Damien W. Riggs

Barbara Baird

The Racial Politics of Bodies, Nations and Knowledges takes on the urgent task of chipping away at existing racial and ethnic hierarchies that obstruct global and local movement towards human rights and social justice. It imagines subjective, social and political spaces which might enable this movement. Many authors engage with Indigenous sovereignties, from both Indigenous and non-Indigenous perspectives. While most authors write from an Australian perspective, the issues addressed both have relevance beyond antipodean borders and complicate the idea of national boundaries. Chapters include a comparison of Indigenous struggles for land in Canada and Australia, the situation of minority ethnic and religious communities in the European Union, a meditation on teaching an Australian film about colonial history to German university students, and the story of the delicate positioning of a man of mixed Maori and Irish heritage finding cultural citizenship in the US academy in the mid 20th century. Other chapters focus on children’s storybooks, media representations of suffering, and websites aimed at gay and lesbian youth – all international phenomena, and all places where racialised politics are at play. The book also offers insights into contemporary Australian racial politics via analyses of the treatment of asylum seekers, the health of Indigenous women, the education of young Indigenous people and the development of national histories in local tourist promotion. Readers looking for international perspectives on racial issues will find this book a diverse but rewarding approach to vitally important subject matter.

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