Brokers and boundaries : colonial exploration in indigenous territory

Tiffany Shellam, Maria Nugent, Shino Konishi, Allison Cadzow

    Research output: Book/ReportEdited Bookpeer-review

    Abstract

    In July 2013 we held a conference called Local Intermediaries in International Exploration at The Australian National University in Canberra. This collection stems from two common themes that many of the conference participants explored. Firstly, it highlights the importance of individual biographies in understanding the diverse and complex histories of Indigenous intermediaries. While earlier studies have identified and defined different types of Indigenous guides and intermediaries who assisted European explorers and travellers in Australia and Africa, such generalised typologies do not necessarily accommodate all of the particular experiences of individual brokers. Further, many of these more generalised discussions explore the reasons why local guides were recruited by explorers, but pay less attention to the myriad factors that motivated Indigenous intermediaries to join such expeditions. Consequently, the chapters in this collection reveal that the particular stories of individual brokers still need to be reconstructed in order to deepen our understanding of the histories of Indigenous intermediaries, and especially to recover the individual agency of such figures. Another common theme which arose at the conference was the important reminder that exploration was essentially a colonial enterprise, and that the explorers reliance on Indigenous guides highlights their often unspoken awareness that they were in Indigenous territory, not unexplored wilderness.
    Original languageEnglish
    Place of PublicationCanberra
    PublisherANU Press
    Number of pages212
    Volume1
    Edition1st
    ISBN (Print)9781760460112
    Publication statusPublished - 2016

    Publication series

    NameAboriginal History monograph

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