Where did the modern prison and detention centre come from? In this subject students will explore how present detainment practices are part of a long tradition that includes workhouses, leper colonies, mental health facilities, indigenous missions, migration centres, and internment, prisoner of war and concentration camps. We will investigate how past practices of incarceration and containment have emerged to define and shape relationships within and between communities. Students will examine how containment has been used and justified as a response to social problems and political conflicts and as a means of dealing with people associated with them. Experiences and representations of incarceration and containment will also be explored. Students will consider the implications of detainment for human rights, citizenship and community well-being. Students in any undergraduate course at La Trobe can use this subject as an elective to meet the Global Citizenship Essential.

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