White Australians once confidently - if regretfullybelieved that the Aboriginals were doomed to extinction. Even in the 1950s, many Australian children were still being taught that the Australian Aboriginals were a dying race who would eventually disappear from the face of the earth. In Imagined Destinies, Russell McGregor explores the origins and the gradual demise of the 'doomed race' theory, which was dominant in nineteenth-century European thinking and remained largely unquestioned until the 1930s. He shows that white perceptions of Australia's indigenous people and their future were shaped by Enlightenment ideas about progress, Darwin's new theories on the survival of the fittest, and other European philosophical concepts. Imagined Destinies provides a challenging analysis and history of an idea that has exerted a powerful influence over white Australian attitudes to and policies for Aboriginal people. Indeed, is its long shadow still with us?

Imagined Destinies: Aboriginal Australians & the Doomed Race Theory 1880–1939

History

McGregor, Russell

Americas

Melbourne University Press

Combining the perspectives of political, social, and cultural history in a coherent narrative, this account is a holistic interpretation of the complex relationship between Indigenous and settler Australians during the middle of the 20th century. As it provides a cogent analysis of how the relationship changed, this record focuses on the quest for Aboriginal inclusion in the Australian nation—a task that dominated the Aboriginal agenda at the time—and challenges existing scholarship and assumptions, particularly around assimilation. Arguing that inclusion was not a function of political lobbying and parliamentary decision making, this is an insightful history of the changing nature of race relations in Australia.

Indifferent Inclusion: Aboriginal People and the Australian Nation

Australia & Oceania

Aboriginal Studies Press

This new study offers a timely and compelling account of why past generations of Australians have seen the north of the country as an empty land, and how those perceptions of Australia’s tropical regions impact current policy and shape the self-image of the nation. It considers the origins of these concerns - from fears of invasion and moral qualms about leaving resources lying idle, from apprehensions about white nationhood coming under international censure and misgivings about the natural attributes of the north - and elucidates Australians’ changing appreciations of the natural environments of the north, their shifting attitudes toward race and their unsettled conceptions of Asia.

Environment, Race, and Nationhood in Australia: Revisiting the Empty North

PALGRAVE~MACMILLAN

This new study offers a timely and compelling account of why past generations of Australians have seen the north of the country as an empty land, and how those perceptions of Australia’s tropical regions impact current policy and shape the self-image of the nation. It considers the origins of these concerns - from fears of invasion and moral qualms about leaving resources lying idle, from apprehensions about white nationhood coming under international censure and misgivings about the natural attributes of the north - and elucidates Australians’ changing appreciations of the natural environments of the north, their shifting attitudes toward race and their unsettled conceptions of Asia.

White Australians once confidently - if regretfully - believed that the Aboriginal people were doomed to extinction. In this challenging analysis Russell McGregor explores the origins and the gradual demise of the 'doomed race' theory, which was unquestioned in nineteenth-century European thinking and remained uncontested until the 1930s. White perceptions had been shaped by Enlightenment ideas about progress, Darwin's new theories on the survival of the fittest, and other European philosophical concepts. These ideas exerted a powerful influence and shaped white Australian attitudes to, and policies for, Aboriginal people.

Imagined Destinies: Aboriginal Australians and the Doomed Race Theory, 1880-1939

ACLS History E-Book Project

An exploration of race theory and its place in the Western imagination. This study applies observations to the relationship between white Australians and Aborigines.

ACLS Humanities E-Book

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by McGregor, Russell. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by McGregor, Russell

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by McGregor, Russell. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Imagined Destinies: Aboriginal Australians & the Doomed Race Theory 1880–1939

Indifferent Inclusion: Aboriginal People and the Australian Nation

Environment, Race, and Nationhood in Australia: Revisiting the Empty North

Environment, Race, and Nationhood in Australia: Revisiting the Empty North

Imagined Destinies: Aboriginal Australians and the Doomed Race Theory, 1880-1939

Imagined Destinies: Aboriginal Australians and the Doomed Race Theory, 1880-1939