A Comparative Discussion of the Racialized Play of Symbolic Capital in Cultural and Political Economies of Indigenous Gambling in Australia and the United States

  • Fiona Nicoll
    University of Queensland

Abstract

This article aims to unsettle a pervasive cultural distinction between gambling – on one hand - and the competitive games of society – on the other - by exploring the role of whiteness as a form of symbolic capital in two different but closely related nations. Rather than following Pierre Bourdieu in relegating gambling to the constitutive outside of neo-liberal cultural and political economies, where sub-proletarian subjects are rendered simultaneously the object of an academic gaze and of public worrying about problem gambling, I will explore racialized dimensions of the many games of strength, skill and chance that constitute everyday culture in ex-settler-colonial nations. Comparative discussion highlights the role of gambling in mediating and transforming relationships of sovereignty between Indigenous and non-Indigenous citizens in Australia and the US.

Published: 2009-06-01
Pages:10 to 24
Section: Articles
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How to Cite
Nicoll, F. (2009). A Comparative Discussion of the Racialized Play of Symbolic Capital in Cultural and Political Economies of Indigenous Gambling in Australia and the United States. International Journal of Critical Indigenous Studies, 2(2), 10-24. https://doi.org/10.5204/ijcis.v2i2.27