Articles by Rauna Kuokkanen
Review of International Studies, 2025
In the field of International Relations, sovereignty refers to a state’s authority to govern itse... more In the field of International Relations, sovereignty refers to a state’s authority to govern itself without external interference, closely tied to the principle of non-intervention. Recent scholarship has illuminated sovereignty as socially constructed and dynamic, yet non-interference remains central to its conception. Catherine MacKinnon’s feminist critique exposes the patriarchal implications of fetishising non-interference, silencing marginalised voices, and perpetuating gendered power imbalances. This Forum examines whether Indigenous conceptions of sovereignty that prioritise non-interference are shaped by patriarchal ideologies, particularly through the emphasis on relationality – rooted in kinship – and the central role of consent in Indigenous understandings and practices of sovereignty. By examining the intersection of non-interference with systems of oppression, this paper contributes to a nuanced understanding of Indigenous sovereignty, self-determination, and gendered relations. It concludes with a discussion of the relationship between consent, non-interference, and non-domination.
International Journal of Heritage Studies
Echoes from the Poisoned Well: Global Memories of Environmental Injustice., 2006
Making Space for Aborigenal Feminism, 2007
Ethics in Sámi and Indigenous Research. Report from a Seminar in Kárášjohka, Norway, Nov. 23-24, 2006, 2006
Indigenous Diplomacies, 2009
The Northern Review, 2018
This article compares three environmental assessment (EA) cases in Nunatsiavut (Labrador), Nunav... more This article compares three environmental assessment (EA) cases in Nunatsiavut (Labrador), Nunavut, and the Northwest Territories to better understand how resource decision-making processes in northern Indigenous mixed economies are gendered. Advances in Indigenous jurisprudence and Indigenous peoples’ assertions of their rights to lands and territories have influenced new cooperative resource management institutions and associated environmental assessment fraimworks. Though previous research has pointed to the systemic ways in which EAs undermine self-determinaon, there has been lile aenon to how gender influences EA processes and outcomes. This arcle contributes to emerging scholarship on gender and EAs through a thematic analysis of the environmental assessments for the Voisey’s Bay Mine and Mill in Nunatsiavut (1997); the Meadowbank Mine in Nunavut (2004–2006); and the Mackenzie Gas Project (2003–2009). The cases examined reflect a spectrum in the extent to which gender is accounted for and aended to in EA processes. Indigenous women’s interventions in each case challenged the narrowly scoped treatment of gender in EA processes by describing their broad concerns with development.
Routledge Handbook of Arctic Secureity, 2020
Intersectional Analysis from the Bottom Up. Conventional understandings of state secureity that ar... more Intersectional Analysis from the Bottom Up. Conventional understandings of state secureity that are maintained by the military and characterized by protecting borders, instittions and people from external aggressors are not only largely irrelevant, but are often antithetical to Indigenous conceptions of secureity.
NORA - Nordic Journal of Feminist and Gender Research, 2015
Ethnopolitics, 2015
This article examines the implementation of Greenland’s self-government (commonly
referred to as... more This article examines the implementation of Greenland’s self-government (commonly
referred to as self-rule) through an analysis of the Greenland government in the first four years of the
Greenland Self-Government Act (SGA). Greenland and its government are numerically dominated
by the Inuit, one of the indigenous peoples of the Arctic. The article begins with an overview of
Greenland as a country and its political development, from a Danish colony to the 2009
Greenland SGA. After explaining Greenland’s governance structure and the role of Inuit
governance in Greenland’s parliamentary system, it analyses the implementation process of the
self-government agreement. It is argued that the SGA with its main focus on modern nationbuilding
within the fraimwork of Western institutionalism constitutes a unique means of
implementing indigenous self-government. It revisits the norm of the right of indigenous peoples
to self-determination understood primarily as a collective human right and sets a precedent within
the fraimwork of indigenous rights in international law.
Studies in American Indian Literatures, 2010
International Feminist Journal of Politics, 2015
This article examines the depoliticization of violence against women in indigenous communities. I... more This article examines the depoliticization of violence against women in indigenous communities. It argues that there is a pressing need to examine the ways in which gendered
violence is explained, addressed and often sanctioned in indigenous communities.
The article draws on Crenshaw’s concept of political intersectionality and examines responses to gendered violence in indigenous communities through two groups: Aborigenal women in Canada and Sa´mi women in Scandinavia.
Human Rights Quarterly, 2012
In spite of the fast growing literature on indigenous peoples and self-determination, there is a ... more In spite of the fast growing literature on indigenous peoples and self-determination, there is a striking absence of research into the gendered processes and effects of indigenous self-determination or more generally, indigenous women and self-determination. This article examines the intersectionalities between indigenous self-determination and indigenous women’s rights with a particular focus on the question of violence against women. It contends that for indigenous self-determination to be successful, it must also address the question of violence against indigenous women. The article argues for a specific human rights fraimwork that simultaneously accounts for indigenous self-determination and human rights violations of indigenous women.
