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How whiteness was invented and fashioned in Britain’s colonial age of expansion

<p>Fashion <a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-Force-of-Fashion-in-Politics-and-Society-Global-Perspectives-from-Early/Lemire/p/book/9781138274228">is political — today as in the past</a>. As Britain’s Empire dramatically expanded, people of all ranks lived with clothing and everyday objects in startlingly different ways than generations before. </p> <p>The years between 1660 and 1820 saw the expansion of the British empire and commercial capitalism. The <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/ca/cotton-9781845202996">social politics of Britain’s cotton trade</a> mirrored profound global transformations bound up with technological and industrial revolutions, social modernization, colonialism and slavery. </p> <p>As history educators and researchers Abdul Mohamud and Robin Whitburn note, the British “<a href="https://www.bl.uk/restoration-18th-century-literature/articles/britains-involvement-with-new-world-slavery-and-the-transatlantic-slave-trade">monarchy started the large-scale involvement of the English in the slave trade</a>” after 1660.</p> <p>Vast <a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-British-Cotton-Trade-1660-1815-Vol-2/Lemire/p/book/9781138757943">profits poured in from areas of plantation slavery</a>, particularly from the Caribbean. The mass enslavement of Africans was at the heart of this brutal system, with laws and policing enforcing Black subjugation <a href="https://schoolshistory.org.uk/topics/british-empire/economic-consequences-of-empire/slave-resistance/">in the face of repeated resistance from enslaved</a> people.</p> <p>Western fashion reflected the racialized politics that infused this period. Indian cottons and European linens <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/global-trade-and-the-transformation-of-consumer-cultures/A7517EB8FB5003114662BA428501AB79">were now traded in ever-rising volumes</a>, feeding the vogue for lighter and potentially whiter textiles, ever more in demand. </p> <p>My scholarship explores dimensions of whiteness through material histories — how whiteness was fashioned in labour structures, routines, esthetics and everyday practices.</p> <h2>Whiteness on many scales</h2> <p>Enslaved men and women were never given white clothes, unless as part of livery (servants’ uniforms, which were sometimes very luxurious). Wearing white textiles became a marker of status in urban centres, in colonizing nations and in colonies. Textile whiteness was a transient state demanding constant renewal, shaping ecologies of style. The resulting Black/white dichotomy hardened as profits from enslavement soared, with a striking impact on culture.</p> <p>Whiteness in clothing, decor and fashion was amplified, becoming a marker of status. Elaborate washing techniques were used to achieve material goals. </p> <p>British sociologist Vron Ware emphasizes “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822381044-009">the importance of thinking about whiteness on many different scales</a>,” including “as an interconnected global system, having different inflections and implications depending on where and when it has been produced.” Accordingly, fabrics, laundry and fashion were entangled in imperial aims. </p> <h2>Pristine whiteness in garments</h2> <p>Laundering was codified in household manuals from the late 1660s, a chore overseen by housewives and housekeepers. Women with fewer options sweated over washtubs, engaged in ubiquitous labour with the aim of pristine whiteness. </p> <p>In colonial and plantation regions, where lightweight fabrics were key, Black enslaved women were tasked with this never-ending drudgery. Only a few profited personally from their fashioning skills.</p> <p>This workforce was vast. Yet few museums have invited visitors to consider the processes of soaking, bleaching, washing, blueing, starching and ironing required by historic garments. </p> <p>A recent exhibit at <a href="https://agnes.queensu.ca/connect/about-agnes/#about-agnes">Agnes Etherington Art Centre</a> at Queen’s University <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bDY3oy0tbA">curated by Jason Cyrus, a researcher who analyzes fashion and textile history</a>, examined <a href="https://agnes.queensu.ca/digital-agnes/video/black-bodies-white-gold-unpacking-slavery-and-north-american-cotton-production">slavery and North American cotton production</a>.