Introduction

This introduction provides an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book challenges how colonial identities are constructed and represented in both colonial states and in international law, and its contributors respond with the aim of demythologising 'Indigenous recognition' and revealing the ontological realities of First Nations Peoples. Sharon Venne exposes how colonial states manufacture 'consent' through the use of organisations either established or newly created to imply that Indigenous Peoples and Nations have given consent, either through the introduction of legislation or other initiatives which provide the illusion of legitimacy, for state governments to act against the interests of Indigenous Peoples and Nations. Tamara Starblanket also exposes international law as a dominating, dehumanising and oppressive experience through an examination of the crime of genocide in international law and how states have excluded the Indigenous experiences of 'cultural genocide' or 'forced assimilation' from recognition as crimes of genocide.