Beyond convergence and divergence: Towards a ‘both and’ approach to critical race and critical Indigenous studies in Australia

Abstract

Although the study of race in relation to both settler colonialism, and Indigeneity and Indigenous sovereignty is insufficiently supported by sociology and the social sciences in Australia as elsewhere, scholars are exploring the synergetic possibilities between critical race and decolonial, Indigenous-centred approaches to theorizing the racial state. Nevertheless, some scholars have argued that the critical race toolbox is insufficient for making sense of how race is produced, reproduced and maintained in settler colonial states. Contributing to this critical discussion, this article explores the conceptual, empirical and practical relationship between race, Indigeneity and Indigenous sovereignty as lenses to examine racism, antiracism and Indigenous self-determination as interrelated, but discrete, issues. In particular, via a discussion of the concept of ‘interest convergence’, the article examines the synergetic possibilities of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Critical Indigenous theories and methodologies. The authors conclude that rather than ‘throwing the baby out with the bathwater’ by jettisoning CRT, we should work to deepen and broaden scholarship that connects race, Indigeneity and Indigenous sovereignty in ways that benefit both local and global understandings of the many and complex workings of race.