Tripped up by Coloniality: Anthropologists as Instruments or Agents in Indigenous–Settler Political Relations?

Abstract

This article addresses the persistent dilemma of settler-Indigenous coloniality in anthropologists' research with Indigenous peoples, and proposes ways to modulate our actions to redress coloniality. The central case is planning for an environmental inventory project with Inuit of Nunavut. Two challenges emerge: one associated with the coloniality of inter-cultural collaboration, the other entailed by inter-political coloniality. I call for two moves to aid resolution. First, acknowledging our location in the colonial set up (as settler or Indigenous persons). Second, revising our actions around both inter-cultural and inter-political engagements, based on the principle and practice of honour in relations, in line with Canadian jurisprudence, Michael Asch's political anthropology, and Indigenous peoples' enduring call to fulfill treaty obligations.