</p> <h2>Laundry labour of enslaved women</h2> <p>The skilled labour of enslaved women was a core component of every plantation and an essential colonial urban trade, given the resident population and many thousands of seafarers and sojourners arriving annually in the Caribbean — all wanting clothes refreshed. </p> <p>Ports throughout the Atlantic were stocked with wash tubs and women labouring over them. Orderly material whiteness was the aim. Mary Prince recorded her thoughts about a demanding mistress in Antigua, who gave the enslaved Prince weekly “<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5149/9781469633299_prince">two bundles of clothes, as much as a boy could help me lift; but I could give no satisfaction</a>.”</p> <p>Prince only earned money laundering for ships’ captains during her “owners’” absence. Within port cities, including the Caribbean and imperial centres, this trade allowed some enslaved women mobility and sometimes self-emancipation. But fashioning whiteness was a fraught process, with many historical threads.</p> <h2>Colour scrubbed from recovered statues</h2> <p>From the 1750s, European fashion and artistic style was increasingly inspired by perceptions of the classical past. Countless portraits were painted of wealthy people as Greek gods, the classical past becoming, as cultural theorist Stuart Hall observed, a “myth reservoir.” These became sources <a href="https://doi.org/10.1515/9781478021223-023">for imagining Europe’s origins</a> and destiny.</p> <p>European scholars and the educated public viewed this cultural lineage as white. <a href="https://www.rom.on.ca/en/exhibitions-galleries/exhibitions/kore-670">Remnants of polychrome colouring was scrubbed</a> from recovered <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/see-the-vibrant-long-overlooked-colors-of-classical-sculptures-180980321/">Greek sculptures</a>.</p> <p>This supposed heritage of a white classical past defined <a href="https://mymodernmet.com/what-is-neoclassicism/">what became known as neoclassical</a> styles further expanding the craze for light, white gowns, a political fashion needing endless care. </p> <p>In this era, “the term classical was not neutral,” as art historian Charmaine Nelson explains, “<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/42631206">but a racialized term</a> …” Nelson states that the category “classical” also defined the marginalization of Blackness as its antithesis.</p> <p>Today, some scholars are wrestling <a href="https://www.famsf.org/about/publications/gods-color-polychromy-ancient-world">with the legacy of racism built into classical studies</a>.</p> <h2>Racialized masquerade</h2> <p>Neoclassical gowns reflected this zeitgeist, as ladies disported themselves as Greek goddesses. Ladies’ magazines urged readers to play-act as deities. Simple socializing en vogue would not suffice. Fashion required a wider stage. </p> <p>Masquerade balls became the venue where whiteness and empire aligned, as goddesses robed in white mingled with guests in blackface or regalia appropriated from colonized peoples. </p> <p>Masquerades became staple occasions, revels led by royals, nobles and those enriched through trade and slave labour.</p> <h2>Race hierarchies enforced</h2> <p>Seemingly banal routines (and stylish affairs) reveal cultural facets of empire where race hierarchies were reinforced. In this era, everyday dress and celebratory fashions demanded relentless attention. </p> <p>These routines were enmeshed with empire and race, whether in the colonial Caribbean or a London grand masquerade. </p> <p>The proliferation of white linens and cottons were purposefully employed to enforce hierarchies. The rise of white clothing and neoclassical style can be better understood by addressing mass enslavement as an economic, political and cultural force shaping styles, determining vogues and promoting the fashions of whiteness.</p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p> <p><em>This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-whiteness-was-invented-and-fashioned-in-britains-colonial-age-of-expansion-175027" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. </em></p>

