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'I'm Aboriginal. I'm just not the Aboriginal person a lot of people want or expect me to be.
'What does it mean to be Aboriginal? Why is Australia so obsessed with notions of identity? Anita Heiss, successful author and passionate campaigner for Aboriginal literacy, was born a member of the Wiradjuri nation of central New South Wales, but was raised in the suburbs of Sydney and educated at the local Catholic school. She is Aboriginal - however, this does not mean she likes to go barefoot and, please, don't ask her to camp in the desert. After years of stereotyping Aboriginal Australians as either settlement dwellers or rioters in Redfern, the Australian media have discovered a new crime to charge them with: being too "fair-skinned" to be an Australian Aboriginal. Such accusations led to Anita's involvement in one of the most important and sensational Australian legal decisions of the 21st-century when she joined others in charging a newspaper columnist with breaching the Racial Discrimination Act. He was found guilty, and the repercussions continue.
'In this deeply personal memoir, told in her distinctive, wry style, Anita Heiss gives a first-hand account of her experiences as a woman with an Aboriginal mother and Austrian father, and explains the development of her activist consciousness.' (From the publisher's website.)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Braille.
- Sound recording.
Works about this Work
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Why Write?
2020
single work
essay
— Appears in: Meanjin , Autumn vol. 79 no. 1 2020;'There was a Facebook message from Hetti Perkins, which was an odd coincidence. I was working on a poem about her late father Charlie for a collection, which I would later abandon as I grew aware that I lacked the precision for poetry. The early interest I had attracted leading to these opportunities was more about a literary industry driven to uncover diverse new voices than an acknowledgement that with hard work and patience I might become a great writer. Attention that provided motivation but pushed emerging writers in directions at once exhilarating, confusing and premature. At the time I was considering using the title ‘Peeling’ for the poetry chapbook when I noticed her message. The poem was about her father’s role in the Nancy Prasad incident, where a five-year-old Fijian girl was deported to Fiji, symptomatic of Australia’s racist immigration policies of the 1960s.' (Introduction)
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Reviewing Race in the Digital Literary Sphere : A Case Study of Anita Heiss’ Am I Black Enough for You?
2016
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australian Humanities Review , November no. 60 2016; -
Black Enough for Who?
2015
single work
review
— Appears in: Border Crossings 2015;
— Review of Am I Black Enough for You? 2012 single work autobiography 'In her boyer Lectures, Marcia Langton points out that many white Australians haven't really got to grips with the reality that Aboriginal people can be middle class...' -
Review : Am I Black Enough for You
2014
single work
review
— Appears in: Antipodes , December vol. 28 no. 2 2014; (p. 531-532)
— Review of Am I Black Enough for You? 2012 single work autobiography -
BlackWords : Writers on Identity
2014
single work
criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 14 no. 3 2014; The BlackWords Essays 2015; (p. 2) The BlackWords Essays 2019;'In the 1960s Oodgeroo Noonuccal (then Kath Walker) hit the literary limelight as Australia’s first published ‘Aboriginal poet’ and since then Aboriginal writers have used their work as a form of self-definition and to defend our rights to our identity. Many authors are inspired by the need to redress historical government definitions of Aboriginality, to reclaim pride in First Nation status, to explain the diversity of Aboriginal experience, and to demonstrate the realities and complexities of ‘being Aboriginal’ in the 21st century.'
Source: Author's introduction.
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Black, White and a Life in Between
2012
single work
review
— Appears in: The Saturday Age , 21 April 2012; (p. 31) The Sydney Morning Herald , 21-22 April 2012; (p. 30-31)
— Review of Am I Black Enough for You? 2012 single work autobiography -
Books of the Week
2012
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sunday Mail , 29 April 2012; (p. 37)
— Review of Dark Places 1994 single work novel ; Am I Black Enough for You? 2012 single work autobiography -
Am I Black Enough For You
2012
single work
review
— Appears in: Reconciliation News , May no. 23 2012; (p. 19)
— Review of Am I Black Enough for You? 2012 single work autobiography -
Memoir Gets it Right
2012
single work
review
— Appears in: Koori Mail , 2 May no. 525 2012; (p. 43)
— Review of Am I Black Enough for You? 2012 single work autobiography -
Anita Heiss : Am I Black Enough for You?
2012
single work
review
— Appears in: The Newtown Review of Books , April 2012;
— Review of Am I Black Enough for You? 2012 single work autobiography -
Anita Heiss
2012
single work
biography
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 6-8 April 2012; (p. 30-31) -
Racist Slurs in Bolt Link Spark Fury
2012
single work
column
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 12 April 2012; (p. 5) -
Free Speech for Some
2012
single work
correspondence
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 13 April 2012; (p. 10) -
Bolt Link to Racist Reviews of Book
2012
single work
column
— Appears in: The Age , 12 April 2012; (p. 3) -
It's Not about Being Black Enough, It's about Need
2012
single work
criticism
— Appears in: The Australian , 11 April 2012; (p. 12)