Indigenous Studies – (M.Phil.)

Contents

The thematic focus of the master´s programme is the emergence of the international indigenous movement, the historical experiences and contemporary context that indigenous people experience across the globe.

The MIS programme provides students with the following knowledge and analytical understanding:

* Main dimensions constituting life in indigenous societies in the past, today and the challenges of their future; including culture and ethnicity, colonialism and the history of indigenous peoples, and indigenous resource management and environmental change.
* The emergence of indigenous civic organisations, their present operation as formal and informal systems, including their strategies for self-representation in political process at different levels, i.e. from the local community to the global level.
* The relationship between nation-state and indigenous minorities, including the role of pan-national organisations (UN, ILO), the formulation of legal/land and resource claims with reference to customary international law, and the debates regarding how internationally recognized human rights, such as the right to self-determination pertaining to indigenous peoples can be interpreted and implemented.

Skills and competences:

The MIS programme prepares the students to:

* Apply analytical skills to understand the social and cultural contexts of indigenous peoples, their organisations and rights.
* Apply analytical skills to study empirically indigenous issues cross-culturally and within the frameworks established by their nation-states.

Design and carry out a research project by applying independent data collection by means of fieldwork methods and/or use of written sources.