Re-historicising dissolved identities: Deskaheh, the League of Nations, and international legal discourse on Indigenous peoples

Abstract

In 1923, Levi General Deskaheh sought recognition from the League of Nations of the Six Nations’ sovereignty and right to self-determination. Although scholars have good reasons for retroactively identifing Deskaheh as a representative of Indigenous peoples, doing so dissolves the identities of historical and present-day subjects, which has a number of invidious consequences.