Australian Literature/Aboriginal Writing

The Letter. The good thing about this blog is that the Australian Indigenous Studies Program, and by extension, myself as an Indigenous Australian, do have a chance to represent what we are doing. Today I've pasted in a letter I wrote in response to two recent articles in The Age. I kept it as succinct and factual as possible and steered cleared of the various agenda of those driving the issues but to no avail. The Age wouldn't publish it- hence today's post.

'Recent articles in The Age (“Speaking up for the Humanities” 16/8) and Sunday Age (“Uni brought to book for snub to local literature” 21/8) have given the erroneous impression that Australian literature is not represented in the University of Melbourne’s Faculty of Arts curricula. The University’s Australian Indigenous Studies program teaches undergraduate and honours subjects that emphasise Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australian writers. These include Kim Scott, Alexis Wright, Xavier Herbert, B. Wongar, Bruce Pascoe and Katherine Susannah Pritchard. Last year two of our students received high distinctions for honours theses written on Tara June Winch’s Swallow the Air and Alexis Wright’s Plains of Promise.

(Nice to report that since posting this I've had a call from The Sunday Age with respect to publishing the letter.)

Semester 2 Surge

Semester Two. This semester marks a definite shift into another gear. It's clear that our program's development phase has been completed. We're generating and attracting the sort of energy that is not all that common in corporate entities. One of my key concerns has been the recruitment and development of young Indigenous scholars. Policy developments now mean that's going to be a reality. Our curriculum and teaching coach has commenced working with with us to finesse the Australian Indigenous Studies curriculum as well as conducting one on one sessions with staff. My intention here has been to continue to improve without recourse to the thick-headed carrot and stick approaches used elsewhere.

Critical Debates in Indigenous Studies. It's our capstone subject and compulsory for students completing the Australian Indigenous Studies major. The aim is to give students the chance to engage with practitioners working with Indigenous issues in the corporate world, media, health and arts and others. This year we've got 27 students. Many of whom would not have considered an Australian Indigenous Studies major if they had not enrolled in our first year interdisciplinary foundation subject Australian Indigenous Studies. Both of our subjects rank at the top when it comes to student satisfaction.

Aesopic Voices: Reframing Truth through Concealed Ways of Presentation in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries. This edited collection of essays is almost ready for printing. As well as Australian and Australian Indigenous scholars the collection includes essays from scholars from Greece, USSR, United States, France and Germany as well one of the last essays of Professor Greg Dening. The opening sentence of the foreword asks, 'How does one respond, as a humane and critical thinker, when political, social or religious circumstances are hostile to truth and open discussion?' It follows on from a conference I convened with Gert Reifarth in 2008. I'm credited as a co-editor of Aesopic Voices but it's been driven by Gert who's put an in an amazing amount of work with contributors, designers and editors.

Aesop as imagined by Velasquez:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Diego_Velasquez,_Aesop.jpg

And Gert:

Visitor: Uncle Herb Patten came in to lecture in our first year subject. (Pictured with Odette Kelada and Fran Edmonds before the lecture.)

Afterwards he came back to our offices for a cup of tea with some of the students.

Looking forward to: A trip to Hobart to see Daniel Geale defend his world middleweight boxing title, and wondering about a visit to the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA). I’ve heard glowing reports, though I think that it may not be my cup of tea. http://mona.net.au/.