Thom, Brian2023-11-082023-11-0820102010Thom, B. (2010). The anathema of aggregation: Toward 21st-century self-government in the Coast Salish world. Anthropologica, 52(1), 33-48. https://www.jstor.org/stable/29545993https://www.jstor.org/stable/29545993http://hdl.handle.net/1828/15607There are significant tensions in state-sponsored attempts to formulate aggregated First Nations self-government bodies. In spite of decades of pressure from the Indian Act and Canada's Inherent Self-Government Rights Policy, and a dramatic privatization and alienation of lands and resources, First Nations' visions of future self-governments continue to be distinctively local, with a few notable exceptions. This article looks at how the kin-based principles that underwrite Coast Salish leadership, property, political networking and the distribution of political power bases profoundly influence choices in self-determination. These issues challenge both state and First Nations negotiators to reconcile cultural difference in these agreements.enself-governmentCoast SalishCanadian Aboriginal policykinshippolitical organizationArticleDepartment of Anthropology