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- Title
Unlearning to Live White: Some Aboriginal Plays Vis-à-vis the Australian Assimilation.
- Authors
Lalthazuali, M. C.
- Abstract
This article is an attempt to examine the policies of Aboriginal assimilation carried out by the white Australian government since the arrival of the Europeans in Australia. The official assimilation policies of the Aboriginal people were between 1930s and the 1960s, however it had long progression prior to this. The Assimilation policies began due to the racist assumptions of the Europeans and the feel the need to maintain national homogeneity in Australia. This desire to maintain national homogeneity was expressed in different ways in different periods. The mixed descent Aboriginal children were the major focus for the government officials. These children were taken away by forced from their Aboriginal families and were put in the home set up for them. They were forced to conform to white standards so that they would lose their Aboriginality. The concepts, policies and consequences of the assimilation policieshave been a major concern for most of the Aboriginal writers and playwrights today. The Aboriginal playwrights through performance have portrayed the nature and consequences of assimilation policies. They choose to render their story in a narrative mode using biographical and autobiographical taken from real stories. These assimilation policies have a number of negative consequences in the Aboriginal society which resulted in the loss of their culture, traditions, and languages etc., needless to say their land. The article would address issues such as political empowerment, social co-existent and racial tolerance which are highlighted in the selected works of Jack Davis and Jane Harrison.
- Subjects
ABORIGINAL Australians in literature; INDIGENOUS peoples in literature; ASSIMILATION (Sociology) in literature; LEGAL status of Aboriginal Australians; RACE relations in literature; DAVIS, Jack, 1924-2016; HARRISON, Jane
- Publication
Labyrinth: An International Refereed Journal of Postmodern Studies, 2014, Vol 5, Issue 4, p159
- ISSN
0976-0814
- Publication type
Article