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Telling the Truth
In this week’s episode of Read the Play, Chelsea & David ask: what does it mean to tell the truth about the nature of racism in the colony? And how can we dedicate ourselves to truth-telling in all the work we do? Through a series of short excerpts, this episode weaves together an account of truth-telling in the colony: refusing colonial mythology, disrupting the lies that sustain it, and killing the cop (or colonist!) in our heads. Over a jam-packed episode, you’ll hear white Jewish scholar Dr Elizabeth Strakosch on truth-telling in academic work; Palestinian poet and lawyer Sara Saleh on linguistic violence, genocide and resistance; Meriam, Munbarra, and Nywaigi artist and abolitionist Neta-Rie Mabo on telling the truth about policing and prisons in this country; Waanyi and Jaru Associate Professor Gregory Phillips on telling the truth about Indigenous sovereignty and refusing to operate on colonial frames of reference; as well as Prof Watego, Dr. Amy McQuire & Deb Kilroy speaking at a public protest in Magan-djin in May 2025, in response to the death in police custody of Walpiri man Kumanjayi White.
Reading list
Macoun, Alissa, and Elizabeth Strakosch. ‘The Ethical Demands of Settler Colonial Theory’. Settler Colonial Studies (Abingdon) 3, nos. 3–4 (2013): 426–43.
Saleh, Sara. ‘Punctuation as Organised Violence’. Meanjin, 30 November 2022. https://meanjin.com.au/essays/punctuation-as-organised-violence/
Saleh, Sara. Songs for the Dead and the Living. Affirm Press, 2023.
Saleh, Sara. The Flirtation of Girls / Ghazal El-Banat. UQP, University of Queensland Press, 2023.
National Network of Currently and Formerly Incarcerated Women. ‘Another Police Shooting: We Must Name This for What It Is — State Violence’. Media Releases, 11 June 2025. https://thenationalnetwork.com.au/another-police-shooting-we-must-name-this-for-what-it-is-state-violence/
Mabo, Boneta-Marie. ‘The Mabo Centre at Melbourne University: A Legacy Betrayed’. IndigenousX, 9 May 2025. https://indigenousx.com.au/the-mabo-centre-at-melbourne-university-a-legacy-betrayed/
al Encounters’. In The Limits of Settler Colonial Reconciliation. Springer Singapore, 2016.
Credits
Recordings and Production: Some of the podcast materials are drawn from Triple A Murri Country’s Let’s Talk Black Politics and Black Knowing, recorded in the studio between 2023-2024, hosted by Professor Chelsea Watego and Dr David Singh in addition to excerpts from QUT Carumba Institute’s National Symposium Unifying Anti-racism Research and Practice, all of which were produced by Anna Carlson.
Music: We wish to sincerely thank Matt Hsu’s Obscure Orchestra for granting permission for free use of ‘Live, Laugh, Decolonise’ and ‘Eat the World’
Production & Sound Design: BlakCast Productions
Artwork: graphic by Rachel Apelt, Artbalm.
This podcast was supported (partially) by the Australian Government through the Australian Research Council's Discovery Indigenous Projects funding scheme (project IN210100008). The views expressed herein are those of the presenters and are not necessarily those of the Australian Government or Australian Research Council.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
View all episodes
By Professor Chelsea Watego & Dr David SinghIn this week’s episode of Read the Play, Chelsea & David ask: what does it mean to tell the truth about the nature of racism in the colony? And how can we dedicate ourselves to truth-telling in all the work we do? Through a series of short excerpts, this episode weaves together an account of truth-telling in the colony: refusing colonial mythology, disrupting the lies that sustain it, and killing the cop (or colonist!) in our heads. Over a jam-packed episode, you’ll hear white Jewish scholar Dr Elizabeth Strakosch on truth-telling in academic work; Palestinian poet and lawyer Sara Saleh on linguistic violence, genocide and resistance; Meriam, Munbarra, and Nywaigi artist and abolitionist Neta-Rie Mabo on telling the truth about policing and prisons in this country; Waanyi and Jaru Associate Professor Gregory Phillips on telling the truth about Indigenous sovereignty and refusing to operate on colonial frames of reference; as well as Prof Watego, Dr. Amy McQuire & Deb Kilroy speaking at a public protest in Magan-djin in May 2025, in response to the death in police custody of Walpiri man Kumanjayi White.
Reading list
Macoun, Alissa, and Elizabeth Strakosch. ‘The Ethical Demands of Settler Colonial Theory’. Settler Colonial Studies (Abingdon) 3, nos. 3–4 (2013): 426–43.
Saleh, Sara. ‘Punctuation as Organised Violence’. Meanjin, 30 November 2022. https://meanjin.com.au/essays/punctuation-as-organised-violence/
Saleh, Sara. Songs for the Dead and the Living. Affirm Press, 2023.
Saleh, Sara. The Flirtation of Girls / Ghazal El-Banat. UQP, University of Queensland Press, 2023.
National Network of Currently and Formerly Incarcerated Women. ‘Another Police Shooting: We Must Name This for What It Is — State Violence’. Media Releases, 11 June 2025. https://thenationalnetwork.com.au/another-police-shooting-we-must-name-this-for-what-it-is-state-violence/
Mabo, Boneta-Marie. ‘The Mabo Centre at Melbourne University: A Legacy Betrayed’. IndigenousX, 9 May 2025. https://indigenousx.com.au/the-mabo-centre-at-melbourne-university-a-legacy-betrayed/
al Encounters’. In The Limits of Settler Colonial Reconciliation. Springer Singapore, 2016.
Credits
Recordings and Production: Some of the podcast materials are drawn from Triple A Murri Country’s Let’s Talk Black Politics and Black Knowing, recorded in the studio between 2023-2024, hosted by Professor Chelsea Watego and Dr David Singh in addition to excerpts from QUT Carumba Institute’s National Symposium Unifying Anti-racism Research and Practice, all of which were produced by Anna Carlson.
Music: We wish to sincerely thank Matt Hsu’s Obscure Orchestra for granting permission for free use of ‘Live, Laugh, Decolonise’ and ‘Eat the World’
Production & Sound Design: BlakCast Productions
Artwork: graphic by Rachel Apelt, Artbalm.
This podcast was supported (partially) by the Australian Government through the Australian Research Council's Discovery Indigenous Projects funding scheme (project IN210100008). The views expressed herein are those of the presenters and are not necessarily those of the Australian Government or Australian Research Council.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.