ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the historic and prehistoric social belonging that follow from the judicial application of collective rights claims. It demonstrates that Canadian Supreme Court decisions relating to Aboriginal culture have tended to be hostile to invention as an aspect of culture, thus overlooking innovations that took place after the arrival of settlers. Rights-oriented collective representation becomes more complex when we include the dynamics of public justice lobbying. Ideological and political use of heritage very clearly in the discourse and symbolism of deep indigeneity promoted in Bolivia under the presidency of Evo Morales. A clear example of knowledge in the service of collective rights and identity can be seen in one of the most controversial archaeological finds in the era of collective rights: Kennewick Man. The influence of legal claims on knowledge complicates matters and makes the course of postcolonial reform in archaeology far from simple and direct.
