Decolonizing Solidarity

In this updated and revised version of the highly original and much-needed book, Clare Land interrogates the often fraught endeavours of activists from colonial backgrounds seeking to be politically supportive of Indigenous struggles. Blending key theoretical and practical questions, Land argues that the predominant impulses which drive middle-class settler activists to support Indigenous people cannot lead to successful alliances and meaningful social change unless they are significantly transformed through a process of both public political action and critical self-reflection. This edition explores an explicit definition of decolonization, along with a discussion of the development of Indigenous philosophies of decolonization; a discussion of fragility and settler futurity; and a more substantive discussion of solidarity by people of colour. It also includes a reflection on the pedagogy of solidarity politics; the book’s authorship; and the ways in which Decolonizing Solidarity has enabled a further and deeper set of concerns to be raised. Based on a wealth of in-depth, original research, and focussing in particular on Australia, where – despite strident challenges – the vestiges of British law and cultural power have restrained the nation's emergence out of colonizing dynamics, this book provides a vital resource for those involved in Indigenous activism and scholarship.