Building an economy and building a nation: Gugu Badhun self-determination as prefigurative resistance

Petray, Theresa L.;Gertz, Janine

Abstract

Indigenous peoples around the world are increasingly claiming and exercising sovereignty and self-determination. One important method for this is through economic development, but this raises tensions between Indigenous values and those of the market-place. While this tension is real, we argue that economic development which is underpinned by Aboriginal values is an act of prefigurative resistance and helps nations move towards self-determination. Based on ethnographic research with the Gugu Badhun Aboriginal nation, we explore theories of recognition and anticolonialism through economic development processes. The experience of Gugu Badhun indicates that a contemporary Aboriginal economy can have very different values to those of neoliberalism, but also demonstrate that this is a slow process that must be built on a firm cultural foundation. In so doing, Gugu Badhun are navigating the tensions and working through them in a process of self-determination in action.

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Global Media Journal: Australian Edition

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1835-2340

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University of Western Sydney

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