AustLit

This analysis discusses two indigenous authored children's texts, My Girragundji (Meme McDonald and Boori Pryor) and Tell Me Why (Robyn Templeton and Sarah Jackson), in relation to critical strategies, audience address and textual authorisation. In particular, Davie looks at 'paratexts' - the material that comes before and after a text, including blurbs, introductions, acknowledgements, titles, covers, art - as an interpellation device (112). Drawing upon the concept of interpellation, or the way in which the subject is addressed by the 'authority of the state', Davie argues that the paratexts of contemporary Indigenous texts offer an 'entry point' for the direct voice of the author who can 'hail readers' without the mediation of white voices, which (in the pas) have not only spoken for Indigenous people, but had the power to police their voices and frame the narrative in ways that suited a non-Indigenous audience (116).