Figurations of the Australian carceral imaginary: the child, the paedophile and the cop

van Rijswijk, H

Figurations of the Australian carceral imaginary: the child, the paedophile and the cop

van Rijswijk, H

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Publisher:: University of the Free State
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Acta Academica Critical views on society culture and politics, 58, (1), pp. 21-54

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	van Rijswijk, H https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9180-0078
dc.date.accessioned	2026-08-07T01:42:18Z
dc.date.available	2026-08-07T01:42:18Z
dc.identifier.citation	Acta Academica Critical views on society culture and politics, 58, (1), pp. 21-54
dc.identifier.issn	0587-2405
dc.identifier.issn	2415-0479
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/195955
dc.description.abstract	This article examines the figures of the child, the paedophile, and the cop in the Australian carceral imaginary, focusing on their deployment in legal and cultural narratives to justify state intervention and colonial control over First Nations communities. Through an analysis of Alexis Wright’s Plains of Promise (1997), Carpentaria(2006), The Swan Book (2013), and Praiseworthy (2023), the article argues that these figures function as central agents of colonial governance, sustaining state authority through legal fictions of protection and security. Wright’s novels systematically dismantle these mythologies, exposing how settler law constructs First Nations children as vulnerable subjects in need of state intervention, while simultaneously criminalizing First Nations men as threats. The figure of the paedophile, particularly as mobilized during the Northern Territory Intervention, serves as a racialized spectre that legitimates carceral expansion, while the cop operates as a violent enforcer of settler law, suppressing First Nations resistance. Wright’s fiction challenges these colonial representations by centring First Nations epistemologies, storytelling, and law as counter-narratives to state violence. The article situates Wright’s literary interventions within broader socio-legal debates on First Nations sovereignty, the Stolen Generations, and the failures of contemporary child protection policies. By reconfiguring the carceral figures of the child, the paedophile, and the cop, Wright’s work asserts an alternative jurisprudence—one that refuses the legitimacy of settler law and insists on the endurance of First Nations legal authority. The article concludes by considering the implications of Wright’s novels for a decolonial legal framework that transcends the limitations of the settler state.
dc.language	en
dc.publisher	University of the Free State
dc.relation.ispartof	Acta Academica Critical views on society culture and politics
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.38140/t2y5k853
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.title	Figurations of the Australian carceral imaginary: the child, the paedophile and the cop
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	58
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Law
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney/UTS Groups
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney/UTS Groups/Private Law and Beyond
utslib.copyright.status	open_access	*
dc.rights.license	This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.date.updated	2026-08-07T01:42:14Z
pubs.issue	1
pubs.publication-status	Published online
pubs.volume	58
utslib.citation.issue	1

Abstract:

This article examines the figures of the child, the paedophile, and the cop in the Australian carceral imaginary, focusing on their deployment in legal and cultural narratives to justify state intervention and colonial control over First Nations communities. Through an analysis of Alexis Wright’s Plains of Promise (1997), Carpentaria(2006), The Swan Book (2013), and Praiseworthy (2023), the article argues that these figures function as central agents of colonial governance, sustaining state authority through legal fictions of protection and security. Wright’s novels systematically dismantle these mythologies, exposing how settler law constructs First Nations children as vulnerable subjects in need of state intervention, while simultaneously criminalizing First Nations men as threats. The figure of the paedophile, particularly as mobilized during the Northern Territory Intervention, serves as a racialized spectre that legitimates carceral expansion, while the cop operates as a violent enforcer of settler law, suppressing First Nations resistance. Wright’s fiction challenges these colonial representations by centring First Nations epistemologies, storytelling, and law as counter-narratives to state violence. The article situates Wright’s literary interventions within broader socio-legal debates on First Nations sovereignty, the Stolen Generations, and the failures of contemporary child protection policies. By reconfiguring the carceral figures of the child, the paedophile, and the cop, Wright’s work asserts an alternative jurisprudence—one that refuses the legitimacy of settler law and insists on the endurance of First Nations legal authority. The article concludes by considering the implications of Wright’s novels for a decolonial legal framework that transcends the limitations of the settler state.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/195955