Place, Race and Politics

Leanne Weber is Professor of Criminology at the University of Canberra and a Research Associate at the Centre for Criminology, Oxford University.Jarrett Blaustein is Senior Lecturer in Criminology in the School of Social Sciences at Monash University.Kathryn Benier is Lecturer in Criminology in the School of Social Sciences at Monash University.Rebecca Wickes is Professor of Criminology at the School of Social Sciences at Monash University.Diana Johns is Senior Lecturer in Criminology in the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Melbourne.

How is it that South Sudanese migrants, an overwhelming law-abiding group, have come to be criminalised in Australia? Using the 2016 Moomba ‘riot’, Place, Race and Politics charts the creation of a racialised law and order crisis in Melbourne. This terrific new book provides a detailed analysis of how social and political processes came to associate South Sudanese blackness with violent crime and what the consequences of this criminalisation were on the community. I strongly recommend it.

• Chapter 1. Introduction: The Foundations of a Law and Order Crisis Chapter 2. From ‘Apex’ to ‘#Africangangs’ Chapter 3. The Racialisation of Crime: ‘African gangs’ and the Media with Chloe Keel, Greg Koumouris and Claire Moran Chapter 4. ‘No-one Thinks You are Innocent’: Policing the ‘Crimmigrant other’ Chapter 5. Impact on the South Sudanese and Wider Australian Communities Conclusion: The Anatomy of a Law and Order Crisis