A Quiet Evolution: The Emergence of Indigenous-Local Intergovernmental Partnerships in Canada by Christopher Alcantara, Jen Nelles (review)

For the past several decades, there has been a rapid expansion of interest in Indigenous peoples that has coincided with renewed studies of local knowledge and governance, especially in disciplines that involve natural resources. The shift in management approaches to ecosystem thinking, the explosion of “commons” research, and the wave of decolonizing movements spurred by postcolonial critique have all combined to thrust both these research areas into the spotlight. This book, A Quiet Evolution: The Emergence of Indigenous-Local Intergovernmental Partnerships in Canada, by Alcantara and Nelles, is unique and significant in its combination of these two realms: Indigenous studies and local governance. It examines an extensive dataset of agreements between municipal and Indigenous governments in order to understand the nature of the agreements and the factors that may have influenced their shaping. The book is specific and thorough, yet its content could be diversely applied across a range of disciplines.

A Quiet Evolution is laid out in a fairly standard academic manner. I found this to be one of the many strengths of the book, as the authors go to great lengths to make it clear and concise. The introduction explains the intent of the study, the background of relevant literature, and the progression of the content. The first two chapters then elaborate on the data, classifying the 332 formal agreements using a typology scheme, and introduce the theoretical framework that will be used to analyze the factors that may have shaped the type of relationship between the community governments. This framework is divided into six factors on an axis of capacity (a community’s ability to act) and willingness (a community’s desire to act). To apply the framework, the authors construct a four-type relationship matrix to explain how the governments interact with one another. Chapters 3–6 focus in on four case studies, each one illustrating a different portion of the relationship matrix. These cases are carefully elaborated on and supported by a wealth of qualitative information from primary sources. Finally, the authors conclude with an evaluation of how the six factors affected the cases either positively or negatively, which was probably the only aspect of the study that I felt was somewhat vague and forced. Some findings were more surprising than others, but all of them were grounded in solid evidence. Overall, the book was pleasantly readable and engaging.

This book makes use of mainly practical social theory concepts such as collective action, institutional capacity, community capital, and others to explain how various Indigenous-local agreements and relationships emerge and continue. These sorts of social frameworks frequently come with a variety of assumptions and oversimplifications, but they can still be helpful in pointing out the numerous factors that need to be considered when explaining collective interactions. Though the book is squarely situated within community-related literature and public policy concepts, it could also be useful in a wide variety of social disciplines. The authors are extremely careful not to make normative judgments, but rather “leave it to others to . . . situate it within the normative debates” (140). However, they do venture briefly into decolonization and some of the issues faced by Indigenous peoples. Overall, A Quiet Evolution is a rigorous and thorough contribution to the literature and a promising model for research in these rapidly evolving fields.