Dichotomous identities? Indigenous and non-Indigenous people and the intercultural in Australia

Abstract

The terms Indigenous and non-Indigenous are commonplace in Australia yet remain under-theorised as categories which differentiate identities. In this introductory article, we overview developments in the intercultural over the last decade, focusing on the ways in which identities of Indigenous and non-Indigenous, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal, Black and White are relationally constructed. We also consider intersections between the intercultural and the Intervention, a major turning point in Indigenous affairs policy with related impacts in anthropology over this period. In particular we draw attention to the need for ethnographies that show equal attention to non-Indigenous residents and propose the themes of intimacies and temporalities as key avenues for addressing this relationality. Articles contained in this special issue go some way to addressing this need, illustrating the complex ways in which Indigenous and non-Indigenous lives are lived together, or alongside each other, around Australia today. Show more