Indigenous Nation Building in Australia

This vital and timely book is the first sustained investigation of the creative strategies employed by two Australian Indigenous nations in re-asserting their sovereign capacities for self-determination. Continuing the remarkable history of Indigenous peoples resisting settler-colonialism, these nations echo the resurgence of collective cultural identity and political capacity evident across Australia.Describing and comparing the governance innovations developed by Elders and leaders of the Gunditjmara People and the Ngarrindjeri Nation reveals the distinctive contributions made by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nations to a worldwide movement of Indigenous nation rebuilding. Facing the realities of structuring and rebuilding Indigenous nationhood, the political techniques set out in Indigenous Nation-Building in Australia range from transforming localised instances of injustice to developing communities and protecting ancestral Country. By sharing these Australian Indigenous leaders’ insights, this book provides practical, sophisticated and tested methods to further Indigenous self-government across the globe.

Alison Vivian is a lawyer and Senior Researcher in Indigenous Nations and Collaborative Futures at Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research, University of Technology Sydney, Australia.Larissa Behrendt is the Professor of Law and Director of Research at the Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research at the University of Technology Sydney, Australia.Damien Bell is Chief Executive Officer of Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation (GMTOAC), Australia.Stephen Cornell is Professor of sociology, faculty chair of the Native Nations Institute at the University of Arizona, USA.Steve Hemming is a member of the Indigenous Nations and Collaborative Futures research hub at the University of Technology, Australia.Miriam Jorgensen is a Research Director at the University of Arizona Native Nations Institute, USA and Research Director of the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development.Daryle Rigney is director of the Indigenous Nations and Collaborative Futures research hub at Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research, University of Technology Sydney, Australia.