Indigenous Law and Jurisprudence

Christine Black

Dr. C.F. Black

Independent Indigenous Legal Scholar | Writer | Researcher in Space Law, AI, and Alternative Epistemologies

I am a Kombumerri/Munaljahli scholar from the Yugambeh-speaking peoples of South East Queensland, Australia. My research bridges Indigenous legal thought with contemporary issues such as space law, artificial intelligence, and mythopoetic storytelling. I hold a doctorate in law from Griffith University and am currently affiliated with the Australian Studies Centre at the University of Cologne, Germany.

My work seeks to reorient legal and scientific paradigms by bringing Indigenous jurisprudence into dialogue with frontier disciplines. This includes rethinking the future of law in outer space, and reimagining our relationship with non-human intelligences—be they animal, machine, or extraterrestrial.

Current Book Projects:
Flowing with AI: Indigenous Jurisprudence and the Mythopoetic (with Dr. J. Mihal, Cambridge University Press, forthcoming 2025)

Collaging/Colliding into Space: Indigenous and Surreal Extraterrestrial Related Law (with Associate Professor S. Vermeylen, forthcoming 2027)

Selected Publications:
The Land is the Source of the Law: A Dialogic Encounter with Indigenous Jurisprudence (Routledge, 2011)

A Mosaic of Indigenous Legal Thought: Legendary Tales and Other Writings (Routledge, 2017)

My earlier research involved direct engagement with Indigenous communities across Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand, the United States, and Canada. I have also explored the intersection of law and the arts as a member of the Ensayos Nomadic Collective Research, whose work was exhibited during a 2020 summer residency at the Museum of Contemporary Art, New York.

In 2018, I served as the Visiting Indigenous Scholar in Residence at Melbourne Law School, where I initiated research into Artificial Intelligence through the lens of Indigenous relational ethics.

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Liz McNiven

Liz belongs to the Paroo River peoples, the Budjiti, and lives on her traditional country. She sits on the Budjiti Aboriginal Corporation (BAC) board of directors, a registered native title body corporate, holding and managing native title lands and waters, on behalf of Budjiti peoples, within the Paroo River watershed country of southwest Queensland, Australia.

Professionally focused on the management of natural and cultural heritage including the protection of cultural and intellectual property, Liz is also a collected artist, see Liz McNiven, Badyidi (Budjiti) people – Spirit Dreaming – Search the Collection, National Gallery (nga.gov.au) and a published writer, see Titles curated by Liz McNiven on ASO – Australia’s audio and visual heritage online.

In her youth she completed a Cultural Resource Management Skills Development Program in the Film Archive of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, complemented by a Degree of Bachelor of Arts in Communication, at the University of Canberra.

With a career spanning thirty years, Liz worked across leading Australian national and State based cultural and natural resource management institutions with roles including Art Consultant & Project Coordinator, National Gallery of Australia; Program Director, Museum Victoria; Senior Curator and Branch Manager, National Film and Sound Archive of Australia; Senior Land Rights Officer, New South Wales Aboriginal Land Council; Senior Natural Resource Officer, New South Wales Department of Land and Water Conservation; and Senior Policy Officer and Assistant Program Director at the Murray-Darling Basin Authority. Now, as a BAC director, she is applying her skills and knowledge to support the BAC in managing native title rights and interests over Budjiti lands, waters, and natural resources and in asserting cultural authority over tangible and intangible dimensions of Budjiti heritage.

Liz is collaborating closely with Professor Adone and team.

(Photograph: (c) Romain Morton)

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