Indigenous Nation Building in Australia

Larissa Behrendt, Miriam Jorgensen, Alison Vivian, Daryle Rigney, Damein Bell, Steve Hemming, Stephen Cornell

ISBN 10: 1350441287 / ISBN 13: 9781350441286

Published by Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, GB, 2026

About this Item

This vital and timely book is the first sustained investigation of the creative strategies employed by two Australian Indigenous nations in re-asserting their sovereign capacities for self-determination. Continuing the remarkable history of Indigenous peoples resisting settler-colonialism, these nations echo the resurgence of collective cultural identity and political capacity evident across Australia.Describing and comparing the governance innovations developed by Elders and leaders of the Gunditjmara People and the Ngarrindjeri Nation reveals the distinctive contributions made by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nations to a worldwide movement of Indigenous nation rebuilding. Facing the realities of structuring and rebuilding Indigenous nationhood, the political techniques set out in Indigenous Nation-Building in Australia range from transforming localised instances of injustice to developing communities and protecting ancestral Country. By sharing these Australian Indigenous leaders' insights, this book provides practical, sophisticated and tested methods to further Indigenous self-government across the globe.

Seller Inventory # LU-9781350441286

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Indigenous Nation Building in Australia
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, GB
• Publication Date: 2026
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1350441287
• ISBN 13: 9781350441286
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: New
• Weight: 340 grams

About this title

Synopsis

This vital and timely book is the first sustained investigation of the creative strategies employed by two Australian Indigenous nations in re-asserting their sovereign capacities for self-determination. Continuing the remarkable history of Indigenous peoples resisting settler-colonialism, these nations echo the resurgence of collective cultural identity and political capacity evident across Australia.

Describing and comparing the governance innovations developed by Elders and leaders of the Gunditjmara People and the Ngarrindjeri Nation reveals the distinctive contributions made by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nations to a worldwide movement of Indigenous nation rebuilding. Facing the realities of structuring and rebuilding Indigenous nationhood, the political techniques set out in Indigenous Nation-Building in Australia range from transforming localised instances of injustice to developing communities and protecting ancestral Country. By sharing these Australian Indigenous leaders’ insights, this book provides practical, sophisticated and tested methods to further Indigenous self-government across the globe.

About the Authors

Daryle Rigney is director of the Indigenous Nations and Collaborative Futures research hub at Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous
Education and Research, University of Technology Sydney, Australia. Daryle is one of
Australia’s foremost Indigenous nation building scholars and practitioners. He has been a critical strategist for the Ngarrindjeri Nation in asserting its sovereignty and exercising its inherent rights to self-determination and was and is pivotal to the formation of Ngarrindjeri decision-makings institutions and mechanisms.

Damein Bell is a Gundtijmara man and Chief Executive Officer of Gunditj Mirring
Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation (GMTOAC), Australia. Under instruction from the community, he implements the Corporation’s strategic plan, and advocates for
Gunditjmara in native title and cultural heritage.

Miriam Jorgensen is a Research Director of the University of Arizona Native Nations
Institute, USA, and Research Director of the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic
Development. Her work in Indigenous governance and economic development―in
the United States, Canada, and Australia―has addressed issues as wide-ranging as
child welfare policy, policing and justice systems, natural-resource management,
cultural stewardship, land ownership, tribal enterprises, housing, financial education,
and philanthropy.

Alison Vivian is a lawyer and Senior Researcher in Indigenous Nations and Collaborative Futures at Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research, University of Technology Sydney, Australia. Alison’s primary research focus relates to Indigenous nation-building and governance as an exercise of Indigenous sovereignty and self-determination.

Steve Hemming is a member of the Indigenous Nations and Collaborative Futures
research hub at the University of Technology Sydney, Australia. His work with Indigenous
communities began in the early 1980s as a museum curator and, over the last few
decades, his community engagement and research has focussed on Indigenous
nation building, environmental management, cultural heritage management, and
Indigenous environmental studies.