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A Climate of Hope
2017
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Le Simplegadi , November vol. 17 no. 2017; (p. 19-34)Postcolonial ecocriticism has emerged gradually over the last couple of decades as the differences between postcolonialism and environmentalism have been overcome. Those differences have centred on an assumed conflict in the way the two discourses see the world. However, the colonial roots of environmental degradation and the growing postcolonial critique of the effects of imperialism have seen a growing alliance focused in the discipline of postcolonial ecocriticism. Postcolonial critique and environmentalism have found common interest in the role of imperialism and capitalism in the rapidly degrading anthropocene. However critique has not often led to a clear vision of a possible world. This paper suggests a new alliance – between postcolonial critique, environmentalism and utopianism – one that emerges from the postcolonial realisation the no transformation can occur without the hope inspired by a vision of the future. The paper asks what literature can do in an environmental struggle in which colonized peoples environmental struggle in which colonized peoples are among the worst affected. The role of postcolonial literature provides a model for the transformative function of the creative spirit in political resistance. No true resistance can succeed without a vision of change and literature provides the most powerful location of that vision – no transformation can occur unless it is first imagined.
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Just Poetry
2008
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Just Words? : Australian Authors Writing for Justice 2008; (p. 47-61) Ethical Investigations : Essays on Australian Literature and Poetics 2008; (p. 177-193) -
Grandfather Grandmother Sing Sweet Tune
2004
extract
criticism
— Appears in: Ngara : Living in This Place Now 2004; (p. 133-150) -
"They Couldn't Tell Us How to Farm Their Skin" : White Poems on Black Dispossession
2000
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Interactions : Essays on the Literature and Culture of the Asia-Pacific Region 2000; (p. 171-183) Analyses poems by white Australian authors about dispossession of their land. In his survey of attitudes and poetic technique, Page examines nineteenth and twentieth century poems and finds a reversal of attitudes over time. -
Writers of Australia, "I Dips Me Lid"
1994
single work
prose
— Appears in: Oodgeroo 1994; (p. 212-228)
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Just Poetry
2008
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Just Words? : Australian Authors Writing for Justice 2008; (p. 47-61) Ethical Investigations : Essays on Australian Literature and Poetics 2008; (p. 177-193) -
Grandfather Grandmother Sing Sweet Tune
2004
extract
criticism
— Appears in: Ngara : Living in This Place Now 2004; (p. 133-150) -
Rehabilitation and Transcendence
1989
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Literature and the Aborigine in Australia 1770- 1975 1989; (p. 181-207) -
Writers of Australia, "I Dips Me Lid"
1994
single work
prose
— Appears in: Oodgeroo 1994; (p. 212-228) -
The Literary Perception, 1945-1961
1989
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Black Words, White Page : Aboriginal Literature 1929-1988 1989; (p. 79-101) This chapter briefly surveys the major socio-political developments in Aboriginal affairs between 1961 and 1988. Though this period was one of success, and witnessed a growing self-confidence among Aboriginal Australians, it was also one of frustrated expectations and hopes, particularly in relation to land rights. The era saw the initiative for protest activity in Aboriginal affairs move from white dominated bodies to co-operative organisations and then to groups controlled administratively and sometimes financially by Black Australians. Shoemaker argues that there is a tendency for white readers to evaluate Aboriginal works solely according to Western literary standards which is an unreasonable expectation. While it is illuminating to compare Black Australian writing with those of certain white Australian authors, this provides only a partial understanding of Aboriginal works. An understanding of Aboriginal literature is only gained from analysing Aboriginal writing in its own right and seeing it as a discrete body of Fourth World literature in which striking themes and concerns emerge. The work of white writers such as Judith Wright, Patrick White, Randolph Stow, and Donald Stuart are examined.