Writing Across a Cultural Interface: A Guide for Non-Indigenous Writers
In recent years non-Indigenous writers have grappled with inclusion and representation of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in creative works. Historically, and at times in contemporary fiction, writers have misrepresented, marginalised, or omitted Indigenous people as charact...
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Jawun Research Centre
2024
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Online Access: | https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/82944/1/82944.pdf |
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ftjamescook:oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:82944 2024-06-23T07:52:51+00:00 Writing Across a Cultural Interface: A Guide for Non-Indigenous Writers Smyth, Elizabeth 2024 application/pdf https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/82944/1/82944.pdf unknown Jawun Research Centre https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/82944/ https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/82944/1/82944.pdf Smyth, Elizabeth (2024) Writing Across a Cultural Interface: A Guide for Non-Indigenous Writers. In: [Presented at the Jawun Research Centre Seminar Series]. From: JAWAN Research Centre Seminar Series, 5 June 2024, Cairns, QLD, Australia. restricted Conference Item 2024 ftjamescook 2024-06-11T23:55:23Z In recent years non-Indigenous writers have grappled with inclusion and representation of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in creative works. Historically, and at times in contemporary fiction, writers have misrepresented, marginalised, or omitted Indigenous people as characters. Writers who craft regional and rural settings perhaps bear a greater onus than their metropolitan peers to characterise Indigenous people due to an expectation of a greater extent of unbroken Indigenous connections to Country beyond the dense infrastructure of cityscapes. With the rise of First Nations authorship and authority, non-Indigenous writers are often advised to either avoid writing Indigenous characters or to get to know traditional owners and refine their writing skills to achieve authenticity. In this seminar, I offer my experience as a non-Indigenous writer crafting a farm novel that situates Aboriginal characters at the centre of the farm and the narrative. My writing process required constant awareness of a cultural interface and an approach that I hoped would recognise yet not impinge on Indigenous knowledge, beliefs, and authorship. My experience led to the development of seven guidelines that may be useful to other writers. Conference Object First Nations James Cook University, Australia: ResearchOnline@JCU |
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James Cook University, Australia: ResearchOnline@JCU |
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ftjamescook |
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In recent years non-Indigenous writers have grappled with inclusion and representation of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in creative works. Historically, and at times in contemporary fiction, writers have misrepresented, marginalised, or omitted Indigenous people as characters. Writers who craft regional and rural settings perhaps bear a greater onus than their metropolitan peers to characterise Indigenous people due to an expectation of a greater extent of unbroken Indigenous connections to Country beyond the dense infrastructure of cityscapes. With the rise of First Nations authorship and authority, non-Indigenous writers are often advised to either avoid writing Indigenous characters or to get to know traditional owners and refine their writing skills to achieve authenticity. In this seminar, I offer my experience as a non-Indigenous writer crafting a farm novel that situates Aboriginal characters at the centre of the farm and the narrative. My writing process required constant awareness of a cultural interface and an approach that I hoped would recognise yet not impinge on Indigenous knowledge, beliefs, and authorship. My experience led to the development of seven guidelines that may be useful to other writers. |
format |
Conference Object |
author |
Smyth, Elizabeth |
spellingShingle |
Smyth, Elizabeth Writing Across a Cultural Interface: A Guide for Non-Indigenous Writers |
author_facet |
Smyth, Elizabeth |
author_sort |
Smyth, Elizabeth |
title |
Writing Across a Cultural Interface: A Guide for Non-Indigenous Writers |
title_short |
Writing Across a Cultural Interface: A Guide for Non-Indigenous Writers |
title_full |
Writing Across a Cultural Interface: A Guide for Non-Indigenous Writers |
title_fullStr |
Writing Across a Cultural Interface: A Guide for Non-Indigenous Writers |
title_full_unstemmed |
Writing Across a Cultural Interface: A Guide for Non-Indigenous Writers |
title_sort |
writing across a cultural interface: a guide for non-indigenous writers |
publisher |
Jawun Research Centre |
publishDate |
2024 |
url |
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/82944/1/82944.pdf |
genre |
First Nations |
genre_facet |
First Nations |
op_relation |
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/82944/ https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/82944/1/82944.pdf Smyth, Elizabeth (2024) Writing Across a Cultural Interface: A Guide for Non-Indigenous Writers. In: [Presented at the Jawun Research Centre Seminar Series]. From: JAWAN Research Centre Seminar Series, 5 June 2024, Cairns, QLD, Australia. |
op_rights |
restricted |
_version_ |
1802644253510205440 |