Macquarie University

Racialised Punishment and the Construction of Nation - CUL321

In this unit we examine a range of embodied subjects that stand in a relation of crisis and/or dissent in the context of dominant Australian culture. We focus specifically on how such apparatuses of racialised punishment as the camp, prison, reserve and detention centre have been constitutive in founding and shaping the Australian nation. We examine: Aboriginal sovereignty and the colonial camp; the cultural politics of terrorism and state violence; the power of whiteness; the racialisation of criminality and the prison industry; histories of political internment; and Australia's treatment of refugees and asylum
seekers. These topics are examined through the lens of social justice and are situated in the context of film, documentaries and contemporary news media. The unit brings into focus the manner in which targeted communities have mobilised activist networks and a range of media in order to work toward social change and a more just society.