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The Reforming State, the Concerned Public and Indigenous Political Actors

The Reforming State, the Concerned Public and Indigenous Political Actors Strangely, two recent critical political histories of Indigenous affairs — by Gunstone and by Short — reproduce a structure of perception that resembles the characteristic structure of 1950s perception: a sense of outrage at the helplessness of Indigenous Australians in the face of overbearing colonial pressure, eclipsing the narrative presence of the Indigenous political agent. By returning to the work of those political scientists, sociologists and anthropologists who observed the political reforms of the 1960s and 1970s, I suggest that a richer conception of Indigenous and non‐Indigenous agency is both possible and necessary. There are three interlocking topics in the writing of Indigenous political history: the changing quality of non‐Indigenous engagement; the Indigenous leadership and its historical formation; the differentiated institutional response of the state. The political history of Indigenous Australians should not be reduced to a narrative of the settler colonial state's persistently limited concessions to the Indigenous grievance — important though that theme may be. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Australian Journal of Politics and History Wiley

The Reforming State, the Concerned Public and Indigenous Political Actors

Rowse, Tim
Australian Journal of Politics and History , Volume 56 (1) – Mar 1, 2010
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Publisher
Wiley
Copyright
© 2010 The Author. Journal Compilation © 2010 School of History, Philosophy, Religion and Classics, School of Political Science and International Studies, University of Queensland and Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.
ISSN
0004-9522
eISSN
1467-8497
DOI
10.1111/j.1467-8497.2010.01542.x
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Strangely, two recent critical political histories of Indigenous affairs — by Gunstone and by Short — reproduce a structure of perception that resembles the characteristic structure of 1950s perception: a sense of outrage at the helplessness of Indigenous Australians in the face of overbearing colonial pressure, eclipsing the narrative presence of the Indigenous political agent. By returning to the work of those political scientists, sociologists and anthropologists who observed the political reforms of the 1960s and 1970s, I suggest that a richer conception of Indigenous and non‐Indigenous agency is both possible and necessary. There are three interlocking topics in the writing of Indigenous political history: the changing quality of non‐Indigenous engagement; the Indigenous leadership and its historical formation; the differentiated institutional response of the state. The political history of Indigenous Australians should not be reduced to a narrative of the settler colonial state's persistently limited concessions to the Indigenous grievance — important though that theme may be.

Journal

Australian Journal of Politics and History – Wiley

Published: Mar 1, 2010

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