In this episode, Chelsea & David dig into one of the key conceptual frameworks that Indigenous critical race theory offers: complicity. Through three conversations with people engaged in very different kinds of political and intellectual work, they draw out the role of Indigenous critical race theory in offering a language to describe the ongoing attempts of colonial institutions to incorporate, recruit, and co-opt our movements and struggles, and the strategies that activists and scholars are using to resist those processes. To start, you’ll hear a conversation recorded in 2024 with Yuin lawyer and legal theorist Assoc/Prof Amanda Porter, who talks us through some of the challenges that she has faced while working in the “crime scene” of the colonial university: making a case for why academics and students must actively refuse to be complicit in the colonising violence of these institutions. We then catch up on an interview with Eelam Tamil settler, writer and community organiser Jonathan Sriranganathan, who talks about some of his experiences as a city councillor, working to expand the conditions of political possibility and build actively non-reformist modes of political engagement within colonial systems. And finally, we hear an excerpt from white settler lawyer and theorist Dr. Helena Kajlich speaking at the 2024 National Symposium and reflecting on how she came to see the complicity of legal systems in has worked to disrupt colonial complicity in her own research and practice.   

Reading list

Porter, Amanda. ‘Special Edition: Interrogating Methodologies’. Journal of Global Indigeneity, Decolonising Criminal Justice, vol. 3, no. 1 (2018).

Porter, Amanda. ‘Non-State Policing, Legal Pluralism and the Mundane Governance of “Crime”’. The Sydney Law Review 40, no. 4 (2018): 445–67.

Sriranganathan, Jonathan. 7 Years as a Local Politician Turned Me off ‘Big Government’ – but There Are Other Alternatives to Neoliberal Capitalism. 18 November 2024. https://www.jonathansri.com/beyondstatism/

Sriranganathan, Jonathan. ‘On Being Doppelgangered’. Jonathan Sriranganathan, 18 April 2024. https://www.jonathansri.com/doppelgangered/

Kajlich, Helena. ‘Racism in the Australian Health Justice System: Racial Logics and the Coronial System’. Phd Thesis, University of Queensland, School of Political Science, 2024. https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:210ce78

Bond, Chelsea J, Lisa J Whop, David Singh, and Helena Kajlich. ‘“Now We Say Black Lives Matter but … the Fact of the Matter Is, We Just Black Matter to Them”’. Medical Journal of Australia 213 (6) (2020): 248-250

Macoun, Alissa. ‘Colonising White Innocence: Complicity and Critical Encounters’. In The Limits of Settler Colonial Reconciliation. Springer Singapore, 2016.

Credits

Recordings and Production: Some of the podcast materials are drawn from Triple A Murri Country’s Let’s Talk Black Politics and Black Knowing, recorded in the studio between 2023-2024, hosted by Professor Chelsea Watego and Dr David Singh in addition to excerpts from QUT Carumba Institute’s National Symposium Unifying Anti-racism Research and Practice, all of which were produced by Anna Carlson.

Music: We wish to sincerely thank Matt Hsu’s Obscure Orchestra for granting permission for free use of ‘Live, Laugh, Decolonise’ and ‘Eat the World’  

Production & Sound Design: BlakCast Productions

Artwork: graphic by Rachel Apelt, Artbalm.

This podcast was supported (partially) by the Australian Government through the Australian Research Council's Discovery Indigenous Projects funding scheme (project IN210100008). The views expressed herein are those of the presenters and are not necessarily those of the Australian Government or Australian Research Council.

