Irene Watson, Aboriginal Peoples, Colonialism and International Law: Raw Law

Abstract

Professor Watson’s Aboriginal Peoples, Colonialism and International Law: Raw Law is presented in a multi-dimensional narrative, from the perspective of Aboriginal laws and customs, which are usually confined to western epistemologies and ideologies related to the anthropological classification of Indigeneity. Professor Watson opens by prefacing the ultimate aim of this text as: ‘decentering the usual analytical tendency to privilege the dominant structure and concepts of western law’. Irene Watson is a Research Professor of Law at the University of South Australia and is a well-respected scholar in the legal fraternity. She is also a well-known advocate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s rights. This text is the ideal vessel to demonstrate the clear mastery of knowledge and perspective needed to have a meaningful conversation about these serious and what some would view as ‘controversial’ issues. The disenfranchisement of Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples is well documented, as the survival and long-term effects of the so-called ‘colonial project’ persist.