Art

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‘One of the most extreme disasters in colonial Australian history’

<p>The deluge dumped on southeast Queensland and northern New South Wales this week has been catastrophic. Floodwaters peaked at around 14.4 metres high in Lismore – two metres higher than the city’s previous record.</p> <p>So how does this compare to Australia’s previous floods, such as in 2011? And can we expect more frequent floods at this scale under climate change? The answers to questions like these aren’t straightforward.</p> <p>Climate change doesn’t tell the whole story, as extreme rainfall can occur for a <a href="https://theconversation.com/like-rivers-in-the-sky-the-weather-system-bringing-floods-to-queensland-will-become-more-likely-under-climate-change-176711">variety of reasons</a>. What’s more, it’s too soon to officially state whether this event is directly linked to climate change, as this would require a formal event attribution study. This can take months or years to produce.</p> <p>In any case, we do know extreme events like this will occur more frequently in a warmer world. And the rising death toll, ongoing evacuations and destroyed homes make this one of the most extreme natural disasters in colonial Australian history.</p> <p><strong>How this compares to floods in our past</strong></p> <p>The east coast is a common place for heavy rainfall and flooding. The Yugara and Yugarabul people have <a href="https://www.oxleycreekcatchment.org.au/history/">traditional stories about great floods</a> in the Brisbane river region long before European colonisation, and sediments from floodplains indicate floods as severe as those in 2010–2011 have occurred <a href="https://theconversation.com/old-floods-show-brisbanes-next-big-wet-might-be-closer-than-we-think-70392">at least seven times in the past 1,000 years</a>.</p> <p>Instrumental records and <a href="https://www.slq.qld.gov.au/blog/overview-brisbane-river-floods">documentary accounts</a> show severe floods have inundated southern Queensland’s cities and towns in the 1820s, early 1840s and 1890s, 1931, 1974 and, of course, in 2010–2011.</p> <p>Each of these events have been devastating, and record-breaking, depending on which records you’re interested in.</p> <p>The floods in 1841 and 1893 are considered highest in terms of <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-01-16/brisbane-flood-history-should-not-take-people-by-surprise/13051826">water levels recorded in Brisbane city</a>, reaching over 8m. Australia’s wettest day on record was also recorded in 1893, when Crohamhurst in the Glasshouse Mountains measured 907 millimetres in one day.</p> <figure class="align-center "><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449172/original/file-20220301-4202-1lwf5fm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449172/original/file-20220301-4202-1lwf5fm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=402&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449172/original/file-20220301-4202-1lwf5fm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=402&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449172/original/file-20220301-4202-1lwf5fm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=402&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449172/original/file-20220301-4202-1lwf5fm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=505&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449172/original/file-20220301-4202-1lwf5fm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=505&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449172/original/file-20220301-4202-1lwf5fm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=505&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" alt="Black and white image of men in a small boat in front of a tall brick building that is half submerged in flood water. The building had 'West End Brewery' written on it" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The West End Brewery in Brisbane in 1890. The Brewery building was damaged even further in the 1893 flood, when the Brisbane River rose 10 feet above the 1890 record.</span> <span class="attribution">John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland</span></figcaption></figure> <p>The 1974 event was associated with extreme rainfall totals in many coastal areas, including 314mm in one day in Brisbane, and more than a metre of rainfall was recorded over three days in places such as Mount Tamborine and the northwest of Surfers Paradise.</p> <p>The 2010–11 flood, while not as severe in terms of extreme rainfall totals, <a href="http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/current/statements/scs24b.pdf">was notable for its inland extent</a>, and was the final act of Australia’s wettest July to December on record.</p> <p>The current flood has peaked at 3.85m in Brisbane, below the 2010–2011 levels of 4.46m. But it’s breaking records in other areas such as Lismore in northern NSW. The rainfall statistics associated with this event are also nearing the highest on record for many places, possibly due to the slow-moving nature of the associated weather system.</p> <p>Four of the top six highest rainfall totals in NSW were <a href="https://www.weatherzone.com.au/news/second-heaviest-daily-rainfall-ever-observed-in-nsw/536322">recorded on 28 February</a>, and Brisbane has just experienced three days of over 200mm. These aren’t the highest daily totals ever recorded in the city, but the first time three days of such intense falls have been documented, in data that go back to 1841.</p> <p><strong>Disentangling the role of climate change</strong></p> <p>When it comes to understanding the role of human-induced climate change in extreme events, there is the temptation to ask the wrong question: “did climate change cause this event?”</p> <p>Since any extreme event is always a manifestation of climate variability, large weather systems, local-scale weather and climate change, it’s impossible to categorically answer this question with a simple “yes” or “no”.</p> <p>Instead, the question we should be asking is “did climate change <em>contribute</em> to this event?”