Citizens or denizens : the stolen generations in Australia

This chapter challenges social workers to think about Indigenous rights within a broad construct of citizenship, a concept that is under-theorised in Australian social work literature. A human rights discourse is slowly entering Australian social work education and practice. Extending this into a citizenship framework by examining policies and practices of inclusion and exclusion provides potential to enhance understandings and improve practice through envisioning a dual approach to citizenship. To contribute to understandings as to how exclusion has become the norm, I draw on past and present policy formulations to propose a way through the citizenship maze and explore prospects for a social work contribution across the inclusionary/exclusionary divide.