Archives as 'Thin Places' single work   criticism  
Issue Details: First known date: 2022... 2022 Archives as 'Thin Places'
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Drawing on the Irish notion of a ‘thin place’ (where the veil between us and the spirit world is so thin that we can sense those on the other side), this paper outlines an approach to archival research and creative practice which seeks to reawaken and give voice to the ghosts of some of Australia’s earliest refugees. This work uncovers new connections between the Great Irish Famine, a humanitarian crisis which halved Ireland’s population and the cyclical incarceration and abuse of young women in New South Wales in the 1860s and 1870s—to highlight a small but significant, yet largely unwritten, chapter in Irish-Australian history. Employing poetics of resistance incorporating elements of these young women’s outlawed native Irish language and culture, this work seeks to decolonise their memories and restore voice to those who suffered the brutal consequences of colonisation in both their native and adopted countries.' (Publication abstract)

Affiliation Notes

  • This work has been affiliated with the Irishness in Australian Literature dataset because it contains Irish characters, settings, tropes or themes.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Axon : Creative Explorations Archives, Counter-Memory, Creative Practice and Poetry vol. 12 no. 2 December 2022 25907179 2022 periodical issue

    'A great deal of poetry and other creative writing uses diverse archival material, including the literary, historical and the biographical. Yet the relationship of creative writers—and creative artists more generally—to existing archives has often been uncomfortable and has posed significant questions for the writers, historians and archivists involved. This issue brings numerous research and creative perspectives to bear on these relationships, including the perspectives of writers who have found the archives richly populated with material relevant to their projects, and writers who have found very little archival material at all connecting to their creative work. In every case, these writers have addressed archival material in particular ways, shaping it for their own creative and often political purposes.' (Paul Hetherington Editorial)

    2022
Last amended 1 Sep 2024 10:00:06
https://www.axonjournal.com.au/issues/12-2/archives-thin-places Archives as 'Thin Places'small AustLit logo Axon : Creative Explorations
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