Rights and Redemption: History, Law and Indigenous People

Description

This book examines the role of history in key Indigenous rights cases which occurred during the era of the Howard government, when Indigenous rights and the place of Aboriginal people in the national story were repudiated in a variety of government laws and policies. The book investigates how the courts have made use of historians as expert witnesses, and how the colonial past has been framed and understood by the courts. This is an important historical record of a unique period of litigation in Indigenous affairs in Australia. Contents......Page 4 Foreword......Page 8 Introduction......Page 16 1 Historians in the courtroom: a history......Page 30 2 Mabo and history......Page 52 3 Native title: proof and historical evidence......Page 75 4 Historians, expertise & the native title process......Page 96 5 Judicial historiography and the question of genocide......Page 123 6 Mourning the stolen generations: the role of redemptive history......Page 149 7 From Kumurangk to Hindmarsh Island: law’s anthropology......Page 182 8 Contested identities and histories: Shaw v Wolf......Page 206 Conclusion......Page 234 Notes......Page 246 Bibliography......Page 271 Index......Page 287