CRIS Recommends
What we’re reading, watching, listening to and talking about
CRIS Recommends
A selection of recommendations from our team
‘Manifesto: on never giving up’ by Bernadine Evaristo
Recommended by Dr Vivian Gerrand, Building Resilience to Social Harms (Including Violent Extremism)
I am encouraged by Evaristo’s frank and open approach to the challenges and setbacks she has encountered and her expansive, optimistic worldview that incorporates these into the fabric of her identity which she explores in a dynamic autobiographical format as a mixed race, bisexual woman.
It speaks to me as an attitude of persistence is one of the things that has enabled me to continue to work as a researcher through tumultuous times.
‘Rise of the Extreme Right’ by Lydia Khalil
Recommended by Professor Michele Grossman, Director
Lydia’s book brings much needed accessible, yet rigorous, analysis of the far-right threat to the Australian public. ‘Rise of the Extreme Right’ makes it clear that the far right threatens more than just violence, but constitutes an attack on our democracies. A mix of case studies encourage us to think about the roles of the media, government, law enforcement and communities in building resilience to the extreme right and their radicalisation tactics. We know that it will take effort from all of us to do this – so the important insights this book delivers are critical.
‘Diversity and Belonging: This American Life’ gets to the heart of some of the issues CRIS is working on. This episode, featuring Dr Rachael Jacobs, spans topics like cultural appropriation vs cultural appreciation, the problematic nature of ‘Harmony Day’ and the ways that the arts can bridge gaps in cultural understanding.
'Evicted' by Matthew Desmond
Recommended by Dr Susan Sisko, Challenging Racisms and Enhancing Social Belonging
This is a 2017 Pulitzer Prize Winner about poverty and profit in America. The book describes the exploration of the abuse of one of our basic human rights: shelter. I do not think it is too far from issues of shelter in Australia.
(Image credit: ABC TV)
This documentary on a pilot on anti-racism work for school children has some heart warming moments, but can sometimes be quite confronting. Nobody is born racist, but it’s staggering to see how biases are deeply internalised at such a young age. While it doesn’t get everything right, we see some useful prompts about how to talk about race and racism, not just with children but with each other.
Masculinity and Violent Extremism by Joshua Roose, Michael Flood, Alan Greig, Mark Alfano & Simon Copland
Recommended by Professor Shahram Akbarzadeh, Deputy Director
This much anticipated book fills a gap in the literature, and will be relevant to global audiences. There has been a lot in the media about toxic masculinity and the ways it enables radicalisation: this book provides the evidence from an international survey and in-depth interviews with Australian men. I am looking forward to reading it immensely.