Michael Luoma

Michael Luoma (PhD, Philosophy, Queen’s University, 2023) is a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Democracy and Diversity (CSDD) and the Institute of Intergovernmental Relations (IIGR) at Queen’s University.

Michael’s research draws contemporary political philosophy into dialogue with grounded contexts of normative and political contestation. Specifically, Michael’s research examines the conditions for political legitimacy in Indigenous – settler relations, with a focus on the requirements for fair negotiation of territorial authority among self-determining peoples in a multinational federal system. Pursuant to this objective, Michael has conducted research on Indigenous political authority and collective self-determination, territorial rights and restitution, federalism, transnational Indigenous communities, and the negotiation of modern treaties.

Presently, in his capacity as a postdoctoral fellow at the Centre for the Study of Democracy and Diversity, Michael is employed by the 2023-2026 SSHRC Partnership Development Grant project: Indigenous Peoples, Territory, and the Comprehensive Claims Process (Dr. Veldon Coburn, McGill, principal investigator; Margaret Moore, Queen’s, co-director). The project brings scholars from a wide variety of disciplines (political science, law, and philosophy) together with Indigenous treaty negotiators and governance practitioners with the aim of comparing communities’ experiences with contemporary land claims negotiations and developing normative resources for evaluating outcomes.

You may view additional details about Michael’s research, on federalism and border governance, on his IIGR profile, here.