What Is Tasmania?

Abstract

Tasmania is a complex object, both sensual and idealistic. Its formation as a place relies upon the performance of archival manoeuvres in arenas striated by public and private affect and thought. Tasmania is theoretically knowable in unconditional language and exposed in plain sight but more forensic and contextual investigations into its character demand an encounter with the archive, which is itself dense and provocative. The archive theorised here is a medium and a false front, a zone of truth and an envelope of deception. Genocide and modernity are key dimensions of the Tasmanian archive and provide a plenitude of suggestibility, echoes and innuendo. In response to its own question, this chapter proposes that Tasmania is a place of genocide and a place of modernity.