Mabo’s Cultural Legacy

More than any other event in Australia's legal, political and cultural history, the High Court of Australia's 1992 Mabo decision challenged previous ways of thinking about land, identity, belonging, the nation and history. Now, more than a quarter of a century after Mabo, this book examines the broader impacts of this landmark legal decision on various forms of Australian culture and cultural practice. How is Australia's post-Mabo imaginary being reflected, refracted and articulated in contemporary film, fiction, poetry, biography and other forms of cultural expression? To what extent has the discussion and practice of history, linguistics, anthropology and other branches of the humanities been challenged or transformed by Mabo? While the judges in Mabo recognised native title, they also denied Indigenous people sovereignty over the continent: how is First Nations sovereignty being articulated and creatively imagined in more recent post-Mabo discourse? This interdisciplinary book, offering a transnational perspective via scholars based in Australia, continental Europe and the UK, provides an overview of the diverse impact and discursive influence of Mabo on fields of artistic endeavour and cultural practice in Australia today.

“"This book makes a major contribution to indigenous studies in Australia. It continues and extends the valuable work of Rodoreda in assessing the impact of the Mabo decision in Australian culture. The strengths of the book lie in the range of its analysis, facilitated by the range of subject areas and the number of contributors. The essays are scholarly and extend the work on Australian (both indigenous and non-indigenous) cultural developments after the Mabo decision in ways that provide a comprehensive context for considerations of the progress of Indigenous justice in Australia." --Bill Ashcroft, Emeritus Professor, The University of New South Wales”

“This book makes a major contribution to indigenous studies in Australia. It continues and extends the valuable work of Rodoreda in assessing the impact of the Mabo decision in Australian culture. The strengths of the book lie in the range of its analysis, facilitated by the range of subject areas and the number of contributors. The essays are scholarly and extend the work on Australian (both indigenous and non-indigenous) cultural developments after the Mabo decision in ways that provide a comprehensive context for considerations of the progress of Indigenous justice in Australia.” —Bill Ashcroft, Emeritus Professor, The University of New South Wales

“The Mabo decision of the Australian High Court in 1992 transformed both law and history. It attracted a large scholarly literature in the ensuing 30 years with focus on jurisprudence and politics. Far less has been written on the significant influence on the wider cultural landscape. This book admirably and comprehensively surveys the impact of Mabo on history, literature and the visual arts. It is clearly essential reading for anyone interested in Australian history and culture in the late-twentieth and early-twenty-first centuries.” —Henry Reynolds, Honorary Research Professor, Aboriginal Studies Global Cultures & Languages, University of Tasmania

Geoff Rodoreda is a lecturer in the Department of English Literature at the University of Stuttgart, Germany.

Eva Bischoff is an assistant professor in the Department of International History at Trier University, Germany.

More than any other event in Australia's legal, political and cultural history, the High Court of Australia's 1992 Mabo decision challenged previous ways of thinking about land, identity, belonging, the nation and history. Now, more than a quarter of a century after Mabo, this book examines the broader impacts of this landmark legal decision on various forms of Australian culture and cultural practice. How is Australia's post-Mabo imaginary being reflected, refracted and articulated in contemporary film, fiction, poetry, biography and other forms of cultural expression? To what extent has the discussion and practice of history, linguistics, anthropology and other branches of the humanities been challenged or transformed by Mabo? While the judges in Mabo recognised native title, they also denied Indigenous people sovereignty over the continent: how is First Nations sovereignty being articulated and creatively imagined in more recent post-Mabo discourse? This interdisciplinary book, offering a transnational perspective via scholars based in Australia, continental Europe and the UK, provides an overview of the diverse impact and discursive influence of Mabo on fields of artistic endeavour and cultural practice in Australia today.

This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.