Samuel Keast

Places of Privilege: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Identities, Change and Resistance

This edited collection, published by Brill,  was developed from a series of thematically linked papers presented at the recent CIDRN/IRN conference, ‘Place, Politics and Power’.

Places of Privilege examines dynamics of privilege and power in the construction of place in a period of the rapid social transformation of places, borders and boundaries. Drawing on inter-disciplinary perspectives, the book examines place as a site for the making and re-making of privilege, while considering new meanings of community, and examining spaces for cultural identity and resistance. Chapters point to a range of conceptual resources that can be utilised to produce critical analyses of place-making. As the authors point out, power and privilege shape place but these dynamics are in turn shaped by the specific place based histories and social dynamics within which they are located.

For more information, and to order a copy of the book: :  https://brill.com/flyer/title/39100?print=pdf

David McCallum

WINNER 2018 of The Law and Society Association of Australia and New Zealand (LSAANZ) award for a published scholarly book/monograph

Incarceration of children is rising rapidly throughout of Australia, with indigenous children most at risk of imprisonment. Indigenous and non-indigenous children have been subject to detention in both welfare and justice systems in Australian states and territories since colonization. Countless governments and human rights enquiries have attempted to address the problem of the increasing criminalization of children, with little success. David McCallum traces the history of ‘problem children’ over several decades, demonstrating that the categories of neglected and offending children are both linked to similar kinds of governing. Institutions and encampments have historically played a significant role in contributing to the social problems of today. This book also takes a theoretical perspective, tracking parallel developments within the human sciences of childhood and theories of race. Applying a social theoretical analysis of these events and the changing rationalities of governing, McCallum challenges our assumptions about how law and governance of children leads to their criminalization and incarceration.