The 1970s witnessed the emergence of a global environmental movement in response to rampant resource extraction. This moment gave rise to a celebrated ‘green-black alliance’ between environmentalists and Indigenous groups in Australia. However, in recent years, this relationship has come under increased critical scrutiny in Australia and elsewhere, spurred in part by the global mining boom and continuing concerns about the effects of climate change. As the relationship between environmentalists and Indigenous peoples is subjected to renewed public inquiry, this book undertakes the vital task of submitting Indigenous-environmentalist relations to detailed analysis rather than broad-based summary.

Unstable Relations addresses the past and emerging political tensions that mark ‘green-black’ encounters; provides fine-grained ethnographic case studies of ‘green-black’ relations; and, analyses the economic futures of ‘green-black’ collaborations.