Indigenous geographies II The aspirational spaces in postcolonial politics – reconciliation, belonging and social provision

• Published in: Progress in Human Geography Vol. 37; no. 5; pp. 691 - 700
• Main Authors: Coombes, Brad, Johnson, Jay T., Howitt, Richard
• Format: Book Review Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England SAGE Publications 01.10.2013; Sage Publications Ltd
• Subjects: Advocacy; Colonialism; Cultural Pluralism; Decolonization; Delivery Systems; Experiments; Geodemographics; Geography; Human geography; Human rights; Indigenous Populations; Multiculturalism; Multiculturalism & pluralism; Native peoples; Native rights; Negotiation; Political activism; Politics; Postcolonialism; Reconciliation; Rights; Services; co-existence; belonging; service provision; responsibility; postcolonial theory; community wellbeing; Indigenous rights; hope; reconciliation
• ISSN: 0309-1325; 1477-0288
• DOI: 10.1177/0309132512469590

Required to negotiate a transcultural present in which their rights and opportunities are circumscribed by the pleadings of multicultural others, Indigenous peoples have attracted attention for their approaches to alliance-building, responsible co-existence and self-determined care. In this second report on Indigenous geographies1, we associate those projects with the geographies of hope but, recognizing that a futuristic gaze on allegedly progressive cases can lapse into naivety, we call for further postcolonial critique of the influences on those cases. We distinguish retrospective and prospective applications of postcolonial theory, suggesting that while geographers initially disregarded the latter they now exaggerate that outlook in hopeful advocacy for Indigenous alternatives. Nonetheless, we conclude with examples of reconciliation and Indigenous service provision which attest to the social significance and aspirational character of Indigenous responses, both from the margins and in the focus of everyday politics.