Indigenous Electoral Politics, Representation, and Identity

Indigenous individuals both vote and run for political office in many state and colonial systems. However, for any given Indigenous voter or politician, there are many, intersecting layers of politics, relating to diversity, ideology, representation, identity, and who has a mandate to represent whom. This panel focuses on Indigenous people as voters and politicians. This topic also relates strongly to issues of identity: who constitutes a representative of an Indigenous group and why? Who has the mandate to be called an Indigenous politician? And in what ways do Indigenous peoples represent a ‘voter bloc’ of united interests? Other studies relating to identity and who counts as an Indigenous voter are welcome, as are studies relating to Indigenous representation within both mainstream and Indigenous political parties. In addition, the panel will consider studies of a more general representation of Indigenous people in the public sphere, including other contexts such as media or other types of leadership in colonial systems.