</p> <p>Well, firstly, there has actually been a slight <em>decrease</em> in summer rainfall in southeast Queensland and northeast NSW since the mid-20th century. But, there’s very high variability in rainfall for this region, and La Niña – a natural climate phenonenon associated with wetter weather – often brings flooding to this area, as we saw in 2010/2011 and in the 1970s.</p> <figure class="align-center zoomable"><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449171/original/file-20220301-15-1h65whn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449171/original/file-20220301-15-1h65whn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449171/original/file-20220301-15-1h65whn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=424&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449171/original/file-20220301-15-1h65whn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=424&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449171/original/file-20220301-15-1h65whn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=424&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449171/original/file-20220301-15-1h65whn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=533&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449171/original/file-20220301-15-1h65whn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=533&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449171/original/file-20220301-15-1h65whn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=533&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" alt="" /></a><figcaption><span class="caption">Trends in maximum 3-day rainfall in summer (December-February) from 1959/1960 to 2019/2020 show mixed trends in the flood-affected region. White areas are where station coverage is sparse or the dataset fails a quality control test.</span> <span class="attribution">Author provided</span></figcaption></figure> <p>Indeed, the effect of La Niña (and its counterpart El Niño, associated with drier weather) makes identifying a climate change-related trend more difficult. In other words, while a human-induced climate change signal may be present, the naturally high variability makes it hard to spot.</p> <p>The atmosphere can hold approximately 7% more moisture for every degree Celsius of global warming. However, we also need the right weather systems in place to trigger the release of moisture from the air and cause extreme rainfall. The climate change effect on these systems is uncertain.</p> <p><strong>Climate change and weather systems</strong></p> <p>The severity of the flooding in southeast Queensland is partly due to a weather system called an “<a href="https://theconversation.com/like-rivers-in-the-sky-the-weather-system-bringing-floods-to-queensland-will-become-more-likely-under-climate-change-176711">atmospheric river</a>” sitting over the region for days. To make matters worse, the rain fell on an already sodden ground due to both the higher-than-average rainfall from the current La Niña, and the La Niña in the 2020-2021 summer. This made a huge difference to the scale of the floods.</p> <p>We don’t fully understand how the persistence of these natural systems will change in future, but recent work shows climate change will cause long-lasting atmospheric rivers over Sydney to occur <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2021GL095335">almost twice as often</a> by the end of the 21st century. We don’t know yet if that’s also true further north of Sydney.</p> <p>To complicate things further, there’s <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/expect-twice-as-many-extreme-la-nina-events-under-climate-change-study-warns">evidence</a> to suggest climate change may be influencing the frequency, intensity and impacts of El Niño and La Niña events.</p> <p><a href="https://interactive-atlas.ipcc.ch/regional-information#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">Climate change projections</a> also suggest we may see small increases in the number of extreme one-day rainfall events which typically lead to flash flooding, in eastern Australia. But there’s a lot of uncertainty.</p> <p>And worldwide, <a href="https://theconversation.com/mass-starvation-extinctions-disasters-the-new-ipcc-reports-grim-predictions-and-why-adaptation-efforts-are-falling-behind-176693">Monday’s report</a> from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change projected that global warming of 2℃ this century will bring twice as much flood damage compared to 1.5℃ warming. This jumps to 3.9 times more flood damage at 3℃ warming.</p> <p>While the role of climate change is hard to pin down in Australia’s biggest floods, we know flooding often strikes our east coast. Building greater resilience to severe flooding would help lessen their impact.</p> <p>Taking steps like concentrating new housing and infrastructure projects in areas above flood plains would help make us less vulnerable to these events. <img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/178153/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /></p> <p><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/andrew-king-103126">Andrew King</a>, Senior Lecturer in Climate Science, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/the-university-of-melbourne-722">The University of Melbourne</a></em>; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/linden-ashcroft-152419">Linden Ashcroft</a>, Lecturer in climate science and science communication, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/the-university-of-melbourne-722">The University of Melbourne</a></em>, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/sarah-perkins-kirkpatrick-58472">Sarah Perkins-Kirkpatrick</a>, Chief Investigator on the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes; ARC Future Fellow, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/unsw-sydney-1414">UNSW Sydney</a></em></p> <p>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/one-of-the-most-extreme-disasters-in-colonial-australian-history-climate-scientists-on-the-floods-and-our-future-risk-178153">original article</a>.</p>

