Governmentality and 'fearless speech': framing the education of asylum seeker and refugee children in Australia

• Published in: Oxford review of education Vol. 32; no. 4; pp. 449 - 465
• Main Authors: Christie, Pam, Sidhu, Ravinder
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Routledge 01.09.2006; Carfax Publishing; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Access to education; Asylum seekers; Asylum, Right of; Australia; Child abuse; Child Welfare; Children; Children & youth; Children's rights; Childrens Rights; Citizenship; Detention; Discourse; Education; Educational Opportunities; Equal education; Ethics; Foreign Countries; Government; Immigrants; Immigration policy; Liberalism; Moral values; Pedagogy; Power; Primary secondary education; Provisions; Public Policy; Refugees; Social justice; State; Studies; Treaties; Violence; Australia
• ISSN: 0305-4985; 1465-3915
• DOI: 10.1080/03054980600884177

This paper considers the educational provision for, and general treatment of, refugee and asylum seeker children in Australia, using a framework of governmentality. The paper describes the regimes of practices which govern refugees and asylum seekers in Australia, including mandatory detention and a complex set of visa categorisations, and considers their consequences for the educational provision for children. It addresses three questions: How is it possible that the rights of children have been rendered invisible in and by a democratic state? How are repressive and even violent practices normalised in a liberal state, so that ordinary citizens show so little concern about them? And what should our response be as educators and intellectuals? In conclusion, it explores Foucault's notions of ethics and fearless speech (parrhesia) as a basis for an ethics of engagement in education.