Papers by Abraham Bradfield
Journal of Global Indigeneity, Nov 3, 2021
M/C Journal, Apr 27, 2021
Introduction Darkness is often characterised as something that warrants heightened caution and sc... more Introduction Darkness is often characterised as something that warrants heightened caution and scrutiny – signifying increased danger and risk. Within settler-colonial settings such as Australia, cautionary and negative connotations of darkness are projected upon Black people and their bodies, forming part of continuing colonial regimes of power (Moreton-Robinson). Negative stereotypes of “dark” continues to racialise all Indigenous peoples. In Australia, Indigenous peoples are both Indigenous and Black regardless of skin colour, and this plays out in a range of ways, some of which will be highlighted within this article. This article demonstrates that for Indigenous peoples, associations of fear and danger are built into the structural mechanisms that shape and maintain colonial understandings of Indigenous peoples and their bodies. It is this embodied form of darkness, and its negative connotations, and responses that we explore further. Figure 1: Megan Cope’s ‘I’m not afraid of the Dark’ t-shirt (Fredericks and Heemsbergen 2021) Responding to the anxieties and fears of settlers that often surround Indigenous peoples, Quandamooka artist and member of the art collective ProppaNow, Megan Cope, has produced a range of t-shirts, one of which declares “I’m not afraid of the Dark” (fig. 1). The wording ‘reflects White Australia’s fear of blackness’ (Dark + Dangerous). Exploring race relations through the theme of “darkness”, we begin by discussing how negative connotations of darkness are represented through everyday lexicons and how efforts to shift prejudicial and racist language are often met with defensiveness and resistance. We then consider how fears towards the dark translate into everyday practices, reinforced by media representations. The article considers how stereotype, conjecture, and prejudice is inflicted upon Indigenous people and reflects white settler fears and anxieties, rooting colonialism in everyday language, action, and norms. The Language of Fear Indigenous people and others with dark skin tones are often presented as having a proclivity towards threatening, aggressive, deceitful, and negative behaviours. This works to inform how Indigenous peoples are “known” and responded to by hegemonic (predominantly white) populations. Negative connotations of Indigenous people are a means of reinforcing and legitimising the falsity that European knowledge systems, norms, and social structures are superior whilst denying the contextual colonial circumstances that have led to white dominance. In Australia, such denial corresponds to the refusal to engage with the unceded sovereignty of Aboriginal peoples or acknowledge Indigenous resistance. Language is integral to the ways in which dominant populations come to “know” and present the so-called “Other”. Such language is reflected in digital media, which both produce and maintain white anxieties towards race and ethnicity. When part of mainstream vernacular, racialised language – and the value judgments associated with it – often remains in what Moreton-Robinson describes as “invisible regimes of power” (75). Everyday social structures, actions, and habits of thought veil oppressive and discriminatory attitudes that exist under the guise of “normality”. Colonisation and the dominance of Eurocentric ways of knowing, being, and doing has fixated itself on creating a normality that associates Indigeneity and darkness with negative and threatening connotations. In doing so, it reinforces power balances that presents an image of white superiority built on the invalidation of Indigeneity and Blackness. White fears and anxieties towards race made explicit through social and digital media are also manifest via subtle but equally pervasive everyday action (Carlson and Frazer; Matamoros-Fernández). Confronting and negotiating such fears becomes a daily reality for many Indigenous people. During the height of the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests in the United States, which extended to Australia and were linked to deaths in custody and police violence, African American poet Saul Williams reminded his followers of the power of language in constructing racialised fears (saulwilliams). In an Instagram post, Williams draws back the veil of an uncontested normality to ask that we take personal responsibility over the words we use. He writes: here’s a tip: Take the words DARK or BLACK in connection to bad, evil, ominous or scary events out of your vocabulary. We learn the stock market crashed on Black Monday, we read headlines that purport “Dark Days Ahead”. There’s “dark” or “black” humour which implies an undertone of evil, and then there are people like me who grow up with dark skin having to make sense of the English/American lexicon and its history of “fair complexions” – where “fair” can mean “light; blond.” OR “in accordance with rules or standards; legitimate.” We may not be fully responsible for the duplicitous evolution of language and subtle morphing of…
M/C Journal, 2021
Introduction Darkness is often characterised as something that warrants heightened caution and sc... more Introduction Darkness is often characterised as something that warrants heightened caution and scrutiny – signifying increased danger and risk. Within settler-colonial settings such as Australia, cautionary and negative connotations of darkness are projected upon Black people and their bodies, forming part of continuing colonial regimes of power (Moreton-Robinson). Negative stereotypes of “dark” continues to racialise all Indigenous peoples. In Australia, Indigenous peoples are both Indigenous and Black regardless of skin colour, and this plays out in a range of ways, some of which will be highlighted within this article. This article demonstrates that for Indigenous peoples, associations of fear and danger are built into the structural mechanisms that shape and maintain colonial understandings of Indigenous peoples and their bodies. It is this embodied form of darkness, and its negative connotations, and responses that we explore further. Figure 1: Megan Cope’s ‘I’m not afraid of t...
