Review of Aboriginal Title and Indigenous Peoples: Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Edited by Louis A. Knafla and Haijo Westra.

Authors

Dwight Newman, University of SaskatchewanFollow

Date of this Version

Spring 2011

Citation

Great Plains Research Vol. 21 No.1, 2011

Comments

© 2011 Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska-lincoln

Abstract

This volume contains a number of intelligent, insightful essays that, as a collection, are meant to offer comparative perspectives on Aboriginal title issues in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. A relatively limited number of the essays actually engage in direct comparison, although David Yarrow's examination ofthe place ofIndigenous jurisdiction in Australia and Canada, Kent McNeil's scrutiny ofthe source and content ofIndigenous land rights in Australia and Canada, and Louis Knafta's superb introduction are welcome exceptions. Most of the other chapters frame a set of comparisons by engaging with issues in a single jurisdiction, although some are also devoted to specific topics farther removed from the book's main thrust. Many of these are nonetheless interesting, and there are chapters by seasoned academics as well as new writers in the field. Significantly, the book crosses disciplinary boundaries: law, history, anthropology, and other disciplinary approaches are represented, with some chapters addressing the intersections of these disciplines.