« Settler colonial access (in New Caledonia): Anaïs Duong-Pedica, ‘Mixed-Race Kanak in “a World Cut in Two”: Contemporary Experiences in Kanaky/New Caledonia’, Journal of Critical Mixed Race Studies, 2, 1, 2023, pp. 71-92
Are Muslims settler colonists? Shadaab Rahemtulla, ‘Decolonising Islam: Indigenous Peoples, Muslim Communities, and the Canadian Context’, Religions, 14, 9, 2023  »

Military inclusion and settler colonialism: Federica Caso, ‘Indigenous Military Inclusion: A Settler Colonial Critique of the Regional Force Surveillance Units’, Australian Journal of Politics and History, 2023

23Aug23

Abstract: In the context of this special issue’s inquiry into whether it is possible to decolonise Australian
international relations, this article investigates the service of Indigenous people in the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The military is a crucial site to investigate the colonial state of Australian international relations not only because it is an institution that performs key international relations practices such as war and diplomacy, but also because it defines and projects the identity of the state both domestically and internationally. In the past two decades, there has been a sustained effort to include Indigenous people in the ADF. An inclusive and multicultural defence purports to represent a post-colonial state where Indigenous and nonIndigenous people stand next to one another for the defence of their shared country. However, in Australia, Indigenous people do not enjoy the wealth of the nation equally and remain dispossessed from their land and economically disadvantaged. Using discourse analysis of publicly available materials praising Indigenous military inclusion, this article argues that the inclusion of Indigenous people in the Australian Defence Force risks further entrenching the settler colonial project.


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