Aboriginal women's narratives : reclaiming identities / Nadja Zierott.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Zierott, Nadja.

Contributor:

George Clapp Vaillant Book Fund.

Series:

Anglophone Literaturen ; Bd. 5.

Anglophone Literaturen ; Bd. 5 = Anglophone literatures ; Bd. 5

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Women, Aboriginal Australian--Biography--History and criticism.

Women, Aboriginal Australian.

Women, Aboriginal Australian--Biography.

Autobiography--Women authors--History and criticism.

Autobiography.

Autobiography--Women authors.

Physical Description:

128 pages ; 21 cm.

Place of Publication:

Münster : Lit Verlag ; New Brunswick [N.J.] : Distributed in North America by Transaction Publishers, [2005]

Summary:

Due to widespread geographical and cultural displacement, Australian Aboriginal people have experienced the destruction of their identity. This identity is traditionally closely linked to the land and the people, so that Aborigines feel an intense longing to rediscover their roots and reclaim their identity. In order to do this, they need to individually reconstruct their past, for instance by writing down their life stories. Thus Aboriginal women like Ruby Langford Ginibi have embarked on a process of reconnecting with their roots through the medium of autobiography. In discussing three of these autobiographies, this book examines the role of autobiographical narrative in the process of Australian Aboriginal women reclaiming their identity.

Contents:

1.1 Formalities 11

2 Background of Aboriginal Writing 13

2.1 Postcolonial Writing and the Australian Context 13

2.1.2 Characteristics 15

2.1.2.1 Place and Displacement 15

2.1.2.2 The Power of Language 15

2.1.2.3 The Dominating Coloniser and the Dominated Colonised 20

2.1.2.4 Strategies of Resistance: Decolonisation and Identity Formation 21

2.1.3 Three Stages of Postcolonial Writing 23

2.2 Historical and Social Background 25

2.2.1 The Stolen Generation and Government Assimilation Policies 25

2.2.2 The Role Of Traditional Aboriginal Kinship Society 29

2.2.3 Aboriginality 30

2.3 Indigenous vs. Western Cultures 33

2.3.1 Indigenous Autobiographical Writing vs. Western Autobiographies 33

2.3.2 Oral traditions vs. Written Material 35

2.4 Indigenous Women's Autobiographical Writing 38

2.4.1 'Autobiography' or 'Life Story': The Choice of Terms 38

2.4.2 The Traditional Role of Aboriginal Women 41

2.4.3 The Development of Indigenous Australian Women's Writing 42

3 Reclaiming Identities: Four Aboriginal Authors and their Works 45

3.1 Ruby Langford Ginibi: Don't Take Your Love to Town (1988) 45

3.1.1 Ruby Langford Ginibi 45

3.1.2 The Process of Writing 47

3.1.3 Displacement 51

3.1.3.1 Early Years and Ruby Langford Ginibi's Separation from her Mother 52

3.1.3.2 Relationships and Loneliness 54

3.1.4 Belonging 58

3.1.4.1 Geographical Belonging: City vs. Bush 58

3.1.4.2 Physical Belonging: Black vs. White, Child vs. Mother 61

3.1.4.3 Social and Cultural Belonging: Family, Kin and Community 62

3.1.5 Editing 66

3.1.6 Language 69

3.2 Rita and Jackie Huggins: Auntie Rita (1994) 73

3.2.1 Rita and Jackie Huggins 73

3.2.2 Writing and Editing: A Joint Project 73

3.2.3 Displacement 76

3.2.3.1 Geographical Displacement 76

3.2.3.2 Cultural Displacement 79

3.2.4 Belonging 81

3.2.4.1 Loneliness: Domestic Service and the Unspoken Story 82

3.2.4.2 Loneliness: City and Individuality 84

3.2.4.3 Returning: Political Engagement 86

3.2.4.4 Returning: The Land and the Past 88

3.2.4.5 Getting Around and Still Belonging 90

3.2.4.6 Reunion and Looking Back 95

3.2.5 Language 96

3.3 Alice Nannup: When the Pelican Laughed (1992) 100

3.3.1 Alice Nannup 100

3.3.2 Writing 100

3.3.3 Displacement 102

3.3.4 Belonging: Returning and Reconnecting 104

3.3.5 Editing 107

3.3.6 Language 108.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [121]-128).

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the George Clapp Vaillant Book Fund.

ISBN:

3825882373

OCLC:

64404773