Crossing Boundaries: Cultural, Legal, Historical And Practice Issues In Native Title

Ever since the 1992 Mabo decision put an end to the legal fiction that Australia was without owners before the arrival of the British colonisers, the work associated with resolving native title claims has developed as a significant but often difficult arena of professional practice. Increasingly, anthropologists, linguists, historians and lawyers have been encouraged to work collaboratively, often in the context of highly charged public controversy about who owns the land.

In Crossing Boundaries, editor Sandy Toussaint and her contributors have created a cross-disciplinary exploration of native title work. In all, twenty professionals share their experience and expertise. As Toussaint concludes, ’Chapters in this volume reveal the extent to which native title workers need to communicate more cogently and, in some cases, to redefine their practice.’

Sandy Toussaint is the author of ＂Applied Anthropology in Australasia,＂ ＂A Jury of Whose Peers?,＂ and ＂Phyllis Kaberry and Me.＂ She is a senior lecturer in anthropology at the University of Western Australia.