Death of providence/dance of the liminal : Mabo and the politics of postcolonial identities
Date
1996
Authors
Twigg, Peter John
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Abstract
This thesis develops a reading of the politics of postcolonial identities that emerged in Australia between the Bicentennary celebrations in 1988 and the Native Title Act of 1993. It suggests that contemporary identity politics in Australia can be understood as an expression of dilemmas associated with the subjectivities of modernity. It argues that conflicts have arisen when Aboriginal communities and organizations represent themselves on a continuum of aboriginality formalised by the Native Title Act, and that Friedrich Nietzsche's analysis of the 'Death of God' offers a powerful account of the problem of modern subjectivities, an account that has been taken up by a broad range of contemporary postcolonial scholars. Drawing from these scholars, the thesis provides a critical reading of the Native Title Act as a modernist project, and, on this basis, offers suggestions about how remote aboriginal communities can respond to a politics framed through a modernist reification of cultural identities.