Wilson, J. M. (2016) (Not) saying sorry: Australian responses to the Howard Government's refusal to apologize to the stolen generations. In: Collier, G., Davis, G. V., Delrez, M. and Ledent, B. (eds.) The Cross-Cultural Legacy: Critical and Creative Writings in Memory of Hena Maes-Jelinek. Leiden: Brill/Rodopi. pp. 295-312.
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Item Type: | Book Section |
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Abstract: | This volume pays tribute to the formidable legacy of Hema Maes-Jelinek (1929-2008), a pioneering post-colonial scholar who was at Professor at the University of Liège, Belgium. The Howard Government’s refusal to apologise for past injustices to Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders, after the publication of the Bringing Them Home Report (1997), inflamed protest among many Australians. In the eight years before Prime Minster Kevin Rudd delivered a formal apology in the 2008, the Sorry Movement kept the issue alive in the public domain. This article compares two fictional responses from this era, Ray Lawrence’s feature film Jindabyne (2006), and Gail Jones’s novel Sorry (2007), focusing on the performativity with which the act of apology is uttered. It reads these trauma narratives as political allegories which challenge the official narrative of Reconciliation by representing white settler responses to abusive acts committed against indigenous people, ranging from denial to guilt and remorse. |
Additional Information: | Paper presented at the Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies (ACLALS) Conference: The Invention of Legacy: A Tribute to Hena Maes-Jelinek held 24-26 March, 2010 at Windsor, England. Published as part of the Cross/Cultures series, ISSN 0924-1426. |
Uncontrolled Keywords: | Stolen generations, Australia, tribute, Hena Maes Jelinek, Saying Sorry, John Howard, Kevin Rudd, Australia, Bringing Them Home, Jindabyne, Ray Lawrence, Gail Jones, apology, The Sorry Movement, trauma, reconciliation |
Subjects: |
P Language and Literature > PR English literature > PR9080 Postcolonial literature H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Women > HQ767 Children. Child development > HQ789 Children's rights D History General and Old World > DU Oceania (South Seas) > DU80 Australia |
Creators: | Wilson, Janet M |
Editors: | Collier, Gordon, Davis, Geoffrey V, Delrez, Marc and Ledent, Benedicte |
Publisher: | Brill/Rodopi |
Faculties, Divisions and Institutes: |
University Faculties, Divisions and Research Centres - OLD > Research Centre > Centre for Critical and Creative Writing Research Centres > Centre for Critical and Creative Writing |
Date: | November 2016 |
Date Type: | Publication |
Page Range: | pp. 295-312 |
Title of Book: | The Cross-Cultural Legacy: Critical and Creative Writings in Memory of Hena Maes-Jelinek |
Series Name: | Cross/Cultures |
Volume: | 193 |
Place of Publication: | Leiden |
Number of Pages: | 428 |
Language: | English |
ISBN: | 9789004336421 |
Media of Output: | |
Status: | Published / Disseminated |
Refereed: | Yes |
Related URLs: | |
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URI: | http://nectar.northampton.ac.uk/id/eprint/9482 |
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