This book arose from a conference on citizenship and indigenous Australians. When we originally started thinking about that conference, we imagined a small workshop in which there would be only limited interest. As it turned out, there was much greater interest than we had expected – in part, we believe, because citizenship provides a focus for people with diverse interests in Aboriginal studies and can energise interdisciplinary discussion. It enables academics, indigenous people and policy makers to meet on common ground because it brings together, within a single framework, theoretical debates, political issues and practical concerns. It also provides a key focus for reconciliation and dialogue between indigenous and other Australians.

The conference was sponsored by three bodies from within the Australian National University: the Reshaping Australian Institutions project of the Research School of Social Sciences; the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research; and the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology. Participation was sought from numerous indigenous and non-indigenous people and organisations. Yet, disappointingly, very few indigenous people eventually took part. One reason for this was that the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (atsic) called, at short notice, a major meeting of indigenous organisations to be held at the same time as the conference, and several people who had planned to attend our citizenship conference felt compelled to go to the meeting.