Chosen Son

Description:

Told from the perspective of a non-Indigenous foster sister, The Chosen Son recounts one woman's lifelong quest to come to terms with her family's role in colonial policies that separated Indigenous children from their parents.

Brief description: Leanne Weber is a Research Professor in the Canberra Law School with a multidisciplinary background in the social sciences. She researches policing and border control using criminological and human rights frameworks. Leanne holds an MA in the theory and practice of human rights from the University of Essex, and an MPhil and PhD in criminology from the University of Cambridge.Leanne joined CLS in February 2021, having previously been a Future Fellow in the School of Social Sciences and Director of the Border Crossing Observatory at Monash University. Prior to that she was a Larkins Research Fellow at the same institution.

Review Quotes:

This book, the words, the expression, the pain and the love clearly comes from a place of knowing. The author's experiences, although a mere fragment of The Stolen Generations history of being a white child born into a white family following the forced removal of an Aboriginal boy, has never been explored like this. An essential component for all to learn and understand the importance of accountability.

Robyn Newitt, Yorta Yorta and Tharawal woman and

Monash University Lecturer

Written from the perspective of the younger sister/daughter, with the insights of an academic mind, The Chosen Son is profound, painful, and informative. The subtle and ethical way the author has negotiated the fraught and challenging nexus of personal story, Indigenous histories and the ramifications for us as a nation deserves a wide audience.

Distinguished Professor Lynette Russell AM, Monash Indigenous Studies Centre

The Chosen Son is a beautifully crafted book. It is a story of familial relationships lived through the cruelty of colonial policies of First Nations child removal and placement with non-Aboriginal families. Although there may be no equivalence between the coloniser and the colonised in the pains and horrors suffered through colonialism, as the author writes, 'we are all part of the same unfolding story'.

Professor Chris Cunneen, Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research