Another Day in the Colony.
In this collection of deeply insightful and powerful essays, Chelsea Watego examines the ongoing and daily racism faced by First Nations peoples in so-called Australia. Rather than offer yet another account of ‘the Aboriginal problem’, she theorises a strategy for living in a society that has only ever imagined Indigenous peoples as destined to die out.
Yet when told to have hope, Watego’s response rings clear:
Fuck hope. Be sovereign.
awards
2023 Shortlist
NSW Premier’s Literary Awards for Non-fiction
2023 Shortlist
NSW Premier’s Literary Awards for Indigenous Writers’ Prize
2022 Shortlist
Prime Minister’s Literary Awards for Non-fiction
2022 Shortlist
Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards for Non-fiction
2022 Longlist
The Stella Prize
2022 Winner
The Courier-Mail People’s Choice Queensland Book of the Year Award
2022 Shortlist
The Queensland Premier’s Award for a Work of State Significance
2022 Shortlist
The University of Queensland Non-Fiction Book Award
2022 Shortlist
Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards for Indigenous Writing
2022 Longlist
Australian Book Industry Awards – General Non-fiction Book of the Year
‘By the time I came to the end of this chapter – with only a few pages of the book left – I was shaking my head with appreciation. Reading Watego, I was reminded of how the Mohawk political scientist Taiaiake Alfred and the Anishinaabe feminist Leanne Betasamosake Simpson take a sceptical stance toward the idea of liberal evolution, or what Watego calls “the ’67 Referendum was a sign of progress” kind of Blackness. They seek not inclusion in settler-colonial society, but flourishing; a self-determination based on loving and resisting “as we have always done”.
This is flourishing on our terms. No sanctions. No permissions. No slaves. No masters.’
Declan Fry
‘Watego has an engaging, accessible voice, both unflinching and vulnerable, but also really funny, and cheeky too. Sometimes it condenses into academic lingo, but it’s never dry and it’s only ever briefly, before slipping back into her more familiar assertive or humorous delivery. As the voice of the book is lived-in and black, so too is the binang / ear of the book. Watego is very clear that this book was written for blackfellas (though she knows others will be listening in). I felt centred from the get-go knowing that this book was intended for me.’
Mykala Saunders
other review comments
‘A fierce manifesto for First Nations to flourish.’
‘Without doubt this phenomenal collection will service First Nation communities. Its timeliness may also shift false narratives that have reinforced the colony for too long.’
‘Each essay is as honest and raw as the next. At times vulnerable, at times wry. Artfully forensic. In reading Another Day I felt cared for… A must read. One to come back to again and again.’
‘As well as personal testimony, Watego uses a blend of academic expertise and comic genius to forensically dissect the relationship between violence, the compliance and the silence of colonial narrative. … In Another Day in the Colony, Chelsea Watego usurps the motives of the colony, showing you exactly who and what an Aboriginal is capable of. This book is Deadly!’
‘Ground-breaking and deeply powerful, Another Day in the Colony is a phenomenal collection of essays by Dr. Chelsea Watego, a Munanjahli and South Sea Islander woman born and raised on Yuggera country and an Indigenist health humanities scholar, prolific writer and public intellectual. Many people will see themselves in this book, love it and underline it, share with their friends and family, be confronted and challenged by its power and truth-telling. Part memoir, part historical reclamation, part critical race analysis, Another Day in the Colony takes colonial narratives and exposes their lies. It is brilliant and one of the best things I’ve read all year.’
Better Read than Dead
‘In this collection of sharply written, fiercely intelligent and engaging essays, Watego is clear that her book will not surrender to the settler-colonial narrative that pervades the Australian literary scene … This book is absolutely essential reading.’
‘This book is above all a warm tribute to the intimate teachings, beauty, pain and joy shared in Black homes and around the kitchen table, across generations, and on any given day in the colony.’
The Big Issue
‘[Watego] subverts the dominant narrative that Australia has shucked off its colonial mentality … she elaborates strategies for living fully based in truth-telling; the most important truth being that sovereignty was never ceded.’
‘Watego has an engaging, accessible voice, both unflinching and vulnerable, but also really funny, and cheeky too … As I read this book I cried, laughed, cheered and raged, I felt sick and heartsore and happy; as my pulse raced and slowed down, so did my breath.’
‘Through inspiring acts of sovereignty and triumphant resistance, Chelsea Watego crafts a powerful and important personal account that is a must-read: confronting, generous, moving and insightful. She is a defining voice of her generation and our people.’
Dist Prof Larissa Behrendt