'In reference to the recent awareness of “the growing use of the idea of ‘entanglement’ as a key theoretical term in the humanities and social sciences” this issue reflects the increasing challenge “to move away from narrowly defined ‘national’ histories towards an understanding of [Australian] History [and presence] as an interlinked whole where identities and places are the products of mobilities and connections”. 1 We take up this flexible approach to gain a deeper understanding of a spectacular experiment which ended in a clash of cultures but also led to transcultural collaboration. It was the result of European ‘entanglement’ overseas, that is, Europe’s presence among Indigenous populations and its invasive influence on these societies. Like elsewhere, the colonial past is still present today in Australia and former colonial power relations continue to have an impact in the present. This causes never-ending intricate debates on the historical, political, social, cultural and legal circumstances of European settlement in Australia. Today’s coexistence of Indigenous people and new Australians of diverse backgrounds is determined by hidden implications, outspoken arguments, and concessions not yet achieved within the fragmentary context of these debates. As a result, the colonial legacy remains in the widest sense a controversial issue for politicians and academics, and this in all her facets. Academic research, therefore, will always reflect contested views on the colonial era of intercultural encounter. This also applies to the perception of the Indigenous peoples’ joint efforts to save their culture in a postcolonial context. Most notably, as this issue of the Australian Studies Journal – Zeitschrift für Australienstudien mainly will show, academic research on a global scale, i.e. across national, ethnic, social, religious, gender-related and disciplinary boundaries, but also across divided attitudes, might raise public awareness for shared values in an interlinked world.' (Editorial introduction)
Contents indexed selectively.
In 1962, Douglas Pike, the Professor of History at the Australian National University, published a book called Australia: The Quiet Continent. As the title indicates, Pike describes a land only awakened from its historical slumber by the arrival of Europeans at the end of the eighteenth century. Aboriginal participation in the nation’s story is quieted in Pike’s work. Aboriginal people are barely mentioned in 233 pages of text, other than being referred to as “native people [held] in stone-age bondage” (1) or as “primitive food-gatherers [who] were no match for the white invader” (36). Passages stating that “the Australian communities took shape as peaceful outposts of British civilization” (3), ignore or suppress any suggestion that the land was taken from Aboriginal people by force. This was entirely in keeping with the fashion of Australian historical narrative for the time.' (Introduction)
'The Australian film Jindabyne (dir. Ray Lawrence, 2006) opens with a blurry shot of dry grasslands and a string of barbed wire in sharp focus horizontally across the screen (Fig. 1). The shot runs for 32 seconds before the camera tilts up, bringing into focus both the grassland and a cluster of huge boulders on a hill in the background – all in one take, no cut. Next the camera shows a pick-up truck, motor idling, with an older non-Aboriginal man behind the wheel hiding behind the rocks – the murderer of an Aboriginal woman, as we will learn later – followed by an extreme high angle long shot of the dry landscape below the hill where a car is approaching. Shots inside the car present a young Aboriginal woman, happily driving, while intercutting shows the man leaving his hide-out to intercept her.' (Introduction)
'This book is a valuable asset to every library focusing on Indigenous Studies in general and Australian Aboriginal Studies in particular. It offers a comprehensive overview of Australian Aboriginal literature from its beginnings in print up to the present with a focus on a variety of topics and genres, including life writing, songpoetry, (young) adult fiction, gothic texts, drama, film and popular music. The book itself is aesthetically very enjoyable, with a beautiful painting on the cover mixing different Aboriginal artistic styles (it would have been nice to get information on the artist and title), a superb (copy)editing, a pleasant font, and general handling. The editor provides a very helpful twelve page-chronology of Australian Aboriginal history and a ten-page index.' (Introduction)
