Biopower of Colonialism in Carceral Contexts: Implications for Aboriginal Deaths in Custody

Anthony, T; Blagg, H

Biopower of Colonialism in Carceral Contexts: Implications for Aboriginal Deaths in Custody

Anthony, T

Blagg, H

Permalink

Publisher:: SPRINGER
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Journal of Bioethical Inquiry, 2021, 18, (1), pp. 71-82
Issue Date:: 2021-01-29

Closed Access

	Filename	Description	Size
	Anthony-Blagg2021_Article_BiopowerOfColonialismInCarcera.pdf	Published version	322.6 kB	Adobe PDF	View/Open

Copyright Clearance Process

Recently Added
In Progress
Closed Access

This item is closed access and not available.

Full metadata record

Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Anthony, T https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0652-0731
dc.contributor.author	Blagg, H
dc.date.accessioned	2021-07-01T06:06:54Z
dc.date.available	2020-12-16
dc.date.available	2021-07-01T06:06:54Z
dc.date.issued	2021-01-29
dc.identifier.citation	Journal of Bioethical Inquiry, 2021, 18, (1), pp. 71-82
dc.identifier.issn	1176-7529
dc.identifier.issn	1872-4353
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/149794
dc.description.abstract	This article argues that criminal justice and health institutions under settler colonialism collude to create and sustain "truths" about First Nations lives that often render them as "bare life," to use the term of Giorgio Agamben (1998). First Nations peoples' existence is stripped to its sheer biological fact of life and their humanity denied rights and dignity. First Nations people remain in a "state of exception" to the legal order and its standards of care (Agamben 1998). Zones of exception place First Nations people in a separate and diminished legal order. Medical and health agencies have been instrumental in shaping colonial "biopower," both in and beyond carceral settings to ensure that First Nations lives are managed in accordance with the colonial settler state project. This project is able both to threaten First Nations rights to live and to maintain settler self-perceptions of decency and care. We illustrate this discussion with reference to the tragic and unnecessary deaths in custody of twenty-two-year-old Yamatji woman Ms Dhu in 2014 in South Hedland Police Station, Western Australia, and twenty-six-year-old Dunghutti man David Dungay Jnr in Long Bay jail in Sydney, NSW, in 2015. Health professionals and police demonstrated callous disregard to Ms Dhu and Mr Dungay-treating them as "bare life."
dc.format	Print-Electronic
dc.language	eng
dc.publisher	SPRINGER
dc.relation.ispartof	Journal of Bioethical Inquiry
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1007/s11673-020-10076-x
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess
dc.subject	1801 Law, 2201 Applied Ethics, 2203 Philosophy
dc.subject.classification	Applied Ethics
dc.title	Biopower of Colonialism in Carceral Contexts: Implications for Aboriginal Deaths in Custody
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	18
utslib.location.activity	Netherlands
utslib.for	1801 Law
utslib.for	2201 Applied Ethics
utslib.for	2203 Philosophy
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Law
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Strength - SIC - Strengthening Indigenous Communities
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access	*
dc.date.updated	2021-07-01T06:06:53Z
pubs.issue	1
pubs.publication-status	Published
pubs.volume	18
utslib.citation.issue	1

Abstract:

This article argues that criminal justice and health institutions under settler colonialism collude to create and sustain "truths" about First Nations lives that often render them as "bare life," to use the term of Giorgio Agamben (1998). First Nations peoples' existence is stripped to its sheer biological fact of life and their humanity denied rights and dignity. First Nations people remain in a "state of exception" to the legal order and its standards of care (Agamben 1998). Zones of exception place First Nations people in a separate and diminished legal order. Medical and health agencies have been instrumental in shaping colonial "biopower," both in and beyond carceral settings to ensure that First Nations lives are managed in accordance with the colonial settler state project. This project is able both to threaten First Nations rights to live and to maintain settler self-perceptions of decency and care. We illustrate this discussion with reference to the tragic and unnecessary deaths in custody of twenty-two-year-old Yamatji woman Ms Dhu in 2014 in South Hedland Police Station, Western Australia, and twenty-six-year-old Dunghutti man David Dungay Jnr in Long Bay jail in Sydney, NSW, in 2015. Health professionals and police demonstrated callous disregard to Ms Dhu and Mr Dungay-treating them as "bare life."

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:

http://hdl.handle.net/10453/149794