Domestic Travel

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Preppers is a deep reading of colonial violence – and a hilarious, must-watch Aussie TV comedy

<p>A sophisticated multi-layered critique of colonialism, capitalism and patriarchy with an all-star Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cast (along with some well-known non-Indigenous personalities playing an assortment of “allies”), Preppers is hilarious.</p> <p>Trying to navigate being the only Indigenous person on an all-white TV morning show, Wake up Australia, and dealing with <a href="https://www.booktopia.com.au/unmasking-the-racial-contract-debbie-bargallie/book/9781925302653.html">daily microaggressions</a>, Charlie (Nakkiah Lui) finds herself suffering feelings of inadequacy and soothing herself with self-help affirmations.</p> <p>Then, after a series of unfortunate events, she wakes to find herself at a doomsday preppers hold out known as “Eden 2”. The six-part series then unfolds in an isolated camp where power relations shift as everyone prepares for the end of the world.</p> <p>The core cast of seven is led by a group of brilliant Blak actors: Lui is joined by Jack Charles, Meyne Wyatt, Ursula Yovich and Aaron McGrath, with non-Indigenous actors Eryn Jean Norvill and Chum Ehelepola rounding out the preppers.</p> <p>Many other wonderful actors move in and out of the series, including Miranda Tapsell, Luke Carroll and Christine Anu, as it tackles some big issues such as colonial violence, frontier wars, inter-generational trauma and the politics of identity.</p> <p>But it does this all in the great Aussie tradition of <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-84796-8_6">taking the piss</a>: making fun of the things that are absurd, risible, offensive and hurtful.</p> <p><iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nvb1Mx34TiA?wmode=transparent&amp;start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p> <h2>A story of allyship</h2> <p><a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-84796-8_10">Much has been written on the topic of allyship</a> with Indigenous people, particularly the danger that, in seeking “ally” status one is really seeking to position oneself as the “good white person”.</p> <p>If white allies are motivated solely by a desire to be seen as a “good person”, there is a danger they might remain <a href="https://ro.uow.edu.au/lhapapers/2070/">ignorant of or indifferent</a> to larger structures of power. Preppers explores this complexity in a way that will make us all laugh, while also revealing how allyship operates to silence or take from Indigenous people.</p> <p><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430732/original/file-20211108-25-bmjnpb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430732/original/file-20211108-25-bmjnpb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="A white woman dressed like a coloniser, and an Aboriginal woman dressed as an Aussie flag thong." /></a> <span class="caption">Is this allyship?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">ABC TV</span></span></p> <p>In one episode, the group is accidentally locked in the bunker. Jayden (Aaron McGrath) calls on Kirby (Eryn Jean Norvill) to be sacrificed before they run out of air. As Jayden describes it, this would be “the ultimate display of white allyship”.</p> <p>Kirby, not very happy to comply, responds by stating she should survive to go on and tell the story.</p> <p>“We don’t need another white person to tell a Black story,” says Jayden.</p> <p><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430731/original/file-20211108-10550-nd7vuv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430731/original/file-20211108-10550-nd7vuv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="A white woman with a shotgun mike, looked on by three Aboriginal people." /></a> <span class="caption">‘We don’t need another white person to tell a Black story’, Jayden tells Kirby.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">ABC TV</span></span></p> <p>Becoming an ally is no simple or straightforward matter. Instead, it requires constant reflection on your social position, and remaining accountable to those with whom you are “allied” – but you probably won’t be called to self-sacrifice to ensure enough air is left in your doomsday bunker.