What can the pre-colonial and frontier economies tell us about engagement with the real economy? Indigenous life projects and the conditions for development

Abstract

Recent writing on development coming from North America makes a distinction between Indigenous life projects and development projects. ‘Indigenous life projects’ refers to the desires of those Indigenous people who seek autonomy in deciding the meaning of their life independently of projects promoted by the state and market, and to people developing their own situation-based knowledge and practices in the contemporary world. As formulated by Mario Blaser (2004), these can involve partnerships and co-existences, where such are not denied by the encompassing society, and involve continuously emergent forms and resilience on the part of the Indigenous people.