Ever widening circles of compassion

This paper argues that Darwin’s work relied upon patriarchal white assumptions of entitlement to knowledge, their objects and the processes of knowledge production. It assumed an objective observer and fashioned their conquest of knowledge, knowledge production and the objects of knowledge to fit patriarchal white supremacist views. I posit that this materialist view has been promulgated as the only legitimate view, despite being debunked within quantum physics and quantum cosmology, and has led us to these dark times. The consequences risk the future of the planet and all its sentient inhabitants. However, Charles Darwin also posited in his meticulous observations that evolutionary development depends on ever-widening circles of compassion as the deepest primal instinct of all creatures – a view shared by First Nations peoples, such as Indigenous Australians colonised under Liberal/Neoliberal regimes and Tibetan (and others) colonised under Communist regimes. Neoliberalism has increased the intensity of consequences in Australia; however, this paper argues that the concept of a shared origin is the fundamental error about the nature of reality presented in metaphysical realism in triad with extractive possessive consumerism. The latter prioritises economic growth and hedonism and values only external happiness rather than a Eunomia understanding of wellbeing, where Eunomia refers to a general sense of inner wellbeing not caused by perceived external stimuli. CRAWS scholars can draw on ever widening circles of compassion as First Nation and critical ally scholars, educators and activists, to reorient our past understanding and present mindful embodiment for a fiercely compassionate future

Design and characterization of a direct ELISA for the detection and quantification of leucomalachite green

Malachite green (MG), a member of the N-methylated triphenylmethane class of dyes, has long been used to control fungal and protozoan infections in fish. MG is easily absorbed by fish during waterborne exposure and is rapidly metabolized into leucomalachite green (LMG), which is known for its long residence time in edible fish tissue. This paper describes the development of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the detection and quantification of LMG in fish tissue. This development includes a simple and versatile method for the conversion of LMG to monodesmethyl-LMG, which is then conjugated to bovine serum albumin (BSA) to produce an immunogenic material. Rabbit polyclonal antibodies are generated against this immunogen, purified and used to develop a direct competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the screening and quantification of LMG in fish tissue. The assay performed well, with a limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) of 0.1 and 0.3 ng g−1 of fish tissue, respectively. The average extraction efficiency from a matrix of tilapia fillets was approximately 73% and the day-to-day reproducibility for these extractions in the assay was between 5 and 10%

White Australian identities and Indigenous land rights

Land has been central to debates about the relationship between Indigenous (First Nations) and non-Indigenous Australian identities since colonial violence founded the nation. How do white Australians understand Indigenous land rights? This paper draws on an empirical ethnographic study with rural people who self-identify as ‘white Australian’ to analyze the key discourses of land, identity and nation and the complexities of how whiteness and race is socially produced and lived in rural Australia. The study found that white Australian discourses of nation and identity limit most of the respondents' ability to construct their identity in relation to Indigenous sovereignty

Learning the past to participate in the future : Regional discourses of Australian colonial history

Indigenous curricula content, including particular narratives of Australian colonial history are highly contested in contemporary Australia. How do white Australians understand Australia’s colonial past and its relevance today? An empirical study was conducted with 29 rural Australians who self-identified as white. Critical race and whiteness studies provided the framework for analysis of the interviews. I argue that they revealed a delimited understanding of colonial history and a general inability to link this to the present, which limited their capacity to think crossculturally in their everyday living - activities considered crucial in the contemporary move to Reconciliation in Australia. The normative discourse of white settler Australians to be ‘Australian’ is invested in the denial of Indigenous sovereignty to protect white settler Australian claims to national sovereignty. The findings support arguments for a national curriculum that incorporates Indigenous history as well as an Indigenous presence throughout all subject areas

Whose security? How white possession is reinforced in everday speech about asylum seekers

The national narratives that construct asylum seekers as illegal immigrants in Australia were protected and contested during the term of the former Howard Liberal government. This paper explores how white possession is reinforced in everyday speech about asylum seekers. To do this, it draws upon an empirical study conducted in rural South Australia with people who identified as “white Australian”. The study consists of 28 in depth semi-structured interviews conducted in 2003. The paper will firstly locate the interviews in the sociopolitical context of the former Howard Liberal government’s policies and key events such as the Tampa incident. In doing so, the paper adds to the small body of Australian sociological empirical research that investigates everyday practices of whiteness. The paper identifies discourses about refugees, border security and the “war on terror” that reinforce Australian discourses of white possession. The paper critiques the racialised privilege in discourses used by the interviewees about asylum seekers and argues this privilege is gained through the assertion of “white patriarchal sovereignty” (Moreton- Robinson 2004a) in everyday speech. This privilege simultaneously disavows Indigenous sovereignty and reasserts white national sovereignty through the raced exclusion of Middle Eastern and/or Muslim peoples who are located as illegal immigrants in everyday white discourses about asylum seekers

In relationship with Indigenous Sovereignty

This paper critically examines the way that whiteness impedes a non-colonial present between many white  Australians with Indigenous Australians. It draws upon an empirical study with self-identified rural white Australians to explore multiple locations of whiteness and the complicity in the ongoing dispossession of Indigenous peoples and their land rights and sovereignty. Additionally the paper explores the counter-narratives developed by a number of participants who articulate arelationship with Indigenous sovereignty. These narratives counter the centrality of whiteness and openup the possibility of future relations that are non-colonial

Governance and multiculturalism; The White elephant of social construction and cultural identities

A key intervention in the growing critical literature on race, this volume examines the social construction of race in contemporary Australia through the lenses of Indigenous sovereignty, nationhood, and whiteness. Informed by insights from white Australians in rural contexts, Koerner and Pillay attempt to answer how race shapes those who identify as white Australian; how those who self-identify thusly relate to the nation, multiculturalism, and Indigenous Sovereignties; and how white Australians understand and experience their own racialized position and its privilege. This “insider perspective” on the continuing construction of whiteness in Australia is analyzed and challenged through Indigenous Sovereign theoretical standpoints and voices. Ultimately, this investigation of the social construction of race not only extends conceptualizations of multiculturalism, but also informs governance policy in the light of changing national identity