The Politics of International Constructions of Indigenous Rights: Twa Representations and Contestations

This project focuses on the discursive construction and contestation of notions of indigenous rights. It combines an analysis of international discourses of indigenous rights, with a case study of how a marginalised ethnic group, the Twa, are represented in or excluded from these discourses. It also considers how members of the Twa, based in Uganda and Rwanda, Burundi, and the DRC, project their own concepts of indigeneity into the international domain and how these intersect with or diverge from the dominant international discourses. It contributes to debates about the politics of indigenous rights, which are predominantly shaped by perspectives and experiences from outside of Africa, including Latin America, with a distinctive focus on whether and how African groups 'become indigenous.'