Indigenous Sociology

In general terms, sociology is the study of social life, social change, and the social causes and consequences of human behaviour. Sociologists investigate the structure of groups, organisations and societies and how people interact within these contexts. Indigenous sociology is about understanding Indigenous concepts and how they relate to the discipline of sociology in contemporary society.

In 2021, The Oxford Handbook of Indigenous Sociology was published by Oxford University Press.

Walter, Maggie, and others, 'Introduction: Holding the Discipline of Sociology to Account', in Maggie Walter, and others (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Indigenous Sociology (2023; online edn, Oxford Academic, 8 Dec. 2021), https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780197528778.013.47.

"Indigenous sociology makes visible what is meaningful in the Indigenous social world. This core premise is demonstrated here via the use of the concept of the Indigenous lifeworld in reference to the dispossessed Indigenous Peoples from Anglo-colonized First World nations. Indigenous lifeworld is built around dual intersubjectivities: within peoplehood, inclusive of traditional and ongoing culture, belief systems, practices, identity, and ways of understanding the world; and within colonized realities as marginalized peoples whose everyday life is framed through their historical and ongoing relationship with the colonizer nation state. The Oxford Handbook of Indigenous Sociology is, in part, a response to the limited space allowed for Indigenous Peoples within the discipline of sociology. The very small existing sociological literature locates the Indigenous within the non-Indigenous gaze, and the Eurocentric structures of the discipline reflect a continuing reluctance to actively recognize Indigenous realities within the key social forces literature of class, gender, and race at the discipline’s center. But the ambition of this volume, its editors, and its contributors is larger than a challenge to this status quo. They do not speak back to sociology, but rather claim their own sociological space. The starting point is to situate Indigenous sociology as sociology by Indigenous sociologists. The authors in The Oxford Handbook of Indigenous Sociology, all leading and emerging Indigenous scholars, provide an authoritative, state-of-the-art survey of Indigenous sociological thinking. The contributions in the Handbook demonstrate that the Indigenous sociological voice is not a version of the existing subfields but a new sociological paradigm that uses a distinctively Indigenous methodological approach."

Social science researchers looking to engage with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities are encouraged to read:

The Oxford Handbook of Indigenous Sociology

and familiarise themselves with:

The Code of Ethics for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Research; and 
The CARE Principles  for Indigenous Data Governance

Kate Huppatz (L) and Steve Matthewman (R) congratulating Michelle Peterie on being the 2018 JoS Best Paper Award winner for Docility and Desert: government discourses of compassion in Australia’s asylum seeker debate.