HumanitiesHuman Rights LawIndigenous Peoples' RightsIndigenous StudiesLanguage EducationIndigenous EducationIndigenous Language PolicyIndigenous LanguagesIndigenous LawIndigenous PeoplesIndigenous RightsIndigenous ClaimsIndigenous Language Education PolicyIndigenous Language IdeologyIndigenous Language RightsInternational Indigenous LawInternational Law RecognitionSelf-determination In Language Policy
In recent and ongoing debates on democracy and representation, indigenous peoples have been at the forefront in arguing for recognition of their rights to greater self-determination within modern nation-states. These arguments are based on their particular status as indigenous peoples, historically colonised against their will. Much of the focus of indigenous claims to self-determination has been upon language and education. This paper explores the wider basis of indigenous claims in social and political theory, and within international law, and the controversial issues surrounding them. It examines these claims in particular relation to language and education and discusses, by way of example, the development of autonomous Maori language education initiatives in Aotearoa/New Zealand.