Compton, Anthea, Vivian, Alison, Petray, Theresa, Walsh, Matthew, and Hemming, Steve (2024) Indigenous nation building and native title: strategic uses of a fraught settler-colonial regime. Settler Colonial Studies, 14 (2). pp. 160-179.

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Abstract

Despite the ongoing and destructive nature of invasion and settler-colonial institutions, laws and policies in Australia, many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nations continue to assert their sovereignty; exercise their inherent rights to self-determination as self-defined, autonomous peoples; and pursue collective aspirations in highly constrained and contested environments. Many nations are engaged in Indigenous nation (re)building (INB). One key INB strategy utilised by such nations is to use settler-colonial policy for their own collective ends. This article analyses the relationship between a complex and highly fraught settler-colonial legal-political system, native title, and INB processes in Australia. Using the ‘Identify as a Nation, Organise as a Nation, Act as a Nation’ framework, we explore some of the actual and potential relationships between the native title system and INB. Despite the considerable harms of the native title system on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, we maintain that First Nations may be able to strategically engage in the system in a way that assists them to further their cultural and political autonomy.

Item ID:	80719
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	1838-0743
Copyright Information:	Published Version: © 2023 Informa UK Limited. AAM may be made open access in an Institutional Repository under an CC BY-NC license after an 18 month embargo.
Funders:	Australian Research Council (ARC)
Projects and Grants:	ARC DP190102060
Date Deposited:	17 Oct 2023 02:58
FoR Codes:	44 HUMAN SOCIETY > 4410 Sociology > 441004 Social change @ 50% 45 INDIGENOUS STUDIES > 4505 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, society and community > 450525 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander sociology @ 50%
SEO Codes:	21 INDIGENOUS > 2104 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage and culture > 210402 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander connection to land and environment @ 100%
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