In defense of Mohawk land
Subtitle: ethnopolitical conflict in native North America
By: Linda Pertusati.
Series: SUNY series in ethnicity and race in American life
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Published: 1997
Place of publication: Albany
Language: eng
Number of pages: 166
Subjects: Mohawk Indians -- Politics and government; Mohawk Indians -- Land tenure; Mohawk Indians -- Ethnic identity; Oka (Québec) -- Politics and government; Oka (Québec) -- Ethnic relations
Description: During 1990, a land dispute between the Mohawk territory of Kanehsatake and the town of Oka, Quebec, Canada took center stage in the world community, erupting into months of intense and often violent confrontation. Rooted in the historical reality of past injustices, the events of the 1990 Mohawk-Oka conflict epitomized the relationship and struggles which exists between Aboriginal nations, ethnonationalist movements, and the state.

By examining the Mohawk-Oka conflict, this book tells a story of struggle and survival during the 1990 invasion by the Quebec provincial police and Canadian army into Mohawk sovereign land. The story is one of an embattled nation's struggle and aboriginal right to determine its political and economic destiny.

Through extensive research of archived documents, newspapers, and interviews with leaders and members of the Mohawk Warrior Movement and other central figures in the Mohawk nation, the author demonstrates how politicized ethnicity and ideology can become significant factors in the repertoire of indigenous ethno-nationalist social movements for generating and maintaining social protest.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 145-157) and index.