000			01901nam a2200181Ia 4500
008			181130s2018 xx 000 0 und d
100			_aBrigg, Morgan et al
245			_aGununa peacemaking: _binformalism, cultural difference and contemporary indigenous conflict management
260			_c2018
300			_ap.345-366.
504			_dJun
520			_aInformal conflict management implicitly claims to value cultural difference and to be able to mediate relations between cultural minorities and states. This article considers this claim in challenging circumstances borne of settler-colonialism by examining the cultural politics of the establishment of a conflict resolution programme in an Australian Aboriginal community. In addition to settler-colonial maligning of Aboriginal capacities to manage conflict, the Gununa community has in recent decades faced the severe attenuation of customary processes and escalating uncontrolled violence. Nonetheless, the Mornington Island Restorative Justice Project involved a spontaneous appropriation of mediation as a customary initiative and an accompanying implicit negotiation between the customary sociolegal order of Mornington Islanders and that of the liberal settler-state. Analysis of these circumstances and relations leads us to argue that informalism can support cultural difference and mediate relations with the state, although it cannot be relied upon to transform the accompanying asymmetric relationship. Nonetheless, informalism may sustain and contribute to the possibilities for transformative change by improving delivery of justice services and through recognition of Indigenous capacities and approaches to sociopolitical order. - Reproduced.
650			_aAboriginal Australia
650			_aConflict management
650			_aCustomary law - Australia
773			_aSocial and Legal Studies
906			_aConflict management
999			_c506522 _d506522