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Welcome to country: acknowledgement, belonging and white anti-racism
The Welcome to Country (WTC) ceremony and its twin, the Acknowledgement of Traditional Owners, have become prominent anti-racist rituals in the post-settler society of Australia. These rituals are rich in meaning. They are simultaneously emblems of colonisation and dispossession; of recognition and reconciliation; and a periodic focus of political posturing. This article analyses the multiple meanings of WTC ceremonies. In particular, I explore the politics of belonging elicited by WTC and Acknowledgement rituals. Drawing on ethnography of non-Indigenous people who work in Indigenous affairs, I argue that widespread enjoyment of these rituals among White anti-racists is explained because they paradoxically experience belonging through a sense of not belonging.
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Journal
Cultural studies reviewVolume
21Issue
2Pagination
173 - 204Publisher
UTSePressLocation
Sydney, N.S.W.Publisher DOI
ISSN
1446-8123Language
engPublication classification
C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journalCopyright notice
2015, Emma KowalUsage metrics
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