Interrupting White Possession and Unsettling State Borders

Expanding Frontiers of Critical Indigenous Studies

Abstract

It is both a pleasure and a significant responsibility to review two field-shaping works in critical indigenous studies. The White Possessive showcases the unique intellectual contribution of Aileen Moreton-Robinson, both within Australia and internationally. Prising apart concepts of race, ethnicity and cultural difference, her book makes visible and accountable the patriarchal white subject of possession that subtends them. Mohawk Interruptus is a rigorous ethnographic account of the intra-subjective and intersubjective dimensions of academic disciplines and political practices that produce and police the ‘authenticity’ of Indigenous people. Both books should be read and studied by scholars across academic disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. In particular, they break new ground for researchers in law, sociology, women’s studies, critical race and whiteness studies, postcolonial studies, anthropology, political theory and cultural studies.