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A POST‐MODERN PANOPTICON: THE ROYAL COMMISSION INTO ABORIGINAL DEATHS IN CUSTODY
Author(s) -
Sackett Lee
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
australian journal of social issues
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.417
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 1839-4655
pISSN - 0157-6321
DOI - 10.1002/j.1839-4655.1993.tb00926.x
Subject(s) - panopticon , scrutiny , royal commission , commission , project commissioning , publishing , perspective (graphical) , state (computer science) , law , interpretation (philosophy) , sociology , political science , criminology , philosophy , art , computer science , politics , linguistics , algorithm , visual arts
In this paper I examine the Deaths in Custody Royal Commission from a Foucauldian perspective. I argue that the inquiry was an(other) act of state surveillance, and that many of the recommendations, if implemented, would further extend the scrutiny of Aboriginal lives. Additionally, I consider the way the ‘individualizing knowledge’ (Foucault 1979, p. 126) of the deceased was used to control the interpretation of their deaths.