Chair(s)

Sam Shpall and Jedidiah Evans

Texts

Tommie Shelby, The Idea of Prison Abolition (2022), Chapter 5 and Chapter 6

Graeme Dixon, Holocaust Island (1990)

The last session in the series will conclude with a discussion on abolitionist imaginings and the Australian carceral system. Dr Sam Shpall (Philosophy) will begin by considering Shelby’s discussion of alternatives to imprisonment and abolitionist utopias. Dr Jedidiah Evans will then guide a conversation on Graeme Dixon’s poetry collection Holocaust Island (1990). Written while Dixon was imprisoned in Fremantle Prison, the collection bears witness to the contemporary struggles of First Nations Australians. The discussion will conclude with a reflection on how the philosophy and literature of imprisonment enrich, extend, or challenge ideas of prison justice.

Readings will be sent to participants upon registration.