Rights and Redemption: History, Law and Indigenous People

By Ann Curthoys

History has been central to a number of heated public debates in recent years. As Indigenous people have sought redress through the law, the role of history in the courts has become highly charged. Rights and Redemption is a detailed investigation of the uses of history and historians in high-profile cases involving Indigenous litigants, something not previously attempted. Ann Curthoys, Ann Genovese and Alexander Reilly look at cases before the Federal Court during the era of the Howard government, a time when Indigenous rights and the place of Aboriginal people in the national story were undermined in government laws and policies. They investigate how the courts have made use of historians as expert witnesses, and how the colonial past has been framed and understood by the courts. Rights and Redemption is an important record of a unique period of litigation in Indigenous affairs in Australia and a meditation on ways in which law and history might improve Indigenous rights. Book jacket.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0868408077
• ISBN13: 9780868408071
• Release Date: April 2008
• Publisher: University of New South Wales Press
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.9" x 9.0"