Indigenous Nation Building against settler colonialism: Miriam Jorgensen, Alison Vivian, Anthea Compton, Donna Murray, Debra Evans, Janine Gertz, ‘Yes, The Time Is Now: Indigenous Nation Policy Making for Self-determined Futures’, in Nikki Moodie, Sarah Maddison (eds), Public Policy and Indigenous Futures, Springer, 2023 | settler colonial studies blog

Indigenous Nation Building against settler colonialism: Miriam Jorgensen, Alison Vivian, Anthea Compton, Donna Murray, Debra Evans, Janine Gertz, ‘Yes, The Time Is Now: Indigenous Nation Policy Making for Self-determined Futures’, in Nikki Moodie, Sarah Maddison (eds), Public Policy and Indigenous Futures, Springer, 2023

06Mar23

Abstract: There is a proliferation of ideas about the meaning and content of the term ‘Indigenous nation building’ (INB). Returning to the findings of the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development, INB refers to the exercising of decision-making authority and strengthening of a nation’s capacity for legitimate governing, which is associated with achieving a nation’s self-determined goals. In Australia, a number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nations are doing exactly this. The Gunditjmara, Gugu Badhun, and Wiradjuri nations are working to rebuild their governing foundations, strengthen community governance and, in so doing, advance nation goals. These nations have been able to do so not because of settler colonial policy support, but because of their own Indigenous public policy. The Gunditjmara, Gugu Badhun and Wiradjuri nations have worked to seize available opportunities that assist in advancing their self-determined goals, and to reject those that do not. Current shifts in settler colonial government policy may offer further opportunities that nations can leverage from to support their strategising for self-governing.

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