Unstable relations: a critical appraisal of indigeneity and environmentalism in contemporary Australia

Abstract

The 1970s witnessed the emergence of a protest-based environmental movement in Australia. We outline here the history of the unstable meeting of environmentalism and Aboriginal interests, before turning to Marcia Langton's recent critique of the progressive 'green left' in Australia. 1 We summarise Langton's argument: environmentalists would deny Aboriginal groups the benefits that flow from native title-related agreements; environmentalists live at luxurious distance from the realities of remote and rural Aboriginal poverty and social problems; environmentalists exalt 'noble savages'. We critique these claims on the basis that they pay inadequate attention to the structural inequities that underpin the market in native title interests and, further, deny the reality that Aboriginal groups often seek to form strategic alliances with green groups, arguing for conservation of their country on their own-or shared-terms. We argue that any appraisal of the present status of 'green-black' relations needs to consider these factors seriously.

The final voids: the ambiguity of emptiness in Australian coal mine rehabilitation

“…But as Cameo Dalley and Richard Martin argue, ‘[I]f it can be accepted that Indigenous people are changed through their interaction with non‐Indigenous people, then it stands to reason that non‐Indigenous people might also be transformed and come to incorporate aspects of Indigenous ways of being into their own lives’ (2015: 8). This is an understudied aspect of the intercultural but is increasingly being recognized as foundational to the Australian environmental movement, serving both as symbolic inspiration and as direct ‘green‐black’ alliances (de Rijke 2012; Vincent & Neale 2016 a ; 2016 b ). These are important sites in which identities are negotiated, and interrelations made meaningful, between Indigenous and non‐Indigenous people, and they create space for transformation even within these categories (Vincent & Neale 2016 a ; 2016 b ).…”

“…This is an understudied aspect of the intercultural but is increasingly being recognized as foundational to the Australian environmental movement, serving both as symbolic inspiration and as direct 'green-black' alliances (de Rijke 2012; Vincent & Neale 2016a;2016b). These are important sites in which identities are negotiated, and interrelations made meaningful, between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, and they create space for transformation even within these categories (Vincent & Neale 2016a;2016b).…”

Interculturalism and Responsive Reflexivity in a Settler Colonial Context

“…The principle of moving across is also detectable in the desire for sustainable futures and a growing environmental consciousness and increased concern over climate change, drought, species loss, and the impact of resource industries, shared among Australians, Indigenous and non-Indigenous. Historically not an easy alliance (see Vincent and Neale 2016;Vincent and Neale 2017), "black-green" relations found shared sites of meaning from the 1970s, yet mutuality cannot be assumed of Indigenous/non-Indigenous environmental agendas then or now. Vincent (2016) reminds, that there should also be refrain from invoking assumptions about a "pan-Aboriginal" environmental imperative (see Waterton and Saul 2018).…”

The natural hazard sector's engagement with Indigenous peoples: a critical review of CANZUS countries

“…These rights have provided new avenues for engaging with government departments on the governance of their lands and waters, although they have also brought new uncertainties about how land management responsibilities are legally attributed (Weir & Duff, ). As in Canada, a culture of agreement‐making has become the norm in dealings between Indigenous land rights holders and others in Australia, including government agencies (Vincent & Neale, ). One such agreement has involved Dja Dja Wurrung peoples taking up roles in Victorian wildfire management agencies and conducting their own prescribed burns (DELWP, ).…”