Re-Settling Australia? Indigeneity, Indigenous Sovereignty and the Postcolonial Nation in Kim Scott’s <i>Taboo</i>

Abstract

This essay responds to the scholarly debate about the interdependencies between postcolonial and Indigenous studies and argues that a dual approach informed by both fields can uncover which obstacles former settler colonies have to overcome in order to become truly postcolonial nations. While the insights of postcolonial theory are able to disclose and describe persisting colonising structures relating to the depiction of indigeneity in majoritarian discourse, Indigenous theory illustrates the need to account for the complexity and diversity of Indigenous experiences. As the essay illustrates on the basis of a reading of Kim Scott’s Taboo (2017), such an approach highlights that only through a sincere acknowledgment of Indigenous sovereignty both physically and mentally and a recognition of the necessarily multi-layered nature of indigeneity that involves at times seemingly mutually exclusive discourses nations can eventually attempt to move beyond colonialism.