Governing natives : indirect rule and settler colonialism in Australia's North

"In the 1930s, a series of crises transformed relationships between settlers and Aboriginal people in Australia's Northern Territory. This book examines archives and texts of colonial administration to study the emergence of ideas and practices of indirect rule in this unlikely colonial situation. It demonstrates that the practice of indirect rule was everywhere an effect of Indigenous or 'native' people's insistence on maintaining and re-inventing their political formations, their refusal to be completely dominated, and their frustration of colonial aspirations to total control. These conditions of difference and contradiction, of the struggles of people in contact, produced a colonial state that was created both by settlers and by the 'natives' they sought to govern. By the late 1930s, Australian settlers were coming to understand the Northern Territory as a colonial formation requiring a new form of government. Responding to crises of social reproduction, public power, and legitimacy, they re-thought the scope of settler colonial government by drawing on both the art of indirect rule and on a representational economy of Indigenous elimination to develop a new political dispensation that sought to incorporate and consume Indigenous production and sovereignties. This book locates Aboriginal history within imperial history, situating the settler colonial politics of Indigeneity in a broader governmental context. Australian settler governmentality, in other words, was not entirely exceptional; in the Northern Territory, as elsewhere, indirect rule emerged as part of an integrated, empire-wide repertoire of the arts of governing and colonising peoples" --Back cover In The 1930s, A Series Of Crises Transformed Relationships Between Settlers And Aboriginal People In Australia's Northern Territory. By The Late 1930s, Australian Settlers Were Coming To Understand The Northern Territory As A Colonial Formation Requiring A New Form Of Government. Responding To Crises Of Social Reproduction, Public Power, And Legitimacy, They Re-thought The Scope Of Settler Colonial Government By Drawing On Both The Art Of Indirect Rule And On A Representational Economy Of Indigenous Elimination To Develop A New Political Dispensation That Sought To Incorporate And Consume Indigenous Production And Sovereignties. This Book Locates Aboriginal History Within Imperial History, Situating The Settler Colonial Politics Of Indigeneity In A Broader Governmental Context. 1. Strehlow's Problem: Colonial Transformations And A Governmental Event -- 2. The Political Organisation Of The British In Their Empire, 1875-1939: Transforming Indirect Rule -- 3. Reporting On The Northern Contradiction: Conflict And Crisis, 1918-45 -- 4. Thomson In Canberra: Anthropologising Aborigines -- 5. Native Administration In The Northern Territory: A White Minority In The National Community -- 6. From A White Australia To An Aboriginal New Deal -- 7. The Long March: Work And The Ends Of Settler Colonialism -- 8. Never Yet: The Tense Of Citizenship. Ben Silverstein. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 194-212) And Index. Also Available In Print Form. Electronic Reproduction. Manchester, Uk : Manchester University Press, 2018. Access May Be Restricted To Users At Subscribing Institutions. Mode Of Access: Internet Via World Wide Web. System Requirements: Adobe Acrobat Or Other Pdf Reader (latest Version Recommended), Internet Explorer Or Other Browser (latest Version Recommended). In English. Front matter Contents Acknowledgements Note on terms List of abbreviations Strehlow’s problem: colonial transformations and a governmental event The political organisation of the British in their Empire, 1875–1939: transforming indirect rule Reporting on the northern contradiction: conflict and crisis, 1918–45 Thomson in Canberra: anthropologising Aborigines Native administration in the Northern Territory: a white minority in the national community From a White Australia to an Aboriginal New Deal The long march: work and the ends of settler colonialism Never yet: the tense of citizenship Bibliography Index This book examines both the turn to indirect rule as a way of mediating and resolving some of the contradictions that had tended to crisis, and the way both indirect rule and settler colonialism were transformed by this new political dispensation.