Indigenous Nation Building in Australia - Resistance, Resilience, Resurgence

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.

Summary

A comparative study of contemporary governing innovations strategically developed by two Indigenous nations in Australia, providing a roadmap for Indigenous peoples seeking to reclaim their self-governance from ongoing settler-colonial domination.

Product details

• Authors: Larissa Behrendt, Behrendt Larissa, Damein Bell, Stephen Cornell, Steve Hemming, Miriam Jorgensen, Daryle Rigney, V, Alis Vivian, Alison Vivian
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Release: 19.02.2026
• EAN: 9781350441286
• ISBN: 978-1-350-44128-6
• No. of pages: 272
• Series: Indigenous Self-Rule
• Subjects: Non-fiction book > Philosophy, religion > Miscellaneous; PHILOSOPHY / Social, PHILOSOPHY / Political, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Colonialism & Post-Colonialism, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Indigenous Studies, Indigenous Peoples, Politics & government, Social & political philosophy, social and political philosophy, Politics and government, Indigenous people: governance and politics