Citizens without Rights: Aborigines and Australian Citizenship by John Chesterman

Book Description

Secondhand. Good condition very some edge wear on the book spine and corners.

This is the first comprehensive study of the ways in which Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders have been excluded from the rights of Australian citizenship over the past 100 years.

Drawing extensively upon archival material, the authors look at how the colonies initiated a policy of exclusion that was then replicated by the Commonwealth and State governments following Federation.

The book includes careful examination of government policies and practice from the 1880's to the 1990's and argues that Aboriginal people have been central to notions of Australian citizenship by virtue of their exclusion from it.

It overturns many assumptions and misunderstandings, arguing that there was never any constitutional reason why Aborigines could not be granted full citizenship. The authors show that citizenship was an empty term used to discriminate systematically against Aboriginal people.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers please note that this book may contain images of people who have passed away.