Judicial Understandings of Aboriginality and Language Use in Criminal Cases

Abstract

Ian Keen is highly respected for his seminal research on complex relationships between social group, kinship, religion, economy, knowledge and territory, particularly in remote Australia. Much of this work has been applied in land rights and native title claims, in which contests over the social identities of claimants are often central. As highlighted in the Yorta Yorta native title claim in Victoria, judicial officers have considerable power to accept or reject who people say they are, with far-reaching implications. But Ian's contributions to the study and understanding of Aboriginal identity have extended much further than his research in remote Australia and its connections to land. His early interest in diverse aspects of identity led to his 1988 edited book 'Being Black: Aboriginal Cultures in 'Settled' Australia', which was a groundbreaking work in the understanding of Aboriginal identity, interactions, and culture in non-remote Australia. As he wrote in the introduction, there had been a tendency by many-scholars and others-to regard Aboriginal people who did not live in remote Australia from a deficit perspective. They were seen as people who had 'lost their culture', and were somehow less Aboriginal (if indeed they were Aboriginal at all) than those whose remote location had resulted in less disruption to their lives. Keen's book was the first to bring together and extend ethnographic studies which recognised and exemplified contemporary Aboriginal identities and cultures in 'settled' Australia.