Apologising to the stolen generations: Argument, rhetoric, and identity inpublic reasoning

Since the appearance of the Bringing Them Home report in 1997, text and tal k about the appropriateness of a removal of Indigenous children from their families and communities have appeared on a regular basis in national and l ocal print media, on television and radio. in organised community meetings, and also in everyday discussions between ordinary people. This paper emplo ys a critical discursive approach to analyse the ways in which common argum entative forms, discursive practices, and rhetorical devices were deployed in 104 emailed comments to a newspaper website that either denied or assert ed the appropriateness of a national apology. Our analysis emphasises the c onstructive nature of discourse: the ways in which discursive practices con stitute objects and events in particular ways and with particular consequen ces. Specifically, we identify a number of rhetorically self-sufficient arg uments that were deployed in these texts, as well as focusing on the strate gic management of stake and interest, and the construction of membership ca tegories and entitlements. The analysis is located within the discursive li terature on "race" and racism, and serves, more generally, to illustrate th e ways in which issues of identity underpin broader cultural and political debates about "nationhood", "race", and "ethnicity".