Exercising Cultural Self-Determination: The Makah Indian Tribe Goes Whaling
American Indian Law Review, Vol. 25, No. 2, 2002
109 Pages Posted: 17 Jul 2008
Date Written: 2002
Abstract
Self-determination is an important concept in federal Indian law and for American Indian Nations. Every distinctly identified group of people has the right to determine for themselves how they will live and what religious and cultural concepts and practices they will pursue. The Makah Indian Nation determined in 1994, when the gray whale was removed from the U.S. Endangered Species list, to resume its traditional cultural whaling practices. The Tribe successfully landed a whale in 1999 under intense worldwide scrutiny and some criticism. Since then, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has prevented the Tribe from further whaling. This Article sets out the historical, legal, and cultural justifications for Makah whaling rights, and the reasons the Makah are reviving their whaling religion and culture.
Keywords: Whaling, subsistence and aboriginal whaling, religious and cultural rights, Makah whaling, International Whaling Commission, Marine Mammal Protection Act, cultural self-determination rights
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation