Indigenous and Settler Understandings for Addressing Gender-Based Violence in Australia: The Significance of a Decolonial Approach

Abstract

Addressing the gendered dimensions of family violence remains a key focus in the primary prevention of violence against women (PVAW) in Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australian communities. What is seen as more important for Indigenous communities in PVAW is addressing the legacies and ongoing impacts of colonisation on Indigenous people, families, and communities. This focus on decolonisation deviates from settler PVAW programs where the emphasis is on challenging hegemonic masculinity and patriarchy. In this paper, I consider the importance of critiquing the western logic of colonisation within both Indigenous and non-Indigenous PVAW programs through examining the links between hegemonic masculinity, colonisation and neoliberal capitalism. I draw attention to the inherent violence and corrosion within processes of colonisation that adversely affect the social and emotional wellbeing and relationships of Indigenous and non-Indigenous men (albeit in very different ways) and argue the importance of a decolonising approach for addressing gender-based violence within Indigenous and non-Indigenous programs.