Abstract
“It has been argued elsewhere that the colonization, dispossession, and oppression of indigenous Australians have a close nexus with biological determinism, scientific racism, and the ideology known as sociobiology. In the United States similar arguments are made concerning the historic maltreatment meted out to African Americans. In Australia, the concern is with the continuing colonial control over the identity of Australian Aboriginal people.” In his essay Dr. Ardill explores indigenous Australian identity and its “reciprocal relationship with health, education, poverty, (loss of) language, native title, sovereignty and self-determination.” He argues “that the legal reasoning underpinning colonial control over Aboriginal identity is steeped in sociobiological ideology. That is to say, these ideas involve a hierarchy of race, and are further used to justify colonial control instead of embracing the principle of self-determination. This colonial rule fails to relinquish control in favour of self-determination in accord with international standards and instead applies a descent test.” Dr. Ardill explores a series of judicial tests that have been used to determine “Aboriginality”. He “concludes that despite the plethora of international tropes, rhetoric, and measures to decolonize, Australia retains colonial control over indigenous people through sociobiological legal processes that ultimately dictate who can be Aboriginal.”
Recommended Citation
Ardill, Allan. "Australian Aboriginality and Sociobiology." Tribal Law Journal 11, 1 (2011). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/tlj/vol11/iss1/1