NCJ Number
139210
Journal
Canadian Journal of Criminology Volume: 34 Issue: 3-4 Dated: special issue (July-October 1992) Pages: 299-315
Date Published
1992
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This paper addresses concerns of interest to Canadian aborigines involved in the criminal justice system: concepts of customary law and its application in both ethnographic and political contexts; and fundamental questions about the role of ethnography in an essentially political milieu.
Abstract
People around the world have attempted to guide their options for the future according to the framework of cultural distinctiveness. This has entailed emphasizing values, knowledge, and institutions of custom and tradition, as well as developing skills and social arrangements that realistically meet changing needs. Thus, social events unfolding in native Canadian communities may be a manifestation of substate nationalism, a currently pervasive social and political phenomenon. Ethnography is an essential component of the social-historical context and the development of customary law. What is comparatively new about ethnography is the realization that it has emerged under a relatively timeless, solipsistic, and communicationless view of context. The simple fact is that no one operates within a closed system or deals with social isolates. Positively or negatively, large or small, individual members and groups of societies constitute the modern state. Various native customs prevail across native communities, and customary law research must take these differences into account. In addition, a shift in emphasis is required from individual choice and toward community solutions to native community concerns, particularly with regard to crime and criminal justice. 18 references and 6 notes