This description is derived from notes taken during class and my memories of the session.

At the start of this week’s lecture, L3 briefly repeats the definition of Social Justice we learned the week before. He then gives some information about the Stolen Generations and apologises for having forgotten a name. Afterwards he briefly shows a satirical comic and asks us a reflection question. However, he does not expect an answer to this question right away and tells us to think about it for a while. As he goes on, he notices a number of typing errors on the slides and points them out to us.

For some reason it is impossible to open the classroom doors from the outside today. As a number of students are late today, they keep knocking. Every time L3 opens the door and welcomes them with a nice word.

The next part of the lecture treats a specific case in which the Commonwealth was challenged for removing a child from its parents. L3 begins this topic by giving extensive background knowledge about the removed person. While talking about claims and evidence, he catches himself frequently saying “but” and explains that he does not want to judge anything as right or wrong but that the word “but” will come up very often. He also says that he loves lawyers but that it can be very frustrating if they are on the opposition’s side. He then mentions a few films about the Stolen Generations we can watch to find out more and talks about a friend who helps people to reconnect with their families.

At the end of the lecture, L3 apologises for painting such a dark picture of history but adds that it is very important to understand what happened so that we can move on from there. He also repeats that he is always trying to avoid any judgement. {Click here for analysis} After he notices that it is still very early, he apologises for having raced through the lecture and starts a relaxed chat with the class. He tries to learn names and remember what subject the students are studying. Then he goes back to the topic of the lecture, telling the class that he can still remember how he was sitting in front of the TV when an important case about the Stolen Generations was decided. There were also many people in the University’s bar watching the decision, he says.

Then he picks up the topic of evidence again and finishes by underlining that no one should feel good or bad about what happened. But it is a part of Australia’s history and everyone should hope that we can move on now.

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