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The Politics of Intragroup Difference: First Nations' Women and the Sawridge Dispute

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 January 2006

Caroline Dick
Caroline Dick
Affiliation:
University of Western Ontario
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Abstract

Abstract. Theories that emphasize shared group identities to justify and delineate the rights of minority cultural groups are problematic because they obscure the differences that exist among group members. Disputes involving cultural communities are more clearly analyzed using a politics of intragroup difference that relies on three central precepts, namely, a relational conception of difference, attention to relations of power and concern for individual autonomy. A framework based on this foundation is better able to identify the significance of socially constructed differences and better equipped to adjudicate disputes where intragroup differences are raised.

Résumé. Les théories qui mettent l'accent sur les identités de groupe partagées pour définir et justifier les droits des groupes culturels minoritaires sont problématiques car elles obscurcissent les différences qui existent entre les membres du groupe. Les conflits impliquant des communautés culturelles s'analysent plus clairement à l'aide de méthodes qui présument l'existence de différences à l'intérieur d'un même groupe et sont fondées sur trois préceptes fondamentaux, notamment une conception relationnelle des différences, la prise en compte des relations de pouvoir et la protection de l'autonomie individuelle. Un modèle basé sur ce fondement est mieux apte à cerner l'importance des différences définies par la société et à arbitrer des conflits à l'occasion desquels des différences sont soulevées à l'intérieur d'un même groupe.

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique , Volume 39 , Issue 1 , March 2006 , pp. 97 - 116
Copyright
© 2006 Cambridge University Press

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