Indigeneity: Before and Beyond the Law

As both a local and global discourse, myriad expressions of indigeneity and multiple indigeneities are evident in both literature and law. This book is concerned with the contrasting juridical narratives of the coloniser and the colonised – specifically, of non-Indigenous and Indigenous law – and their expression in law and literature. Examining notions of indigeneity, and the positioning of the Indigenous subject before and beyond the law – both nationally and internationally – the book focuses upon the animation of ‘indigeneities’ within textual imaginaries that are both literary and juridical.

While the Indigene before the law is subject to the violence of its determinate impositions, this book draws on a range of contemporary theorists to argue that Indigenous narrative, particularly as it appears in Indigenous authored literature, evokes a disruptive and transformative dynamism within non-Indigenous law. In so doing, the book addresses the troubled juxtaposition of law and justice in the context of Indigenous legal claims and literary expressions, as it engage the contested history and jurisprudence of Indigenous title to land, of theories of recognition, and of Indigenous resistance to colonialism. It will be of considerable interest to legal and humanist scholars working at the intersection of Indigenous peoples and law, including those engaged in critical legal studies, legal philosophy and socio-legal studies.