ABSTRACT
Struggles over natural resources, whether concerning access to land, water or competition over fish and game, have long been at the center of contention between European settlers and Indigenous peoples. Recent media attention of protests against the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota and the Thirty Meter Telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawaii highlights the continuing significance of conflicts between Indigenous peoples, the state and private industry over valuable natural resources. In Australia, New Zealand and the United States, Indigenous peoples’ interests in traditionally harvested animal and fish species also directly conflict with the ever-changing, but predominantly economic, interests of mainstream corporate and governmental actors. A deep dive into these struggles as they have evolved over time reveals that Indigenous groups are increasingly exerting meaningful influence over the process of resource allocation in post-colonial societies and, in many cases, are doing so on terms that they define as culturally, politically and economically significant to their communities. This begs the questions of how, in the face of such lopsided political power structures, Indigenous groups are able to remain significant players in struggles over natural resources and what this means for contemporary Indigenous activists seeking to decolonize state institutions that were designed to control Indigenous lives and resources.
