Anita Heiss
Auteur van Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia
Over de Auteur
Dr. Anita Heiss is an Australian author, poet, cultural activist, and social commentator. She was born in 1968 in Gadigal country and is a member of the Wiradjuri Nation of central New South Wales. She is a graduate of the University of New South Wales, Western Sydney University. She writes toon meer non-fiction, historical fiction, commercial women's fiction, children's novels, and blogs. Her books include Tiddas (2014) and Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossoms (2016), the 2020 University of Canberra Book of the Year. Her most recent book is entitled Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray (2021). She has won numerous awards including 2 NSW Premier History Awards, 2002 and 2003; 4 of the Deadly Award for Most Outstanding Contribution to Literature for Not Meeting Mr. Right (2007), Macquarie PEN Anthology of Aboriginal Literature (2008) with Peter Minter, Manhattan Dreaming (2010), and Paris Dreaming (2011). In 2012, she won the Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Indigenous Writing for Am I Black Enough for You? Her career includes, Ambassador for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation, the GO Foundation and Worawa Aboriginal College. Anita is a board member of University of Queensland Press and Circa Contemporary Circus and is a Professor of Communications at the University of Queensland. (Bowker Author Biography) toon minder
Werken van Anita Heiss
My best friend's white 1 exemplaar
Red Dust Running 1 exemplaar
Gerelateerde werken
Tagged
Algemene kennis
- Geboortedatum
- 1968
- Geslacht
- female
- Nationaliteit
- Australia
- Geboorteplaats
- Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- Woonplaatsen
- Matraville, New South Wales, Australia
- Opleiding
- University of Western Sydney (PhD - Communication and Media)
- Beroepen
- novelist
non-fiction author
commentator
children's book author
poet
Leden
Besprekingen
Lijsten
Prijzen
Misschien vindt je deze ook leuk
Gerelateerde auteurs
Statistieken
- Werken
- 28
- Ook door
- 1
- Leden
- 737
- Populariteit
- #34,456
- Waardering
- 3.6
- Besprekingen
- 37
- ISBNs
- 116
This anthology accompanies the larger Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature and it is a worthy decision to give Aboriginal Literature its own volume entirely. The power of the material contained herein is at times overwhelming. Heiss and Minter collect letters and speeches given from the early 19th century through to the middle of the 20th century, with more focus on traditional "literature", i.e. poetry and fiction, in the second half of the 20th century. (Until at least WWII, Aboriginal Australians were essentially wards of the state, requiring permission to marry and get employment, often having their wages given directly to their state overseer to protect them, and routinely having children taken from their families to be raised in white households, the famous Stolen Generation. As a result, there were really only two or three "literary" Indigenous writers until late in the last century.)A
What is most poignant for me personally, as a white Australian who grew up in the 1990s, is how few of these voices were taught to me at school or in my broader social education. The manifestos that were shared back in 1938, Australia's sesquicentenary, have an awful lot in common with modern Indigenous demands - yet a lot of people today feel as if these arguments are new! There has been a blank space in Australian history, or at least a hazy one, and this anthology helps rectify that. Every writer here is of interest, with the final inclusion - Tara June Winch - being a perceptive one: at the time she had recently published a debut work; a decade later, she is widely considered one of our best novelists.
Of course, all anthologies delight and frustrate, sometimes in equal measure. It's understandable that this volume takes the "Cultural Studies" approach to literature - i.e. widening the scope to include letters, autobiography, and manifestos - because, as mentioned above, due to historic injustices it would have been hard to find enough writers otherwise. Additionally, since much of the Aboriginal experience has been one of fighting daily oppression, it makes sense that a compilation of lived experiences, many told with wit and insight, is an effective way to render this ancient, oral culture on the page. It is slightly sad, but understandable, that the editors choose to omit the many traditional songs which were collected in the first half of the 20th century by passionate white anthropologist-poets such as Roland Robinson. But as these songs were transmitted through white hands and white minds, it is fair to say many of them do not represent a true experience, in much the same way as the beautiful translations of Chinese poetry by Ezra Pound and his contemporaries are poetic wonders in their own right, but not a very useful insight into the depths of genuine Chinese art.
In terms of "canonical" Aboriginal writers, the only notable omission for me is the late Colin Johnson, aka Mudrooroo. A powerful voice between the 1960s and 1980s, Mudrooroo's legacy was shattered when questions were raised about his Aboriginality. It is now generally considered that he was mistaken in his self-identification with Aboriginal Australia, although more critical voices accuse him of outright fraud. With the author's death, this controversy has subsided, and the editors make glancing reference to him in the introduction when - without citing his name - they indicate they have omitted authors who are "in dialogue with local communities regarding ancestry and identity".
I do think, though, that this anthology perhaps does the same as many modern anthologies; it sands off the rough edges. There aren't really any voices from the more conservative side of Aboriginal life, those who do not agree with the mainstream movement. Additionally some of the most progressive, radical voices of recent years also seem to miss out, those who perhaps make white people uncomfortable rather than just acknowledging the plight. With such a groundbreaking publication, which has the ability to fall into the hands of ignorant people like myself and awaken us to the realities of the last 230 years, it is completely understandable that the editors chose to sand off the spiky edges. Here's hoping that this anthology will have many future editions, and that with time it will be allowed as much complexity and nuance as the best anthologies should.… (meer)