'Since colonisation, representations of Indigeneity in Australian children's literature have evolved from racist denigration to more respectful egalitarianism. Such representations however, are open to criticism on grounds of cultural appropriation and doubts about the ability of non-Indigenous writers to legitimately or adequately represent Indigeneity. Yet the failure to represent would erase Indigenous presence from non-Indigenous texts: a literary terra nullius. Within what contexts, then, might representations be legitimate, appropiate, and ethical? This thesis, therefore, comprises two Parts: 'The Diary of Jeremy Prior', a novel for older children; and 'The Spiral Travelled', an exegesis which explores the discursive formation of the novel's writing subject (in this case, the same person as the theoretical writing subject) and its effect on the novel's representations of indigeneity. The exegesis tells a story of the synthesis of a body of theory through a narrative comprising four generic 'strands': an allegorical fiction; aotobiographical interludes; academic endnotes; and footnoted commentary. The fictional strand's two structural principles - the association of knowledge with place, and the model of the spiral - guide two characters (representing aspects of the author's subjectivity) on their quest for tools with which to analyse the representational practices of the novel.' (Libraries Australia record)
