Indigeneity is a politics of potential. It allows indigenous peoples to think and pursue political aspirations beyond colonial victimhood. The politics of indigeneity is a theory of human agency. It is closely intertwined with discourses of reconciliation, self-determination and sovereignty. This book explores these discourses’ significance for contemporary indigenous politics. It uses them to examine just terms of indigenous citizenship in three contemporary post-settler states. The book argues for differentiated liberal citizenship as a way of allowing indigenous peoples to share in the publ ... More

Indigeneity is a politics of potential. It allows indigenous peoples to think and pursue political aspirations beyond colonial victimhood. The politics of indigeneity is a theory of human agency. It is closely intertwined with discourses of reconciliation, self-determination and sovereignty. This book explores these discourses’ significance for contemporary indigenous politics. It uses them to examine just terms of indigenous citizenship in three contemporary post-settler states. The book argues for differentiated liberal citizenship as a way of allowing indigenous peoples to share in the public sovereignty of the nation-state while, at the same time, sharing a meaningful political authority vested in indigenous institutions. It tests neo-colonial understandings of power, politics and justice. The book’s comparative focus is unique. It compares the Australasian states with Fiji to show that historical constraints on political authority are not diminished with the withdrawal of the colonial power alone. Nor does the restoration of collective indigenous majority status, on its own, serve meaningful self-determination. Conversely, negative power relationships in Australia and New Zealand are not simply a function of minority status in majoritarian democracies. The comparison shows that the claims of indigeneity must hold equally well whatever the post-colonial indigenous population status.