Reservation Politics: Historical Trauma, Economic Development, and Intratribal Conflict by Raymond J. Orr (review)

Abstract

unpredictability of the trickster with the uncertainty represented in resilience theory, the authors reject prior narratives supporting the belief that humans can be in complete control, instead seeing a series of adaptive cycles of change illustrated with systems theory and complexity theory. Th ese somewhat theoretical concepts are illustrated through two case studies. Th e Rio Grande watershed in New Mexico illustrates the adaptive cycles of resilience and the potentially transformative change required whereby the system reconceptualizes and creates a fundamentally new system of integrated forest, water, and fl ood management. Here Indigenous people recognize they can’t stop fl oods, but they can slow them down. Th e second case study, of ocean changes, illustrates the trickster as chaotic change of sea temperature, fi sh stocks, sea level, among others, but also sadly the historical post– World War II tragedy narrative. Although a vision of transformative change is lacking in this book, ageold recommendations of thinking about the longterm implications of policy, incorporating the precautionary principle, and increasing conservation are proposed. Because the authors believe a fl uid relation exists where law and society inform and are informed by each other, the addition of the trickster and resilience narrative into society and lawmaking better informs the process of lawmaking in the context of climate change. In addition to this, the authors add to the mix principles of communitarianism (of humans together with humans and humans together with nature) as espoused by Aldo Leopold. Th e authors make a cogent case that these principles are already part of American law and illustrate this with specifi c case law surrounding the “Taking Clause” of the United States Constitution. Th is law recognizes that any state’s taking of private property for public purposes requires the state to pay compensation. Having established the legal precedent for communitarianism, the trickster, and resilience in American law, the authors promote the creation of legal space for adaptive responses to ecological change and provide specifi c ideas for legal reform, including to monitor and study everything, to eliminate nonclimate stresses, plan for the longterm coordinating sectors and interests, give meaningful weight to government and public rights and values in private property, and promote principled fl exibility in regulatory goals and natural resource management. Th is book is an important contribution to legal scholarship in the Anthropocene. Although the book does not have all the answers for regime shift s and transformative change, it off ers interesting ideas and suggestions for a new narrative for the Anthropocene and off ers case studies and policy recommendations that start the journey.