Article: The Negative Commonwealth: Australia as ‘Laboratory’, Then and Now

by Lorenzo Veracini and Dan Tout

Federated Australia was seen for a long time as a significant social ‘laboratory’. The Commonwealth itself was seen as an ‘experiment’. This widespread metaphor relied on a particular pattern of perception: the country was ‘new’ (it was not), and the country was allegedly isolated (it was not, at least not completely). Many believed that its social environment could be controlled, like that of a scientific laboratory. A laboratory is designed to shut all disturbances out – the value of the data and experiments depends on it.

Article: Beautiful Detritus

by Georgia Lockie

Once abundant and collective, utopian dreams had, by the turn of the millennium, largely receded from the social world, leaving a void to be increasingly filled by new dystopias—climate destabilisation; resurgent right-wing authoritarianism; technological domination; plague—the future becoming a prospect less of collective hope or aspiration than dread.

Homage to Touraine

by Francois Dubet and Michel Wieviorka

Alain Touraine died in Paris 9 June 2023. Thesis Eleven is proud to honour his memory with this homage co-authored by Francois Dubet and Michel Wieviorka. The essay was originally published in La Vie des idées and translated into English for Thesis Eleven by David Roberts

Article: “You all ok?” The Impossibility of Being Alright amid Mass Violence

by Christopher G. Robbins

In response to the 17th mass shooting in only 14 days of February 2023, or the 71st mass shooting in 45 days of 2023 in the U.S, this time at Michigan State University, my friend who lives a world away in Australia wrote a short, caring message, “You all ok? Re Lansing?” I live approximately 60 miles away from Lansing and have colleagues who work there and close friends whose children attend school there.

Some contexts of Jeremy Beckett 1931-2022

by Tim Rowse

Jeremy Beckett died in Sydney 8 December 2022. Thesis Eleven is proud to honour his memory with this appreciation of Jeremy and his work, revised by Tim Rowse from an earlier version published in Encounters with Indigeneity: Writing about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. We are grateful to both Tim Rowse and Aboriginal Studies Press for the opportunity to republish this work in celebration of Jeremy’s life and work