In this episode, Chelsea &amp; David dig into one of the key conceptual frameworks that Indigenous critical race theory offers: complicity. Through three conversations with people engaged in very different kinds of political and intellectual work, they draw out the role of Indigenous critical race theory in offering a language to describe the ongoing attempts of colonial institutions to incorporate, recruit, and co-opt our movements and struggles, and the strategies that activists and scholars are using to resist those processes. To start, you&rsquo;ll hear a conversation recorded in 2024 with Yuin lawyer and legal theorist Assoc/Prof Amanda Porter, who talks us through some of the challenges that she has faced while working in the &ldquo;crime scene&rdquo; of the colonial university: making a case for why academics and students must actively refuse to be complicit in the colonising violence of these institutions. We then catch up on an interview with Eelam Tamil settler, writer and community organiser Jonathan Sriranganathan, who talks about some of his experiences as a city councillor, working to expand the conditions of political possibility and build actively non-reformist modes of political engagement within colonial systems. And finally, we hear an excerpt from white settler lawyer and theorist Dr. Helena Kajlich speaking at the 2024 National Symposium and reflecting on how she came to see the complicity of legal systems in has worked to disrupt colonial complicity in her own research and practice.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
Reading list
Porter, Amanda. &lsquo;Special Edition: Interrogating Methodologies&rsquo;. Journal of Global Indigeneity, Decolonising Criminal Justice, vol. 3, no. 1 (2018).
Porter, Amanda. &lsquo;Non-State Policing, Legal Pluralism and the Mundane Governance of &ldquo;Crime&rdquo;&rsquo;. The Sydney Law Review 40, no. 4 (2018): 445&ndash;67.
Sriranganathan, Jonathan. 7 Years as a Local Politician Turned Me off &lsquo;Big Government&rsquo; &ndash; but There Are Other Alternatives to Neoliberal Capitalism. 18 November 2024. <a href="https://www.jonathansri.com/beyondstatism/">https://www.jonathansri.com/beyondstatism/</a>
Sriranganathan, Jonathan. &lsquo;On Being Doppelgangered&rsquo;. Jonathan Sriranganathan, 18 April 2024. <a href="https://www.jonathansri.com/doppelgangered">https://www.jonathansri.com/doppelgangered</a>/
Kajlich, Helena. &lsquo;Racism in the Australian Health Justice System: Racial Logics and the Coronial System&rsquo;. Phd Thesis, University of Queensland, School of Political Science, 2024. <a href="https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:210ce78">https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:210ce78</a>
Bond, Chelsea J, Lisa J Whop, David Singh, and Helena Kajlich. &lsquo;&ldquo;Now We Say Black Lives Matter but &hellip; the Fact of the Matter Is, We Just Black Matter to Them&rdquo;&rsquo;. Medical Journal of Australia 213 (6) (2020): 248-250
Macoun, Alissa. &lsquo;Colonising White Innocence: Complicity and Critical Encounters&rsquo;. In The Limits of Settler Colonial Reconciliation. Springer Singapore, 2016.
Credits
Recordings and Production: Some of the podcast materials are drawn from Triple A Murri Country&rsquo;s Let&rsquo;s Talk Black Politics and Black Knowing, recorded in the studio between 2023-2024, hosted by Professor Chelsea Watego and Dr David Singh in addition to excerpts from QUT Carumba Institute&rsquo;s National Symposium Unifying Anti-racism Research and Practice, all of which were produced by Anna Carlson.
Music: We wish to sincerely thank Matt Hsu&rsquo;s Obscure Orchestra for granting permission for free use of &lsquo;Live, Laugh, Decolonise&rsquo; and &lsquo;Eat the World&rsquo; &nbsp;
Production &amp; Sound Design: BlakCast Productions
Artwork: graphic by Rachel Apelt, Artbalm.
This podcast was supported&nbsp;(partially) by the Australian Government through the&nbsp;Australian Research Council's&nbsp;Discovery Indigenous Projects&nbsp;funding scheme (project IN210100008). The views expressed herein are those of the presenters and are not necessarily those of the&nbsp;Australian Government&nbsp;or Australian Research Council.

Join your favourite “nerds on the frontline” Professor Chelsea Watego & Dr. David Singh as they embark on an ambitious new podcast to showcase the power and possibility of Indigenous critical race theory. 

Over 13 jam-packed episodes, Chelsea & David examine key concepts and ideas in Indigenous critical race theory to help listeners learn to “read the play” in the ongoing war on race. They dig into big questions about the ethics of anti-racist research and practice. They foreground the importance of working from Aboriginal terms of reference, and the power and joy of building intellectual collectives grounded in Indigenous Intellectual Sovereignty. 

Expect incisive interviews, gut-punch analysis, and the occasional belly laugh as Chelsea & David grapple with the life and death stakes of race in the colony and the work that mob across the continent are doing to fight back.

Join your favourite &ldquo;nerds on the frontline&rdquo; Professor Chelsea Watego &amp; Dr. David Singh as they embark on an ambitious new podcast to showcase the power and possibility of Indigenous critical race theory.&nbsp;
Over 13 jam-packed episodes, Chelsea &amp; David examine key concepts and ideas in Indigenous critical race theory to help listeners learn to &ldquo;read the play&rdquo; in the ongoing war on race. They dig into big questions about the ethics of anti-racist research and practice. They foreground the importance of working from Aboriginal terms of reference, and the power and joy of building intellectual collectives grounded in Indigenous Intellectual Sovereignty.&nbsp;
Expect incisive interviews, gut-punch analysis, and the occasional belly laugh as Chelsea &amp; David grapple with the life and death stakes of race in the colony and the work that mob across the continent are doing to fight back.

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