This panel discussion, featuring strong First Nations people speaking about their work and experience in anti-carceral activism, will be chaired by Amangu Yamatji scholar and community organiser, Dr Crystal McKinnon. This unique event is the final in the Critical Issues seminar series for 2022 (hosted by the School of Social and Political Sciences), and the opening event of the 5th International Conference for Carceral Geography (hosted by Criminology at the University of Melbourne). The theme of the conference is Confinement – Spaces and Practices of Care and Control, which has profound implications for all of us occupying and working on Aboriginal land. For Indigenous peoples subject to historic, contemporary and continuing dispossession, violence and control under various institutional guises of ‘protection’ and ‘care’, settler colonialism is an ongoing experience of confinement, in and of their own Country. The panellists will share insights about ongoing Indigenous activism and abolitionist resistance driven to challenge, dismantle and transform institutional injustice in order to achieve self-determination and freedom in and for First Nations communities.

Time and Venue
Smoking Ceremony and Welcome to Country: 5.15 pm – 5.30 pm at Professional Walk outside the Arts West Building, University of Melbourne
Dijrri Djirri Surundjeri women’s dance group: 5.30 pm – 5.45 pm at the Foyer of Arts West Building
Panel and Q&A: 5.50 pm – 7.15 pm at the Kathleen Fitzpatrick Theatre (B101)
Reception: from 7.15 pm at the Foyer of Arts West Building