POWER KNOWLEDGE AND PUBLIC SPACE - POLICING THE ABORIGINAL TOWNS/

The over representation of Aboriginal people in the criminal justice s ystem is very well established. Further, the role of the police as an organ playing a key role in this over representation - as distinct fro m essentially passive respondents to a presumably criminal Aboriginal population - has also been widely accepted within the field of crimino logy. This article is an attempt to form an understanding of the inter action between Aboriginal people and police by analysing the manner in which knowledge of the Aboriginal subject is constructed through mate rial police practices in a particular context - the rural communities of North-West New South Wales. The paper emphasises the relationship b etween the structural imperatives of policing and the specific conditi ons of particular policed spaces, and the active role played by Aborig inal people in the creation of policing outcomes.