IN CONVERSATION
Jordana Silverstein - Cruel Care
6—7pm Wednesday 14 June
Muse, East Hotel, Kingston Canberra ACT
Join Jordana Silverstein in conversation with Muse Frank Bongiorno.
Tickets: $10 (entry only) // $42 (includes a discounted copy of the book RRP $34.99)
“The aptly named ‘Cruel Care’ is a groundbreaking book – confronting, deeply disturbing and revelatory.”
Australia has long grappled with how to treat refugees, particularly children, who come to our country. Cruel Care asks why Australia pursues such unforgiving immigration policies, and why successive Australian governments say that the cruel acts they perpetrate are a form of care.
This is a story of government: of the politics and emotions that drive national policy. Meticulously researched – and drawing on interviews with key Australian policymakers, along with a rich set of archival sources – this book explores how legislation, ministers, political parties and the public service have combined to create a narrative of compassion while pursuing repressive policies. It details the weaponisation of rhetoric such as ‘best interests of the child’ and the histories of race – and racism – that influence Australian discourses of national security.
Jordana Silverstein is a senior research fellow at the Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness in the Melbourne Law School at the University of Melbourne. She has also been a visiting scholar at the ANU’s Humanities Research Centre. She is the author of Anxious Histories (2015) and co-editor of Refugee Journeys (2021), and her criticism and essays appear widely in Australian publications.
Frank Bongiorno is Professor of History at the Australian National University and most recently the author of Dreamers and Schemers: A Political History of Australia.
Venue
Muse, East Hotel
69 Canberra Ave, Kingston ACT
T: (02) 6178 0024