</p> <p>In true Hollywood end-of-days fashion, the group turns on itself. Kirby declares Charlie (Lui) will be the one to die.</p> <p>Charlie’s reward will be becoming the namesake for a future child of born again Christians Lionel (New Zealand-Sri Lankan actor Chum Ehelepola) and Kelly (Ursula Yovich). Not the first or the second child but one of the later ones, Kelly notes.</p> <p>An annual day of honour will also be bestowed upon Charlie – “a day of mourning and dancing and stuff”. Thankfully, they are saved by the arrival of Charlie’s mum, Marie (Christine Anu).</p> <h2>Tough truths through comedy</h2> <p>Preppers unpacks what we think we know – and what has been taught to us as truth – about colonisation. In one scene, bones are found. The preppers suspect the bones could be those of an Aboriginal person killed during the frontier wars.</p> <p>The truth of these atrocities is questioned by some members of the group. “Don’t they teach you that in school?”, Jayden asks.</p> <p>“We used to make boomerangs out of Popsicle sticks, does that count?”, asks Lionel.</p> <p><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430733/original/file-20211108-10010-1o9yuk7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430733/original/file-20211108-10010-1o9yuk7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="Jack Charles" /></a> <span class="caption">Through Monty (Jack Charles), Preppers tells the truth about Australia’s history.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">ABC TV</span></span></p> <p>The resident Elder, Monty (Jack Charles), reveals he may have some records of local frontier wars and quips “that is the thing with you white fellas. You deny it but you wrote it down”.</p> <p>Describing <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/the-feed/this-interactive-map-highlights-150-indigenous-massacres">frontier violence</a> as an apocalypse, Monty shows the group a series of slides of colonial soldiers and settlers killing Aboriginal people, declaring they were “led by a cruel man, a real dog. He shot, burnt, beat, hung local Aboriginal people”.</p> <p>Even though Preppers is a comedy, the show provides a deep reading often left out of recollections of colonial violence. Indigenous people were not just passive victims of the heinous crimes. They were people who fought for their lives and Country.</p> <p>“They ambushed this colonial dog and his men, stole their weapons and turned the guns back on them. The Blackfullas had their revenge”, says Monty.</p> <h2>Blackfulla deadly</h2> <p>From Charlie, whose anxiety manifests into uncontrollable flatulence, to a Black <a href="https://www.vulture.com/2019/04/is-you-vs-wild-real-netflix-bear-gryllls.html">Bear Grylls</a>-alpha-male-wannabe (Guy, played by Meyne Wyatt), to a pair of amorous born again Christians practising abstinence, Preppers includes brilliant performances from all in the cast.</p> <p>Preppers embodies the true definition of Blak humour in all its intricacies, and the unique ways Indigenous comedy can address the complexities of everyday life of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in contemporary Australia.</p> <p>The series is, to quote a line in one of the episodes, “like deadly, like Blackfulla deadly, not like gammin [fake or pretend]” - a must watch!</p> <p><em>Preppers is on ABC from November 10.</em><!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/170100/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><span><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/bronwyn-carlson-136214">Bronwyn Carlson</a>, Professor, Indigenous Studies and Director of The Centre for Global Indigenous Futures, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/macquarie-university-1174">Macquarie University</a></em></span></p> <p>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/preppers-is-a-deep-reading-of-colonial-violence-and-a-hilarious-must-watch-aussie-tv-comedy-170100">original article</a>.</p> <p><em>Image: ABC</em></p>

