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)
Carpentaria
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)
'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
North Sydney
:
Australian Film Commission
,
1993
Z1645838
1993
single work
criticism
(taught in 8 units)
Marcia Langton analyses the making and watching of films, videos and TV programs by Aboriginal people in remote and settled Australia. She introduces theoretical perspectives to investigate concepts of Aboriginality and presents case studies of films such as Jedda, Tracey Moffat's Night Cries, Brian Syron's Jindalee Lady and Ned Lander and Rachel Perkin's film of the Warlpiri Fire Ceremony Jardiwarnpa. The central requirement is to develop a body of knowledge on representation of Aboriginal people and their concerns in art, film, television or other media and a critical perspective to do with aesthetics and politics, drawing from Aboriginal world views, from western traditions and from history.
True Country
Fremantle
:
Fremantle Press
,
1993
Z165486
1993
single work
novel
(taught in 30 units)
'Billy is drifting, looking for a place to land. A young school teacher, he arrives in Australia's remote far north in search of his own history, his Aboriginality, and his future. He finds himself in a region of abundance and beauty but also of conflict, dispossession and dislocation. On the desperate frontier between cultures, Billy must find his place of belonging.' (Source: Fremantle Press website)
Shark
Broome
:
Magabala Books
,
1999
Z834973
1999
single work
novel
(taught in 8 units)
The third novel in the series that began with Fox and Ruby-Eyed Coucal. Jim Fox has recently returned to the land of his birth from the Papuan war of independence. Meanwhile, the sleepy town of Tired Sailor is nudged awake when a black child arrives, but will it ever really wake up? (Source: Publisher's website)
Not Meeting Mr Right
Milsons Point
:
Bantam Australia
,
2007
Z1354637
2007
single work
novel
humour
(taught in 5 units)
'Alice Aigner is successful, independent and a confirmed serial dater - but at her ten-year school reunion she has a sudden change of heart. Bored rigid by her married, mortgaged and motherly former classmates, Alice decides to prove that a woman can have it all: a man, marriage, career, kids and a mind of her own.
'She sets herself a goal: meet the perfect man and marry him before her thirtieth birthday, just under two years away. Together with her best friends Dannie, Liza and Peta, Alice draws up a ten-point plan. Then, with a little help from her mum, her dad, her brothers, her colleagues and her neighbour across the hall, she sets out to find Mr Right. Unfortunately for Alice, it's not quite as easy as she imagines.
'Who could not fall in love with our Koori heroine as she dates (among others): Renan, whose career goal is to be the world's best moonwalker and male hula dancer; Tufu the commitment-phobic Samoan football player; scary Simon the one-night stand; and Paul - Mr Dreamboat, but perhaps too good to be true. All the while, Alice skilfully avoids dating Cliff, son of her mum's friend, a confirmed bachelor who isn't likely to settle down with a woman anytime soon.' (Publisher's blurb)
Us Mob Walawurru
Broome
:
Magabala Books
,
2006
Z1351669
2006
single work
novel
young adult
(taught in 2 units)
Central Australia 1960's ... Ruby lives on a cattle station and goes to the 'silver bullet' school, where she comes across Mr Duncan, her teacher. Ruby begins to question his unusual ways, and in doing so, awakens to her past and the differences between the two cultures and why they are at odds.
Sweet Water : Stolen Land
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)
I'm Not Racist, But... : A Collection of Social Observations
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.
Course 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.
Course 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
Essay of 1500 words = 30%
Essay of 2000 words = 40%
Journal
5 reading journal entries @ 300 words each = 30%.
