Indigenous Australia in Literature: Listenin' Up (ENGL3045)
2009

Texts

The Truth About Stories: A Native Narrative!$!King, Thomas!$!!$!University of Minnesota Press!$!2005
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y separately published work icon Macquarie PEN Anthology of Aboriginal Literature Anita Heiss (editor), Peter Minter (editor), Nicholas Jose (editor), Crows Nest : Allen and Unwin , 2008 Z1483175 2008 anthology poetry drama prose correspondence criticism extract (taught in 19 units)

'An authoritative survey of Australian Aboriginal writing over two centuries, across a wide range of fiction and non-fiction genres. Including some of the most distinctive writing produced in Australia, it offers rich insights into Aboriginal culture and experience...

'The anthology includes journalism, petitions and political letters from both the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, as well as major works that reflect the blossoming of Aboriginal poetry, prose and drama from the mid-twentieth century onwards. Literature has been used as a powerful political tool by Aboriginal people in a political system which renders them largely voiceless. These works chronicle the ongoing suffering of dispossession, but also the resilience of Aboriginal people across the country, and the hope and joy in their lives.' (Publisher's blurb)

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y separately published work icon Carpentaria Alexis Wright , Artarmon : Giramondo Publishing , 2006 Z1184902 2006 single work novel (taught in 47 units) Carpentaria's portrait of life in the precariously settled coastal town of Desperance centres on the powerful Phantom family, whose members are the leaders of the Pricklebush people, and their battles with old Joseph Midnight's tearaway Eastend mob on the one hand, and the white officials of Uptown and the neighbouring Gurfurrit mine on the other. Wright's storytelling is operatic and surreal: a blend of myth and scripture, politics and farce. The novel is populated by extraordinary characters - Elias Smith the outcast saviour, the religious zealot Mozzie Fishman, leader of the holy Aboriginal pilgrimage, the murderous mayor Stan Bruiser, the ever-vigilant Captain Nicoli Finn, the activist and prodigal son Will Phantom, and above all, Angel Day the queen of the rubbish-dump, and her sea-faring husband Normal Phantom, the fish-embalming king of time - figures that stand like giants in this storm-swept world. (Backcover)
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Well, I Heard It on the Radio and I Saw It on the Television: An Essay for the Australian Film Commission on the Politics and Aesthetics of Filmmaking by and about Aboriginal People and Things!$!Langton, Marcia!$!Sydney!$!ABC!$!1993
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y separately published work icon Sweet Water : Stolen Land Philip McLaren , St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 1993 Z32091 1993 single work novel historical fiction (taught in 8 units) 'The destinies of two families, black and white, are fatally interwoven... in this frontier novel. Racial brutality and the tragic account of the Myall Creek massacre underscore the story of Ginny and Wollumbuy, Kamilaroi people of Warrumbungle Range. Mysterious killings follow the arrival Karl and Gundrun Maresch, a German couple who establish a Lutheran mission near the young settlement of Coonabarabran.' (Source: Publisher's blurb)
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y separately published work icon I'm Not Racist, But... : A Collection of Social Observations Anita Heiss , Cambridge : Salt Publishing , 2007 Z1387344 2007 selected work poetry (taught in 4 units) I'm Not Racist, but ... is a collection of social observations, thoughts and conversations that will challenge the reader to consider issues of imposed and real Aboriginal identity, the process of reconciliation and issues around saying 'sorry', notions of 'truth' and integrity, biculturalism and invisible whiteness, entrenched racism and political correctness.' Source: Publisher's blurb.
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y separately published work icon Sweet Guy Jared Thomas , 2002 Alice Springs : IAD Press , 2005 Z1008736 2002 single work novel young adult (taught in 4 units) 'If Michael Sweet thought his early teens were difficult he's in for a shock now he's eighteen and ready to start uni. The pressures of study making new friends and moving into a co-ed college are only the beginning. When Michael sets out to woo the girl of his dreams he gets more than he bargained for. It makes dealing with his drop-kick father and the antics of his madcap surfer mate Angus seem a breeze. But life is about to dish up some surprises that help Michael meet the challenges head on.' Source: Publishers blurb. (Sighted 28/07/2009).
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Description

Indigenality and Indigenous issues in Australia have been constructed and represented through different literary genres and for different political purposes. This course uses both Indigenous and non-Indigenous texts to examine the ways in which "Indigenality" and "whiteness" have been perpetuated and included in mainstream Australian culture using both fictional and non-fictional texts.

Objectives- Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

1. Describe how representations of identity are constructed and used in literature.

2. Discuss issues related to "race" relations today.

3. Critically evaluate the construction of "whiteness" in Indigenous and non-Indigenous representations.

4. Identify responses to change and difference.

5. Respond to and engage in local, national and global cultural communities.

6. Communicate a scholarly attitude towards representation of Indigenous and non-Indigenous knowledges.

Content- The course covers:

* Different cultural and political uses of literary texts

* Representations of colonisation and post-colonial discourses

* Theoretical and practical examples of Indigenous knowledges, pedagogies and communication tools

* Exploration of Indigenous and non-Indigenous constructions of Australian identity

Assessment

Essays / Written Assignments - Essay worth 20%

Group/tutorial participation and contribution - Attendance at seminars is compulsory. Two absences are allowable in the case of illness or other emergencies, and two more absences may be recovered by completing extra work on each of the seminars missed, but further absences will be regarded as failure to complete the course.

Journal - 8 Journal entries, Journal worth 40%

Projects - Research project worth 40%

Other Details

Levels: Undergraduate
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