TV

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See the island where puffins outnumber people

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">With puffins outnumbering people 15 to one, the tiny Lundy island has endured a history of crazed pirates, renegade knights and shoddy MPs.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Now, the island lying just north of Devon is a protected nature reserve, bird-watchers’ paradise, and home to just 26 people. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“The beauty of Lundy is that it hasn't changed for many, many years; it’s like stepping back to the 1950s,” said Derek Green, the island’s general manager. “There are very few vehicles, no pollution, no noise, lots of woodlife. It’s a place that is untouched by the modern world.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The island has been occupied for centuries by people from all walks of life, and was named for its legacy as a base of operations by Viking raiders from the 8th century A.D.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“The name Lundy means ‘puffin island’ in Old Norse,” Green said. “Lundy’s history is long and colourful.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“There’s evidence of Bronze Age occupation in the remains of hut circles in the north, there’s a 13th century castle and there’s a long history of shipwrecks. There are three lighthouses; that’s unique for such a small island.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The island is home to a collection of historical stone buildings to the south known simply as the village, including staff and visitor accommodation, a pub, a shop, and a 19th century Anglican church.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">While the rest of the 5km-long and kilometre-wide island is covered in grassy meadows, the old castle, a former naval signal station, and the ruins of a Victorian quarry can be found scattered around the island.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“The island’s topography and habitats are really quite special,” said Dean Woodfin Jones, Lundy’s warden.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Thousands of seabirds come here in the summer to breed: puffins, guillemots, Manx shearwaters, storm petrels. There’s also a really important Atlantic seal colony.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Rare species of flora can also be found on the island, including the endemic Lundy cabbage that grows nowhere else in the world.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Though the island’s future looked perilous with the drop in tourism during the pandemic, a mixture of donations and government grants has secured the island’s future and ensured its inhabitants can continue their conservation work.</span></p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Photo credits: lundylandmark / Instagram</span></em></p>

International Travel

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Popular tourist destination to be closed in 2020

<p>Faroe Islands are a beautiful and popular string of islands that are home to a colony of puffins.</p> <p>However, the islands are going to be closed for a portion of 2020 so that the ecosystem can be preserved from the droves of tourists that descend on the shores of the islands.</p> <p>Faroe Islands are located between Iceland and Norway, but if you’re still itching to see the puffin colony that calls the islands home, you can still go to the islands.</p> <p>You just have to volunteer your time to step foot on the islands.</p> <p>14 tourist sites will be closed for a portion of 2020, but volunteers that help rejuvenate the island are able to stay on the island for free during the maintenance period, which is during the weekend of April 16 – 17 2020.</p> <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/B37xx4cHMp3/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="12"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B37xx4cHMp3/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank">A post shared by Faroe Islands (@faroeislands)</a> on Oct 22, 2019 at 1:33pm PDT</p> </div> </blockquote> <p>Guðrið Højgaard, Director at Visit Faroe Islands, said successful applicants will need to apply quickly as the 2019 program saw thousands reach out to offer their assistance.</p> <p>"For us, tourism is not all about numbers," Højgaard told <em><a href="https://www.cnn.com/travel">CNN Travel</a></em> earlier this year.</p> <p>"We welcome visitors to the islands each year, but we also have a responsibility to our community and to our beautiful environment, and our aim is to preserve and protect the islands, ensuring sustainable and responsible growth."</p> <p>The first batch of volunteers included travellers from Mexico, Australia, China and the United States.</p> <p>The Faroe Islands’ capital of Tórshavn has a population of about 13,000 and visits to the islands have increased by 10 per cent over the last few years.</p>

Travel Trouble

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Scientists make huge discovery in penguin colony

<p>Australian, French and Japanese scientists <a href="http://www.oversixty.com.au/travel/cruising/2017/03/cruise-experiences-everyone-needs-to-have-once/"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>working in East Antarctica</strong></span></a> have made a huge discovery regarding the number of Adelie penguins in the region.  </p> <p>Working across a region around 5000km in size, scientists used surveys, tagging data and images to estimate there are around <a href="http://www.oversixty.com.au/news/news/2016/06/amputee-penguin-gets-new-prosthetic-foot/"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>six million birds</strong></span></a> in the area. Previous estimates had suggested there were only 3.6 million inhabiting the region.</p> <p>Seabird ecologist Dr Louise Emmerson said, “Non-breeding birds are harder to count because they are out foraging at sea, rather than nesting in colonies on land.</p> <p>“However, our study in East Antarctica, has shown that non-breeding Adélie penguins may be as, or more, abundant than the breeders.</p> <p>“These birds are an important reservoir of future breeders and estimating their numbers ensures we better understand the entire population’s foraging needs.”</p> <p>How cute? Have you ever seen an <a href="http://www.oversixty.com.au/travel/domestic-travel/2016/09/visiting-the-king-penguins-of-macquarie-island/"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Adelie penguin in real life</strong></span></a>?</p> <p><em>Credit: Australian Antarctic Division via Storyful</em></p>

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