Escaping Authenticity’s Dark Side: How Indigenous Groups Negotiate Indigeneity During Contentious Interactions
研究原住民领袖、动物权利活动家和政策制定者在加拿大毛皮捕捞峰会上如何争论原住民权利与身份，揭示不同真实性主张如何强化殖民约束或促进原住民能动性。
Indigenous movement scholarship identifies two primary approaches to claiming indigeneity, strategic essentialism and decolonization, a binary that constrains Indigenous agency by suggesting that Indigenous actors must conform to settler expectations in the short term while postponing decolonization to a later stage. We broaden this perspective by looking at indigeneity from the perspective of constructed authenticity theory, which helps us reveal alternative agentic strategies for claiming identity. We examine how Indigenous leaders, animal rights activists, and policymakers debated Indigenous rights and identity by analyzing claims made during a Canadian summit on fur harvesting. Our findings reveal a clash between non-Indigenous authenticity claims, imposing rigid stereotypes, and Indigenous claims grounded in internal values and self-determination. Polarization persisted until Indigenous leaders reframed authenticity through historical and territorial connections, opening space for dialogue. Our study contributes to Indigenous movement scholarship by showing how different authenticity claims either reinforce settler constraints or foster Indigenous agency.