political power, rooted outside the western European paradigm but simultaneously confronting those ambits. I argue that rather than an alternative narrative of resistance towards secession or segregation, the Gwich'in Nation provide a viable, pro-active and realized form of co-existent sovereignty. This sovereignty is a form of political collective identity and a relationship with the environment and non-human actors, as well as other governments, that is productive, creative and focused as much on future generations as drawing from tradition.