Routledge Reconciliation and Colonial Power: Indigenous Rights in Australia

Reconciliation and Colonial Power provides the first comprehensive sociological analysis of Australia's national reconciliation project, initiated in 1991 between indigenous and non-indigenous peoples. Despite decades as the longest-running reconciliation process globally, no authoritative study had examined this critical initiative until now. Damien Short's work fills a significant theoretical and empirical gap by interpreting Australian reconciliation as a complex social process rather than a straightforward atonement effort. Published by Routledge, this book challenges conventional understandings of how nations address historical injustices and colonial legacies. It examines the mechanisms, contradictions, and outcomes of reconciliation efforts whilst grounding analysis in rigorous sociological frameworks. Essential for scholars, policymakers, and students of indigenous rights, Australian history, and postcolonial studies seeking to understand how reconciliation functions as both a political process and social movement.