colonialism – The Other Sociologist

Reconciliation and the ongoing impact of colonialism

Posted on Wednesday, 27 May, 2020Wednesday, 27 May, 2020 by Dr Zuleyka Zevallos

Oil painting style image showing protesters carrying the Aboriginal flag

I live on the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. ‘Eora’ means ‘here’ or ‘from this place.’ Twenty-nine clans belong to the Eora Nation (of what is now known as Sydney), each with their distinct culture, languages, songlines and practices. Sovereignty was never ceded. This land always was, is, and forever will be, Aboriginal land.

Yesterday was National Sorry Day and today marks the beginning of Reconciliation Week. The meanings and actions of these national events are different for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and non-Indigenous people. Here are some reflections for those of us who are settlers, and what we can do to better listen and walk in solidarity with First Nations.

Colonial Sugar

Posted on Monday, 20 November, 2017Friday, 6 September, 2024 by Dr Zuleyka Zevallos

“Colonial Sugar,” Tracey Moffatt and Jasmine Togo-Brisby, exhibition at the City Gallery Wellington. From 1863 to 1904, the Queensland government in Australia enslaved at least 62,000 people from the Pacific to fuel production in its prosperous sugarcane plantations. Continue reading Colonial Sugar

“Secret histories” of Australia

Posted on Sunday, 22 November, 2015Friday, 6 September, 2024 by Dr Zuleyka Zevallos

Ongoing human rights crimes have been committed against Indigenous Australians, starting with dispossession and colonisation. This post features museum and dance works addressing Australia’s colonial history and its ongoing aftermath: the “Secret Histories” exhibition at the Australian Museum, as well as Bangarra Dance Theatre’s latest work, “Spirit of the Patyegarang.”

‘White Supremacy Is Not An Attitude… It’s a Question of Power’

Posted on Friday, 4 April, 2014Monday, 25 May, 2026 by Dr Zuleyka Zevallos

Kwame Ture (AKA Stokely Carmichael) is a young Black man speaking at a podium with many microphones. He has a short Afro and wears a trenchcoat. He has his fist in the air in the Black power sign

“Some groups in this country, talking all sorts of nonsense, will make you think that white supremacy is a sickness, is a ‘this,’ is a ‘that.’ White supremacy, as far as we’re concerned, just means we’re powerless. That’s all. White supremacy is not an attitude, it’s not a sickness, it’s a question of power. If a white man wants to lynch me, that’s his problem. If he has the power to lynch me, that’s my problem. But as long as I have the power to stop the white man from lynching me, him wanting to lynch me is his problem, and it can remain his problem forever. So the only reason the white man can lynch me is because I am powerless.”
Kwame Ture (previously known as Stokely Carmichael)