Australian Children’s Literature and Postcolonialism: A Review Essay

Autores

  • Daozhi Xu The University of Hong Kong

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5007/2175-8026.2016v69n2p193

Resumo

The theme of land and country is resonant in Australian children’s literature with Aboriginal subject matter. The textual and visual narratives present counter-discourse strategies to challenge the colonial ideology and dominant valuation of Australian landscape. This paper begins by examining the colonial history of seeing Australia as an “empty space”, naming, and appropriating the land by erasing Aboriginal presence from the land. Then it explores the conceptual re-investment of Aboriginal connections to country in the representation of Australian landscape, as reflected and re-imagined in fiction and non-fiction for child readers. Thereby, as the paper suggests, a shared and reconciliatory space can at least discursively be negotiated and envisioned.  

Biografia do Autor

Daozhi Xu, The University of Hong Kong

Xu Daozhi has completed her Ph.D. in English Literary Studies at the University of Hong Kong. Her dissertation focuses on the postcolonial narratives in Australian children’s literature. Her research area includes children’s literature in English, postcolonial literary studies, cultural theories, cross-cultural engagement, and representations of Aboriginality. She was awarded HKU Postgraduate Scholarship (2011-15) and University Postgraduate Fellowship in 2011. Her PhD project was awarded research and travel grants from the Australia-China Council under the Australian Studies 2012-2013 Competitive Projects Funding Scheme and from the Foundation for Australian Studies in China in 2015.

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Publicado

2016-06-07

Edição

v. 69 n. 2 (2016)

Seção

Review Essays

Licença

A revista Ilha do Desterro publica artigos e resenhas inéditos, referentes as áreas de Inglês, Literaturas em Língua Inglesa e Estudos Culturais. Publica volumes mistos e/ou temáticos, com artigos e resenhas em inglês e português. 

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