COVID-19 and Sites of Confinement: Public Health, Disposable Lives and Legal Accountability in Immigration Detention and Aged Care

Dehm, Sara; Loughnan, Claire; Steele, Linda

doi:10.53637/gelr7037

Cited by 10 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…For Mbembe, power must be understood as more than simply the power over the management of life, arguing that Foucault’s concept of biopower (Foucault, 1978) is ‘insufficient to account for contemporary forms of subjugation of life to the power of death’ (Mbembe, 2003: 39). Rather, power is exercised through death, over particular – and typically racialised – populations, marking a ‘capacity to define who matters and who does not, who is disposable and who is not’ (Mbembe, 2003: 27).…”

Section: Abandonment Exception Deathmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This directs our attention to the production of ‘death-worlds, new and unique forms of social existence in which vast populations are subjected to conditions of life conferring upon them the status of living dead’ (Mbembe, 2003: 40). And it pivots our focus towards practices targeted not at the management of life (Foucault 1978) but at its destruction.…”

Section: Abandonment Exception Deathmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This failure to really see the wound is also a failure to see the person, in which what is seenor not seenis shaped by the scene of the violence itself. This suggests an inverse relationship between the surveillance characterising these sites, and the invisibility of those confined there, as human subjects worthy of full ethical and social recognition (Dehm et al, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These stories signal a startling coalescence in patterns of abuse in immigration detention and aged care 1 , despite clear distinctions between them and regardless of whether sites are purposed for 'care' or punishment (Australian Human Rights Commission, 2020;Briskman and Goddard, 2008: 221;Dehm et al, 2021;Human Rights Watch, 2020: 6-7;Maker and McSherry, 2018;Nethery, 2021;Sidoti, 1998: 126;Westbury et al, 2019). Evidence of abuse in aged care reveals it as a site of coercive confinement (Dehm et al, 2021: 63, 99;Repo, 2019) and systemic neglect (Greener, 2020) mirroring practices of control and mistreatment in immigration detention.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Emerging research is thus increasingly attuned to the evident disregard for human life in sites commonly associated with 'care' (Dehm et al, 2021;Disney, 2017;Greener, 2020: Repo, 2019. Extending on this, I aim to reveal the implicit violence of those practices which are less marked by outright physical and psychological mistreatment and conduct, than by the failure to treat, and to give care, in short by what appears as inaction (Bhatia, 2020: 282).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The scene and the unseen: Neglect and death in immigration detention and aged care

Loughnan

2022

Incarceration

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Institutional confinement is paradoxically characterised by intense surveillance, while those confined are often rendered invisible as persons of value and agency. Our capacity to ‘see’ violence in such sites can also be harder to discern when it is the manifestation of neglect: not so much as mistreatment but untreatment, the failure to act. Drawing on Mbembe’s concept of necropolitics and Agamben's conceptualisation of the exception and abandonment, I propose that the deaths resulting from the untreated skin wounds of Annunziata Nancy Santoro, in aged care, and those of Hamid Khazaei, in immigration detention, are the effect of their location in what I call ‘zones of neglect’. Whether in places of care or punishment, neglect functions here as a form of power, in which responsibility for suffering paradoxically recedes from view. This analysis contributes to a growing body of research on quasi-carceral sites that sit uneasily along a continuum of care and control.

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Section: Abandonment Exception Deathmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Abandonment Exception Deathmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The scene and the unseen: Neglect and death in immigration detention and aged care

Loughnan

2022

Incarceration

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‘Vulnerable Monsters’: Constructions of Dementia in the Australian Royal Commission into Aged Care

Chelberg

2023

Int J Semiot Law

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This paper argues that while regulatory frameworks in aged care authorise restraints to protect vulnerable persons living with dementia from harm, they also serve as normalising practices to control challenging monstrous Others. This argument emerges out of an observed unease in aged care discourse where older people living with dementia are described as ‘vulnerable’, while dementia behaviours are described as ‘challenging’. Using narrative analysis on a case study from the Final Report of the Australian Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety (RCAC), this paper investigates how the RCAC (re)produced constructions of persons with dementia as ‘vulnerable monsters’. Drawing upon monstrous theory about ‘unruly and leaky’ bodies, extracts from the case study reveal how the RCAC repeated and reinforced monstrous constructions of dementia. Dementia behaviours, particularly ‘wandering’, were constructed through a dehumanising crisis frame that produced ‘challenging’ bodies and legitimised ‘last resort’ normalising practices, such as physical and chemical restraints. In failing to resist monstrous constructions of dementia behaviours, the RCAC accepted and authorised a regime of scaled responses leading to restrictive practices for control of challenging bodies in aged care. Although dementia care and restrictive practices received substantial attention in the RCAC, this paper reveals a missed opportunity for deeper review of institutionalised use of restraints that has relevance for ongoing reform of Australian aged care following conclusion of the RCAC.

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Ethics and Health Security in the Australian COVID-19 Context: A Critical Interpretive Literature Review

Fehross,

Pahlman,

Silva

2023

Bioethical Inquiry

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Background The concept of “health security” is often used to motivate public health responses, yet the ethical values that underpin this concept remain largely unexamined. The recent Australian responses to COVID-19 serve as an important case study by which we can analyse the pre-existing literature to see what ethical values shaped, and continue to shape, Australia’s response. Methods We conducted a critical interpretive literature review of academic and grey literatures within key databases, resulting in 2,220 sources. After screening for duplicates and relevance, we analysed ninety-six sources. Results First, risk and uncertainty are a leading focus, with a heavy concentration on risks to life and health. Second, free movement, safety, and security were recurringly emphasized, albeit narrowly focused upon the safety of the population. Third, legitimacy was a recurring theme, and it is here that discussions of “health security” figured highly. Conclusion Discussions of harm from government and associated official bodies fail to adequately distinguish between various senses of harm. Moreover, while the literature often discusses the balancing of rights, the steps involved in the weighing of these rights is rarely adequately explained and defended. We suggest that decision-makers should endeavour to clearly identify and defend the values undergirding their decisions in the public sphere.

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COVID-19 and Sites of Confinement: Public Health, Disposable Lives and Legal Accountability in Immigration Detention and Aged Care

Cited by 10 publications

References 3 publications

The scene and the unseen: Neglect and death in immigration detention and aged care

The scene and the unseen: Neglect and death in immigration detention and aged care

‘Vulnerable Monsters’: Constructions of Dementia in the Australian Royal Commission into Aged Care

Ethics and Health Security in the Australian COVID-19 Context: A Critical Interpretive Literature Review

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