Borderlands Journal, 2021
Alongside Toonooba (the Fitzroy River) in central Queensland, a series of Aboriginal flood marker... more Alongside Toonooba (the Fitzroy River) in central Queensland, a series of Aboriginal flood markers are embedded within the earth, commanding attention to the river that flows on one side and the colonial infrastructure of Rockhampton that lies on the other. The flood markers are part of an arts project commissioned by the Queensland Government in 2013 to mark Rockhampton’s history and its relationship to the river. The flood markers, named Honouring Land Connections, assert Indigenous voices into discourses of place, particularly discourses about the significance of rivers on Country. This article explores how art represents wider socio-cultural and politicised contexts of Indigenous and non-Indigenous discourse. The authors discuss the artworks as a form of social action that signifies Rockhampton as an Indigenous space with a history that cannot be neatly divided into three time periods. Any suggestion that Honouring Land Connections represents Rockhampton’s precolonial period dis...
Borderlands Journal, 2021
Since colonisation began in Australia, it has transformed the ecological, social, cultural, and e... more Since colonisation began in Australia, it has transformed the ecological, social, cultural, and economic bases of the biggest estate on earth, with outcomes driving the disruption of Indigenous food sovereignty, foodways and food knowledges alongside the reproduction of Whiteness. This article critically examines the place of White food, including the case of nanotechnologies, in the expansion of the settler colonial frontier, and its impacts for Indigenous health and relationships with food. To do this, we consider a widely commercialised nano-food application: the addition of nano-scale titanium dioxide to make foods White. Nano White food provides a unique lens to examine White authority and control across settler colonial food systems. We consider some of the impacts arising from this global colonial power matrix—to which Whiteness is organising principle for domination—for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health, justice, and rights. We argue that unsettling Whiteness is v...
Journal of Alternative & Community Media, 2021
In 2017 the Uluru Statement from the Heart, a document outlining an Indigenous envisioned path to... more In 2017 the Uluru Statement from the Heart, a document outlining an Indigenous envisioned path towards constitutional recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and the creation of an Indigenous ‘Voice to Parliament’, was presented to the Australian government and public. Since its creation, it has been met with a range of responses that have both welcomed and supported its reforms, as well as dismissed and rejected its overall vision. Both mainstream news and social media have played a significant role in shaping discourses surrounding the Statement. Throughout this article we discuss the often misinformed and convoluted characterization of what an Indigenous ‘Voice to Parliament’ entails. We highlight how powerful political voices – such as those of the prime minister, politicians and media moguls – dominate, distort and influence political and pubic conversations surrounding constitutional reform in Australia. Through news conglomerates’ racialized characterizati...
Journal of Visual Art Practice, 2021
ABSTRACT Alongside Toonooba (the Fitzroy River) in central Queensland, Australia, a series of flo... more ABSTRACT Alongside Toonooba (the Fitzroy River) in central Queensland, Australia, a series of flood markers are embedded within the earth, commanding attention to the river that flows on one side and the colonial infrastructure of Rockhampton on the other. Honouring Land Connections is an artwork that asserts Indigenous voices, marks Indigenous spaces, and encourages visitors to engage in conversation with Indigenous culture and art. This paper considers Indigenous art as a form of social action. Firstly, it discusses the value of such art projects, and presents an Indigenous perspective of their meaning, addresses their role in creating and embodying culture and identity, how they express and share culture, along with collaborative approaches, and the importance of learning on and from Country. It concludes with a discussion of the political and cultural meaning created through art, suggesting that it is impossible for a public artwork like Honouring Land Connections to not be political. This article explores how art facilitates an interactive social space through which Aboriginal artists affirm, negotiate and share their identities while challenging preconceptions of place and identities reminding us that Aboriginal presence outlasts the moment of its production and imprints itself on the landscape and people’s consciousness.
