Cultural Genocide in Australia

Abstract

One of the continuing disputes which have marked the history of the concept ‘genocide’ has been the question of how narrowly or broadly it ought to be understood. A narrow conception restricts itself to the various forms of killing and physical annihilation, whereas the broader definition addresses a wider variety of ways in which human groups can be ‘eliminated’, including the destruction of their distinct cultural identity. A central element of this broader approach is the concept of ‘cultural genocide’,2 and it is around this idea that much of the debate between the two understandings revolves.