White skin, black heart? 1 The politics of belonging and Native Title in Australia

Bibliographic Data

ID3977205
AuthorsHeidi Ellemor (RMIT University, corresponding author)
Year2003
Volume4
Issue2
Pages233-252
Publication date2003-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocial & Cultural Geography (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1464-9365 • E-ISSN: 1470-1197
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14649360309060
OpenAlexW2044382147
LanguageEN
Citations received13
References cited39

This paper explores the ways in which local communities are articulating, negotiating and contesting relationships with place. It does this through a case study of place contestation in the Barmah-Millewa Forest, in south-eastern Australia. A Native Title Claim by the local indigenous community to land and inland waters was heard in the Australian Federal Court while this research was conducted. This has provided an avenue through which to explore the politics of place and identity in contemporary Australia. Recent theoretical discussions of place and identity and their manifestations in Australia are discussed in this paper. Through the case study, the paper demonstrates the complex and problematic ways in which place and identity can be constructed in Native Title Claims, and the intense and unsettling politics of claims to 'belonging' that result. It argues that whilst there is a need to recognize the desire for profound attachments to place of all Australians, we must be mindful of the political ramifications of the particular responses of local communities. The paper concludes that ongoing interdisciplinary and theoretically informed empirical research is necessary to understand the complex context of people-place relationships in settler societies

Aesthetics · Archaeology · Context (archaeology · Geography · Identity (music · Identity politics · Indigenous · Media studies · Negotiation · Political science · Politics · Social science · Sociology · White (mutation · Gender Studies · Geographies of human-animal interactions · Law · Qualitative Research Methods and Ethics · Urban Planning and Governance · Ecology