Matthew Rimmer

Collection of essays, focused on Australia, about the challenges of protecting indigenous cultures, religions, and know-how in the face of modern legal systems + entrenched legacies of discrimination. Telling detail: permits for non-Aboriginal people to visit Aboriginal people on Croker Island, where the inhabitants were under government supervision supposedly for their own good, were granted freely to mining personnel and art dealers (two different versions of exploiters who purchased cheap what they could then sell dear) while scientists and journalists had trouble getting them. There is indeed continuity between physical and cultural exploitation. I also really appreciated the quote from a judge: “legal discourse is probably they least promising field in which to explore concepts of identity,” because individual identity is subjective, complex, and changing, none of which law handles well.… (meer)