ABSTRACT

The title of this chapter comes from a song sung by local property owners in the Cayuga land claim area (New York, US) to express their anger about that claim and about the attempts to restore land to the Cayuga Nation for a reservation. Numerous attempts to settle the Cayuga land claim through negotiation have failed over the decades, including a settlement reached in 1979, which was never implemented because of public opposition. This chapter looks at the sources of the public’s anger which underlies the opposition, and suggests from a conflict resolution perspective what might be done to address it. Until this anger is dealt with, local landowners will continue to express ‘reservations about reservations’, demand ‘No Nation within a Nation’ and, as they have for over 20 years, block any negotiated settlement of the claim.