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Beyond assimilation and refusal: a Warlpiri perspective on the politics of recognition

Version 2 2024-06-04, 06:28
Version 1 2017-06-27, 12:02
journal contribution
posted on 2024-06-04, 06:28 authored by M Hinkson
This paper takes up the concept of recognition as an ever-present structuring arrangement in relations between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people. Recognition, in both positive and negative guises, is understood here to foreclose the terms of those relations. For Warlpiri people of Central Australia who have achieved positive recognition and the attendant confirmation of legal rights in land and native title, the contradictions and frustrations of recognition continue to be multiple. Looking back across the eight decades since Warlpiri were first recognised in particular ways by settler-colonists, the paper explores a series of encounters where transformation is visible but ultimately undermined. The paper explores these issues by way of the observations of one remarkable cross-cultural innovator and his quest to ‘be free to the world’. In tracing this work of interpretation and its strategic application to the field of intercultural relations the paper argues that what is being pursued should not be mistaken for assimilation, nor the refusal of recognition, but rather a mode of reciprocal engagement that carries with it significant transformative potential.

History

Journal

Postcolonial studies

Volume

20

Pagination

86-100

Location

Abingdon, Eng.

ISSN

1368-8790

eISSN

1466-1888

Indigenous content

This research output may contain the names and images of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people now deceased. We apologise for any distress that may occur.

Language

eng

Publication classification

C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Copyright notice

2017, The Institute of Postcolonial Studies

Issue

1

Publisher

Taylor & Francis