Summary

Decolonizing Solidarities - Dilemmas and Directions for Supporters of Indigenous Struggles is a thorough examination of the problems that can arise when activists from colonial backgrounds seek to be politically supportive of indigenous struggles.

Blending key theoretical and practical questions, Clare Land argues that the impulses that drive middle-class settler activists to support indigenous peoples will not lead to successful alliances and meaningful social change without an essential process of public political action and critical self-reflection.

Based on a wealth of in-depth interviews of Aboriginal community members and non-Aboriginal activists, and original research, with a focus on Australia, Decolonizing Solidarities provides a vital resource for anyone involved in indigenous activism or scholarship.

It includes inspirational flyers and documents created by people pursuing land rights, black power and sovereignty and their supporters.

Excellent… The book is written in a way that is accessible to a range of allies outside academic circles and speaks to real case studies which resonate with other contexts.

— Linda Tuhiwai Smith, author of Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples

About the Author

Clare Land is a Research Fellow at Deakin University, VIC. A non-Aboriginal person living and working in south-east Australia, her engagement since 1998 with the history and present of settler colonialism is inspired by Aboriginal struggles and has taken the form of community-based organising. For many years Clare has collaborated with Gunai/Maar man Robbie Thorpe to co-present a radio program on 3CR in Fitzroy, Melbourne, which focuses on colonialism and resistance.