Indigeneity and Political Theory
Sovereignty and the Limits of the Political
Routledge Issues in Contemporary Political Theory Series

Indigeneity and Political Theory engages some of the profound challenges to

traditions of modern political theory that have been posed over the past two

decades. Karena Shaw is especially concerned with practices of sovereignty

as they are embedded in and shape Indigenous politics, and responses to

Indigenous politics.

Drawing on theories of post-coloniality, feminism, globalization, and

international politics, and using examples of contemporary political practice

including court cases and specific controversies, Shaw seeks to illustrate and

argue for a way of doing political theory that is more responsive to the

challenges posed by a range of contemporary issues.

An engaging and highly original analysis of Indigenenity and sovereignty,

this book enables the reader to develop a more robust consideration of

relationships between theory and practice, and thus the politics of theorizing.

1. Introduction: The Problem of the Political Part 1: Sovereignty and the Political 2. Hobbes: Producing Politics/Effacing Interrogation 3. Violences of Sovereignty: The "Regrettable Necessity" of Civilization 4. Sovereignty and Disciplinarity Part 2: Negotiating the Limits of the Political 5. Resistance: Negotiating the Interstices of Sovereignty 6. Adjudication: Paradoxes of Law and Sovereignty 7. Limits: James Tully and the Politics of Theory Part 3: Emerging Politicizations 8. Rethinking Sovereignty: Deleuze and Guattari 9. Rethinking Indigeneity: Remapping the Political 10. Conclusions: Leviathan’s Angels and the Future of Political Theory. Bibliography

Karena Shaw is Assistant Professor in the School of Environmental Studies at the University of Victoria, Canada. A political theorist by training, she is particularly interested in how a range of contemporary political challenges—such as those raised by indigenous, feminist and environmental movements—are reshaping political space and possibility.