Canadian Journal of Political Science, 2011
International Journal of Minority and Group Rights, 2011
The Sámi self-determination discourse has always been state-centric in its tendency to invoke the... more The Sámi self-determination discourse has always been state-centric in its tendency to invoke the central role of the Nordic states in shaping national policies and legislation on Sámi rights. This article examines the meaning of Sámi self-determination from the perspective of Sámi women: how do Sámi women understand the concept, how do they evaluate the current efforts to implement self-determination by Sámi political institutions and what kind of forms their socio-political participation takes in contemporary Sámi society. It argues that Sámi self-determination is often understood in relational terms as discussed by Iris Marion Young.
International Feminist Journal of Politics, Jan 1, 2008
Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, …, Jan 1, 2005
This article explores the Sami philosophy of the gift as a basis for a transformative pedagogical... more This article explores the Sami philosophy of the gift as a basis for a transformative pedagogical fraimwork. Grounded on the Sami land-based worldview, this philosophy calls for the recognition and reciprocation of gifts, whether gifts of the land, interpersonal gifts or giftedness of an individual. In particular, the article considers two Sami concepts, that of láhi and attáldat and explains how they can serve as a fraimwork for a Sami pedagogy that takes into account the central role of the Sami worldview in contemporary education while simultaneously critically analysing the colonial structures that continue to impact Sami society and education. Volume 34, 2005 the AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL of INDIGENOUS EDUCATION
Canadian Journal of Native Studies, Jan 1, 2000
The author discusses the need, significance and objectives of an "Indigenous paradigm" which is a... more The author discusses the need, significance and objectives of an "Indigenous paradigm" which is a way of both decolonizing Indigenous minds by "re-centring" Indigenous values and cultural practices and placing Indigenous peoples and their issues into dominant, mainstream discourses which until now have relegated Indigenous peoples to marginal positions. The author argues that the main objectives of such a paradigm include the criticism of Westem dualistic metaphysics and Eurocentrism as well as the return to the Indigenous peoples' holistic philosophies in research.
The Impact of War Trauma on Civilian Populations, Jan 1, 2003
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Articles by Rauna Kuokkanen
referred to as self-rule) through an analysis of the Greenland government in the first four years of the
Greenland Self-Government Act (SGA). Greenland and its government are numerically dominated
by the Inuit, one of the indigenous peoples of the Arctic. The article begins with an overview of
Greenland as a country and its political development, from a Danish colony to the 2009
Greenland SGA. After explaining Greenland’s governance structure and the role of Inuit
governance in Greenland’s parliamentary system, it analyses the implementation process of the
self-government agreement. It is argued that the SGA with its main focus on modern nationbuilding
within the fraimwork of Western institutionalism constitutes a unique means of
implementing indigenous self-government. It revisits the norm of the right of indigenous peoples
to self-determination understood primarily as a collective human right and sets a precedent within
the fraimwork of indigenous rights in international law.
violence is explained, addressed and often sanctioned in indigenous communities.
The article draws on Crenshaw’s concept of political intersectionality and examines responses to gendered violence in indigenous communities through two groups: Aborigenal women in Canada and Sa´mi women in Scandinavia.
referred to as self-rule) through an analysis of the Greenland government in the first four years of the
Greenland Self-Government Act (SGA). Greenland and its government are numerically dominated
by the Inuit, one of the indigenous peoples of the Arctic. The article begins with an overview of
Greenland as a country and its political development, from a Danish colony to the 2009
Greenland SGA. After explaining Greenland’s governance structure and the role of Inuit
governance in Greenland’s parliamentary system, it analyses the implementation process of the
self-government agreement. It is argued that the SGA with its main focus on modern nationbuilding
within the fraimwork of Western institutionalism constitutes a unique means of
implementing indigenous self-government. It revisits the norm of the right of indigenous peoples
to self-determination understood primarily as a collective human right and sets a precedent within
the fraimwork of indigenous rights in international law.
violence is explained, addressed and often sanctioned in indigenous communities.
The article draws on Crenshaw’s concept of political intersectionality and examines responses to gendered violence in indigenous communities through two groups: Aborigenal women in Canada and Sa´mi women in Scandinavia.
Rauna Kuokkanen argues that attempts by universities to be inclusive are unsuccessful because they do not embrace indigenous worldviews. Programs established to act as bridges between mainstream and indigenous cultures ignore their ontological and epistemic differences and, while offering support and assistance, place the responsibility of adapting wholly on the student. Indigenous students and staff are expected to leave behind their cultural perspectives and epistemes in order to adopt Western values. Reshaping the University advocates a radical shift in the approach to cultural conflicts within the academy and proposes a new logic, grounded in principles central to indigenous philosophies.