"Suffer Little Children": the representation of Aboriginal disadvantage through images of suffering children, and the wages of spectacular humanitarianism

Joanne Faulkner

"Suffer Little Children"

the representation of Aboriginal disadvantage through images of suffering children, and the wages of spectacular humanitarianism

Joanne Faulkner

Department of Media, Music, Communication and Cultural Studies

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article

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Abstract

Contemporary Australia is plagued by scandals concerning Aboriginal children, which gesture to a broader injustice to First Nations peoples. The cycle of abuse and reaction prompts two questions: (1) why are wrongs to Indigenous peoples brought to crisis through the situation of children?; and (2) why does the situation remain unchanged? Drawing on Lacanian theory and Debord's account of the spectacle, this paper argues that colonial subjectivity draws upon the spectacle of wounded Aboriginal children as a source of self-knowledge (or enjoyment). It proposes that healing cannot take place, for First Nations and non-Indigenous Australians, before this 'enjoyment' is addressed.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	595-629
Number of pages	35
Journal	Theory & event
Volume	22
Issue number	3
Publication status	Published - Jul 2019

Bibliographical note

Copyright the Publisher 2019. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

Keywords

Colonialism
Lacan, Jacques
Debord, Guy
Psychoanalysis and culture--Australia
Childhood

Access to Document

Author version (open access)Accepted author manuscript, 558 KBLicence: Unspecified

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1 Active

ARC Future Fellowship: Significances of 'childhood' in postcolonial Australia
Faulkner, J.
6/02/18 → 5/02/21
Project: Research

Cite this

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