Colonialism

"Fragile Settlements compares the processes through which colonial authority was asserted over Indigenous people in southwest Australia and prairie Canada from the 1830s to the early twentieth century. At the start of this period, there was an explosion of settler migration across the British Empire. As a humanitarian response led to the unprecedented demand for land, Britain's Colonial Office moved to protect Indigenous peoples by making them subjects under British law.

"There are two oppositional narratives in relation to telling the story of indigenous peoples and minorities in relation to globalization and intellectual property rights. The first, the narrative of Optimism, is a story of the triumphant opening of brave new worlds of commercial integration and cultural inclusion. The second, the narrative of Fear, is a story of the endangerment, mourning, and loss of a traditional culture.

"Crime, Aboriginality and the Decolonisation of Justice explores contemporary strategies which might reduce the extraordinary levels of imprisonment and victimisation suffered by Aboriginal people in Australia. These are problems that continue to rise despite numerous inquiries and reports.

"This work is the first to assess the legality and impact of colonisation from the viewpoint of Aboriginal law, rather than from that of the dominant Western legal tradition. It begins by outlining the Aboriginal legal system as it is embedded in Aboriginal people’s complex relationship with their ancestral lands. This is Raw Law: a natural system of obligations and benefits, flowing from an Aboriginal ontology.

"The forums that were established during the second half of the twentieth century to address Aboriginal land claims have led to a particular way of engaging with and presenting Aboriginal, colonial, and national histories. The history that comes out of these land claim forums is often attacked for being "presentist": interpreting historical actions and actors through the lens of present day values, practices, and concerns.