This book is about the lifestyle and changes that affected a Torres Strait Island woman, as she saw them. She writes about the elements and changes that not only affected her but also of the women that surrounded her. This is an overall picture of how they were, and how they are.
'During the 1980s Aboriginal Australians experienced setbacks in their quest for the restoration of their land rights. Neoliberal politics reframed such demands as special interests seeking to gain a material advantage at the expense of the general community and as a threat to the economic security of the nation. As a consequence, politicians failed to pass legislation that would formalize the national land rights system that would guarantee Aboriginal economic self-sufficiency. This paper argues that it was in this context that Aboriginal memoir emerged to prompt social action by recounting experiences of discrimination and exploitation erased by official history and by challenging the imposed racist stereotypes used to marginalize Aboriginal claims. These memoirs prompted sympathy and understanding among a broad readership, which enabled the formation of a political solidarity over the recognition of Aboriginal land rights. These memoirs also expressed a commonality of Aboriginal experience that served to unite an increasingly frayed Aboriginal activist movement eroded by neoliberal policies.' (Publication abstract)
Life Writing : Literarische Identitatskonstruktion in schwarzaustralischen Autobiographien und Lebensgeschichten
Berne
:
Peter Lang
,
1999
Z1093511
1999
single work
criticism
The study Life Writing: Literarische Identitätskonstruktion in schwarzaustralischen Autobiographien und Lebensgeschichten [Life Writing: Literary construction of identity in black-Australian autobiographies and life stories] looks at 50 autobiographical texts by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander writers, published up to 1992. It examines in more detail some representative works, focussing on the subject of identity. Moreover, it discusses problems surrounding the European representation of indigeous peoples predominant in previous studies of black Australian writing. Includes short biographies of writers discussed.
Life Writing : Literarische Identitatskonstruktion in schwarzaustralischen Autobiographien und Lebensgeschichten
Berne
:
Peter Lang
,
1999
Z1093511
1999
single work
criticism
The study Life Writing: Literarische Identitätskonstruktion in schwarzaustralischen Autobiographien und Lebensgeschichten [Life Writing: Literary construction of identity in black-Australian autobiographies and life stories] looks at 50 autobiographical texts by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander writers, published up to 1992. It examines in more detail some representative works, focussing on the subject of identity. Moreover, it discusses problems surrounding the European representation of indigeous peoples predominant in previous studies of black Australian writing. Includes short biographies of writers discussed.
'During the 1980s Aboriginal Australians experienced setbacks in their quest for the restoration of their land rights. Neoliberal politics reframed such demands as special interests seeking to gain a material advantage at the expense of the general community and as a threat to the economic security of the nation. As a consequence, politicians failed to pass legislation that would formalize the national land rights system that would guarantee Aboriginal economic self-sufficiency. This paper argues that it was in this context that Aboriginal memoir emerged to prompt social action by recounting experiences of discrimination and exploitation erased by official history and by challenging the imposed racist stereotypes used to marginalize Aboriginal claims. These memoirs prompted sympathy and understanding among a broad readership, which enabled the formation of a political solidarity over the recognition of Aboriginal land rights. These memoirs also expressed a commonality of Aboriginal experience that served to unite an increasingly frayed Aboriginal activist movement eroded by neoliberal policies.' (Publication abstract)