M/C Journal, 2021
Indigenous Peoples' Experiences of Harmful Content on Social Media indigenous_peoples Experiences... more Indigenous Peoples' Experiences of Harmful Content on Social Media indigenous_peoples Experiences of 59m Reply indigenous_peoples on social media 30m Reply indigenous_peoples harmful content 55m Reply indigenous_peoples Experiences of 28m Reply indigenous_peoples Experiences of 46m Reply indigenous_peoples on social media 25m Reply indigenous_peoples on social media 37m Reply indigenous_peoples harmful content 13m Reply indigenous_peoples on social media 48m Reply indigenous_peoples harmful content 27m Reply indigenous_peoples harmful content 44m Reply indigenous_peoples Experiences of 19m Reply indigenous_peoples Experiences of 33m Reply indigenous_peoples on social media 8m Reply indigenous_peoples harmful content 31m Reply indigenous_peoples Experiences of 2m Reply
M/C Journal, 2021
Introduction In 2017, 250 Indigenous delegates from across the country convened at the National C... more Introduction In 2017, 250 Indigenous delegates from across the country convened at the National Constitution Convention at Uluru to discuss a strategy towards the implementation of constitutional reform and recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples (Referendum Council). Informed by community consultations arising out of 12 regional dialogues conducted by the government appointed Referendum Council, the resulting Uluru Statement from the Heart was unlike any constitutional reform previously proposed (Appleby & Synot). Within the Statement, the delegation outlined that to build a more equitable and reconciled nation, an enshrined Voice to Parliament was needed. Such a voice would embed Indigenous participation in parliamentary dialogues and debates while facilitating further discussion pertaining to truth telling and negotiating a Treaty between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. The reforms proposed are based on the collective input of Indigenous communities th...
Media International Australia, 2021
Indigenous voices and outlooks are often overlooked within public discourses in Australia and thr... more Indigenous voices and outlooks are often overlooked within public discourses in Australia and throughout the world. Settler-colonialism has resulted in centuries of dispossession, manifesting in the denial of Indigenous citizenship, autonomy and sovereignty. Throughout this article we discuss how Indigenous people are increasingly turning to social media to illuminate how colonialism continues to oppress Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities. In doing so, Indigenous people are disrupting what we call the ‘colonial algorithms’ that shape misguided perceptions of Indigenous people and identities. Analysing Indigenous use of social media and centring our discussion around several Indigenous-led online campaigns, we demonstrate how online platforms are bringing an array of social issues to light in ways that privilege Indigenous voices and perspectives, ultimately disrupting and shifting oppressive colonial algorithms.
M/C Journal, 2020
In 2013, the Capricornia Arts Mob (CAM), an Indigenous collective of artists situated in Rockhamp... more In 2013, the Capricornia Arts Mob (CAM), an Indigenous collective of artists situated in Rockhampton, central Queensland, Australia, successfully tendered for one of three public art projects that were grouped under the title Flood Markers (Roberts; Roberts and Mackay; Robinson and Mackay). Commissioned as part of the Queensland Government's Community Development and Engagement Initiative, Flood Markers aims to increase awareness of Rockhampton’s history, with particular focus on the Fitzroy River and the phenomena of flooding. Honouring Land Connections is CAM’s contribution to the project and consists of several “memory poles” that stand alongside the Fitzroy River in Toonooba Park. Rockhampton lies on Dharumbal Country with Toonooba being the Dharumbal name for the Fitzroy River and the inspiration for the work due to its cultural significance to the Aboriginal people of that region. The name Toonooba, as well as other images and icons including boomerangs, spears, nets, wate...
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Papers by Abraham Bradfield