Yajo* lived in place that has produced some of the most brilliant, distinguished academics and professionals. In fact, it once had a flourishing democracy, producing some of the best theorists on state-formation. However, Yajo comes from a place with...
Tilly Houghton was a friend to many at the Institute of Postcolonial Studies (IPCS) and demos journal, and worked on and contributed to this issue of demos journal. We have been given permission by Double Dialogues to reproduce the following piece of Tilly’s, in...
It was 2017 and Trump had just been elected. Women’s marches had sprung up in many places and on my television screen. The image of thousands of women standing shoulder to shoulder, coming together to advocate for shared goals — could feel inspiring; it could look...
Beneath the shade of large arch’s awnings there is a rectangular window through which you can see out onto rubble. ‘A Bold New Campus’ is how a placard below the window describes it. These are the remains of Union Court, a place that for many students was synonymous...
The history of Canberra can be cut many ways. It is, for all intents and purposes, a history of a semi-alpine valley imposed with the burden of Capitol – scoured clean and designed for 25,000 inhabitants, the abstracted ‘smooth faeries’ of Ian Warden’s[1] musings. In...
Action on higher education policy is a core aspect of activism at universities. While this work is important and necessary, something is fundamentally missing from our demands and our narratives. Education activists demand the opportunity for everyone who wishes to...
My earliest memory of parental-encouraged activism is when, at the age of ten my mum told me to go harass the Premier of Queensland. To give context, my mum was involved in the campaign to stop sand mining on Stradbroke Island (known as “Straddie”), a beautiful and...
When I was a child, my parents were part of a group called of Friends of South West Rocks. They, along with a few other local greenies, were outraged when the Council approved a development that would destroy a pristine environment and cut off a wildlife path used by...
Like many students, I came to university hoping to find a way to make the world a more just and sustainable place. After a few environmental science courses that explored the causes and consequences of climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, food insecurity, and...
Increasingly, in the books I’m reading and the conversations I’m having—about climate change, about automation and the future of work, about the many current and coming crises—the conversation keeps spiraling back to ‘capitalism is the problem’. And most of the time,...
The following notes respond to a prompt asking legal academics at ANU to write a short message to law students who chose to study law because they cared about justice. For such students, law school can be a disillusioning and alienating place. The intention of these...
Sumithri Rekha Venketasubramanian. Soo-mi-three (roll the r, short vowel sounds for the first two syllables) Ray-khaa (aspirate the k a slight bit) Veng-cut-uh-soob-ruh-mun-yun (pretty straightforward). Or Sumi (Soo-mi) for short. Not Sue-mee, keep the vowel sounds...
Australian incarceration rates are at an all-time high, prisons are overcrowded, and the majority of people who spend time in prison re-offend; it is time that prison reform was on the political agenda. In June this year, the Australian Red Cross released...
Humans tend to throw up walls upon encountering ideas we don’t understand. Spectrums of experience are broken down into boxes; identities have their variations chiseled away until they become square-shaped pegs for square-shaped holes. Thus, with boundaries delineated...
The study of history is in many ways an attempt to learn from the past; in some cases, so we do not repeat its mistakes. Yet we forget all the time, due to neglect, and limited human capacity to process information. Wilful forgetting is, however, a way that we...
The first of these two letters was written by Rodney Kelly, a descendent of Cooman, the original owner of the Gweagle Shield. Rodney’s letter was sent to the British Museum, requesting that the shield, which was the centerpiece of the recent Encounters exhibition at...
[13/03/2016 10:56] Mum: “Tomorrow is nonbu” [10:59] Me: “Nonbu is nombadai right” Mum: “Yep” Me: “The one with the yellow string where we praise men to the stars” Mum: “We praise everyone” Me: “I clarify only. It’s supposed to be right” Mum: “Ya” Me: “Ok. Send...
