Program

Who gets to belong in Australia, and on whose terms? From very different starting points, Joshua Gilbert and Tyree Barnette reflect on how land, race and power shape ideas of identity and home. Gilbert brings an Indigenous, future-focused perspective grounded in Country, agriculture and cultural continuity. Barnette offers the lens of a Black American migrant learning how race, privilege and belonging shift across national borders. Together, they examine the stories Australia tells about itself and the tensions between welcome, ownership and sovereignty. This is a conversation about belonging that rejects easy answers and what it might mean to build a shared future without erasing difference or history.