ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on violence and Indigenous peoples in the Anglo settler colonial states of Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the United States. It provides a more nuanced and critical interpretation of the complex relationship between Indigenous people and violence. Much of the critical analysis of the causes of violence that occurs in Indigenous communities invariably focuses on the seemingly contradictory issues of excessive surveillance and underwhelming support. Across academic, media, public and political spheres, debates on Indigenous people and violence centre almost exclusively on the high rates of violence and abuse occurring in Indigenous communities, usually confined to issues such as family, domestic and other forms of interpersonal violence, child neglect and abuse, homicide and public disorder. Contrary to narrow positivist perspectives on violence, Indigenous and critical writers consistently stress the complexity of the factors contributing to the violence occurring in Indigenous communities.
