'Against Native Title'

Overview

'Against native title' is about one group's lived experience of a divisive native title claim in the outback town of Ceduna, where the native title claims process has thoroughly reorganized local Aboriginal identities over the course of the past decade. The central character in this story is senior Aboriginal woman Sue Haseldine, a self-styled charismatic rebel and master storyteller. This is a vivacious and very human story, which makes a vital contribution to national debates around issues of Aboriginal futures in remote and regional areas.

Reviews

'Out the back' of Ceduna in remote South Australia, Aunty Sue mob and a crew of greenies are undertaking the difficult, dirty and deeply satisfying work of 'rockhole recovery'. They care for country in vigorous rejection of the state's native title regime. Eve Vincent eloquently tracks the enterprising struggles of Aunty Sue against a long history of devastating ruptures endured by Aboriginal people. 'Against Native Title' is a fine-grained, perceptive and forceful account of the challenges and world-changing possibilities of cross-cultural alliances and new ways of belonging. Melinda Hinkson Associate Professor of Anthropology, Deakin University Country always had to be looked after, and still needs to be. If that is a task of central concern, can one afford to be diverted by the native title process? This book carefully describes Aunty Sue Mob's ways of caring for country and maintaining cultural continuity. Her resistance to native title is not just a refusal, but a means of gathering further allies to a cause that will only gain strength in today's more environmentalist context. This is an inspiring account as well as good ethnographic writing. Eve Vincent pays attention to what is going on in a situation, which means adding reality to it in the form of agencies driving the situation until it becomes an event, consequential in ways that zigzag right up to 'government policy', just as the mob slips out of town to get something practical done. Professor Stephen Muecke Jury Chair, School of Humanities, University of Adelaide Professor Emeritus of Ethnography, Environmental Humanities, School of Humanities and Languages, University of New South Wales Adjunct Professor, Nulungu Research Centre, University of Notre Dame, Broome Campus Eve Vincent has produced a vital and timely book. Her insights into the relationships between people and country highlight the replenishment provided to Aboriginal communities through their deeply intimate contact with land and each other. 'Against Native Title' also examines the obstacles encountered by communities in defence of country, cultural balance and histories of deep time when faced with forces and institutions of state barely able to scratch the surface of Indigenous life. Vincent's scholarship, driven by both an intellectual and ethical exchange, offers a model of connectivity that would benefit all in the country. Professor Tony Birch Bruce McGuinness Research Fellow, Moondani Balluk Academic Centre, Victoria University

Author Biography

Eve Vincent is a lecturer in the Department of Anthropology at Macquarie University. She is the co-editor of Unstable Relations: Indigenous people and environmentalism in contemporary Australia (UWAP, 2016) and History, Power, Text: Cultural Studies and Indigenous Studies (UTS E-Press, 2014). Eve's writing has appeared in scholarly journals as well as outlets such as Griffith Review, Overland, Sydney Review of Books and Meanjin.