Economic Marginalization and Structural Inequalities

This chapter examines the historical and structural foundations of Indigenous economic marginalization, arguing that contemporary inequality is the outcome of enduring systems of dispossession rather than cultural deficiency or geographic remoteness. It traces how colonial conquest, land seizure, forced labour, discriminatory law, and imposed development models fractured Indigenous subsistence systems and subordinated communities to extractive and settler economies. Through a comparative analysis of regional cases, the chapter shows how limited access to education, infrastructure, employment, and finance has reproduced poverty while constraining Indigenous control over resources, labour, and decision-making. It also highlights the uneven social effects of these processes, with particular attention to the burdens borne by Indigenous women and to the intergenerational consequences of exclusion. By contrasting capitalist and communist models of modernization, the chapter argues that both frequently treated Indigenous societies as impediments to productivity rather than as custodians of viable and enduring economic systems. At the same time, it underscores the persistence of Indigenous agency through enterprise, educational initiatives, and claims for redistribution, restitution, and autonomy. The chapter ultimately reframes inequality as a political-economic consequence of colonial governance and calls for approaches that recognize Indigenous economies as collective, land-based, and oriented toward social reproduction, cultural continuity, and community well-being.