Indigenous rights and the persistence of industrial capitalism: Capturing the law–ideology–power triple-helix

• Published in: Progress in human geography Vol. 45; no. 5; pp. 1192 - 1217
• Main Author: Horowitz, Leah S
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England SAGE Publications 01-10-2021; Sage Publications Ltd
• Subjects: Capitalism; Colonialism; Critical race theory; Discourses; Human geography; Ideology; Indigenous peoples; Law; Native rights; Power; Protection; Race; Regularization; Rights; critical legal geography; indigeneity; power relations; Critical Race Theory; ideologies; discourses; Indigenous rights
• ISSN: 0309-1325; 1477-0288
• DOI: 10.1177/0309132520973447

This article examines the power relations that unfold when Indigenous-led struggles invoke settler-colonial law toward protection from industry’s impacts. Building on Critical Race Theory, I posit a ‘triple-helical’ relationship between law, power, and ideology, which coproduce one another, mediated by nudges from individual agents. I argue that the triple-helix of Indigenous rights to protection from industry’s impacts has stagnated, due to industrial capitalism’s pushback through social regularization processes as well as its capture of formal and informal regulators and of discourses and ideologies. I conclude with a research agenda for applying the triple-helix framework to Indigenous-led engagements with industry.