Indigenous Worlds and Criminological Exclusion: A Call to Reorientate the Criminological Compass

Abstract

Indigenous peoples, their cultures and territories, have been subjected to continuous victimisation, plunder and genocide throughout history—or at least ‘history’ as created by and written from the North. Since contact with colonisers, these many different peoples have suffered legal and illegal forms of direct, structural and symbolic violence. Meanwhile, criminology—the discipline concerned with studying instances of criminality, harm and victimisation—has largely remained untouched by or indifferent to serious crimes and systematic attacks that have increased mortality, denied rights and destroyed traditional ways of life. In this article, we first present a bibliographical analysis of relevant content in leading criminology journals. We then suggest a conceptual and theoretical basis for enhancing an ethical and non-colonial engagement with this underdeveloped field of work. We conclude, however, that to counter the under-representation of Indigenous explorations and contributors in criminology, a broader transformation of the discipline will be necessary.

Keywords

• criminological absences
• decolonial theory
• indigenous criminology
• indigenous methodologies