Sinnikäs kolonialismi: alkuperäiskansaisuus ja kehityksen politiikka

Rapid and unpredictable global changes have given birth to a political ethos of resilience. In the midst of calls for preparedness, international politics has re-discovered the (allegedly) innate quali-ties of indigenous peoples that enable them to adapt to and accommodate change. The peoples’ exemplary resilience has been deemed empowering, not only for themselves, but for the planet as a whole. However, as we argue, the seemingly well-meaning and benign political celebration of resilient indigeneity continues marginalization and othering, practices that are often considered to belong to the colonial past. The article engages in a critical discussion on indigeneity, colonialism and resilience – topics that have yet to be brought into a dialogue with one another. With reference to contemporary political initiatives of the United Nations and the Arctic Council, we illustrate the ways in which the political focus on and desire for indigenous resilience continue the age-old ex-pectation that indigenous peoples will adapt, endure and persevere. Resilience enables colonial practices to persist; it is yet another façade allowing those in power to continue to order time and to ignore the relevance of the past and current injuries indigenous peoples have endured. The vio-lence of resilience lies in its insistence that those whose only option so far has been to adapt con-tinue to do so without any guarantees of better circumstances.