Cirrus@Austlit

'At a time when some scholars and critics are calling into question the continuing value and relevance of comparative methodology, the thematic issue About Indigenous Literature in CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture focuses on the indisputable role the comparative paradigm plays now and will continue to play in the future. Such an approach offers priceless insights in many contexts, ranging from the sciences (for example, physiology and biology), across disciplines, cultures, and languages to the present discussion of Indigenous oral and written literatures. Authors of articles in this thematic issue examine the effectiveness of comparative methodology in meeting the challenge posed by crucial and complex questions such as what is Indigenous literature, what can be said about it, and by whom? How do Indigenous writers and scholars see non-Indigenous scholars, critics, writers, and readers relating to their work? Finally, and perhaps most germane from a literary perspective, how does one determine what is Indigenous literature without relying on the identity of the author — that is, without going outside the text and using paraliterary criteria to establish a literary category?' (Authors introduction)

'In his article "Australian Indigenous Philosophy" Stephen Muecke discusses the fact that neither Australian philosophy nor Indigenous Australian philosophy exists as a field of study. Settler Australians have imported their philosophical traditions and have left it up to other disciplines to undertake the translation work of knowledge in the long-lived Indigenous traditions. Here, anthropology, history, and cultural studies have taken up the challenge. Muecke revisits his 2004 book Ancient and Modern: Time, Culture and Indigenous Philosophy in order to refine some of his arguments about philosophical practice and the damaging periodization into "ancient" and "modern" cultures in colonial societies like Australia.' (Editor's abstract)

'In her article "Aboriginal Australian and Canadian First Nations Children's Literature" Angeline O'Neill discusses Canadian First Nations and Australian Aboriginal children's picture books and their appeal to a dual readership. Inuit traditional storyteller and writer Michael Kusugak, Nyoongar traditional storyteller and writer Lorna Little, and Wunambal elder Daisy Utemorrah are cases in point. Each appeals to Indigenous and non- Indigenous, child and adult readerships, thus challenging two assumptions in Western scholarship on literature that 1) the picture book genre is necessarily the domain of children and 2) that traditional Indigenous stories are, similarly, best suited to children. O'Neill considers the ways in which Indigenous children's picture books represent the interaction between text and culture and challenge notions of literariness.' (Editor's abstract)

'In his article "Politics of Indigeneity in Fogarty's Poetry" Sean Gorman discusses Indigenous themes and issues with regards to the poetry of Murri writer Lionel Fogarty. As Fogarty is seen as a poet who writes complex prose, his material challenges non-Indigenous readerships by subverting Standard English and conventional reading practices. Gorman suggests strategies by which to engage with Fogarty's material and, employing the theories of Mikhail Bakhtin, namely heteroglossia and dialogism, to arrive at a better understanding of the rich and complex nature of Fogarty's work. Gorman executes his analysis in relation to the political debates that have arisen since the Little Children Are Sacred report was made public and the intervention in Australia's Northern Territory occurred in 2007.' (Editor's abstract)

'Kim Scott suggests in his text "I Come from Here" by means of "yarning" that the authority of Indigenous people and language is primary to an authentic "sense of place." Scott uses an accumulative, episodic, and personal narrative style to argue that the return "to," and consolidation of cultural material "in," a "community of descendants of the informants" must be founded upon principles of community development. Collaboration between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people by sharing of ancestral material with ever widening, concentric circles is how this process results in respect and partnership that empowers community life.

Eden Robinson explores in her text "99.99% True & Authentic Tales" with humor how the past and present coexist in contemporary Haisla life. In the process, Robinson also depicts some of the challenges faced by Canada's First Nations writers, whose readers can become so determined to experience the culture represented to them that they wish to live not only in an author's hometown but in her very home. In this way Robinson explores issues of voice, authenticity, and the process of making meaning: to whom does a story belong and who has the right to tell it? How can a story be told?' (Editor's abstract)