The Kim Scott Colloquium 2012

Guest Post from Ruby Lowe, Co-Coordinator, The Kim Scott Colloquium

Australian Indigenous literature has played a major role in my literary education at The University of Melbourne.  I am currently completing my honours thesis on the political dimensions of John Milton’s early poetry, while taking course work subjects in English Literature and Australian Indigenous Studies. I am also co-convening the first national conference on an Australian Indigenous author with Philip Morrissey. 

The idea for the Kim Scott Colloquium 2012 began as a series of informal discussions by a dedicated group of Kim Scott’s readers. Interest within the university, combined with Kim Scott’s recent accumulation of literary accolades, made Philip and I realise that there should be a formal academic recognition and analysis of Kim Scott’s work.

Two major events will be held at The University of Melbourne to celebrate and discuss Kim Scott’s writing.  Kim Scott has agreed to give a public lecture at The University of Melbourne on 25 July. This will be followed by a colloquium on Kim Scott’s writings on 3-4 August this year.

The colloquium will survey Scott’s fiction and focus on True Country (1993), Benang (1999) and That Deadman Dance (2011). Emerging and established scholars from Australian Indigenous Studies, English Literary Studies, Creative Writing and Contemporary Art will engage with Scott’s representation of Australian history, politics and identity.

 

To register an expression of interest email Kate Rendell, rendellk@unimelb.edu.au.

 

That Chilling Moment

That chilling moment in the modern university when you realise that for a powerful class of people corporate speak/political correctness is the new ethics: the management of facades and surfaces with concomitant institutional rewards and group validation. On these social occasions I’ve wondered, ‘How could a real human being ever appear in this setting?’

In contrast I was at a recent event where toughness or the appearance of toughness was clearly a necessary component of male and female capital – most men were heavily tattooed (three had facial tattoos).  I was sitting beside an ex-biker who had suffered an incapacitating breakdown of health and now lived on an invalid pension. After we discussed the anti-oxidant effects of blueberries, and he informed me that frozen blueberries were a lot cheaper than fresh, he spoke of one of his sons visiting the Sioux Indians, and of his great love for Native American spirituality but then as if to emphasise that he wasn’t another disconnected New Ager, and to acknowledge me, he said, “It’s funny, I’ve never been interested in Koori spirituality."