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This practice based project presents the story of my research journey, as Ganai man. The exegesis documents my life journey, from a young boy to adulthood on traditional country, in the Gippsland region. The stories reveal my experiences of country, identity, racism, family and language as an indigenous male. The content of this project is significant, because it reveals the importance of Indigenous local Ganai connection to country, identity, and the revival of traditional language. I have used multi-disciplinary materials, such as adobe photoshop, film and sound recordings in the making of work. My work examines and engages with personal history, culture and the revival and resounding of Ganai language. My aim is that the research and arts practice discussed in this document encourages future research, steered by Indigenous education and community initiatives. Such initiatives, may both build on my research, and provide an avenue for our younger generation to continue with the re-claiming and resounding of traditional languages.

As a member of the Stolen Generations, my objective and design in this dissertation is part of a larger project, involving the reclamation of my Aboriginal identity, taken from me as a child. I will attempt to do this through researching the lives of my grandfather George Shaw and his daughters, Ruby Janie and Maggie. Through a reading of files and documents held by the Department of Indigenous Affairs, Perth, I will show how the 1905 Aborigines Protection Act impacted on the lives of the Shaw family, and on all Aboriginal people who lived under this oppressive regime. Through the disclosure of what life was like for me as a child removed, I attempt to identify the shameful lack of care by the authorities concerned with my removal. The rational behind this piece of work is based on a desire to further my own personal journey of healing by linking my story to the larger Shaw story.

This thesis explores the search for the sublime in a contemporary context. The 'Wilderness' can be viewed as a metaphysical space which can only be circumscribed. The dust storms of the Australian continent provides the space where in this experience is located, metaphorically. If the perceptions of reality are to be seen as filtered through the experiences and conditions of the human spirit, the sites or 'Stations' as the author has called them layer and reveal a personal reflection on the timelessness and commonality of the human condition. Space and time seem to collapse folding over and into itself, with a layering of memories and senses. Growing up in the Mallee in Victoria the author's formative years were shaped particularly by the land and the elements. In these works, the sense of identity is enveloped into a rather cosmic sense of being, when the author became inseparable from the red earth, its duststorms, the sense of space and the feeling of isolation. The most constant experience is that of the sense of interconnectedness and of being able to reach down and stroke the land from a distant vantage point. Consequently, the spiritual found in nature has been a re-occurring motif in the author's artistic practice. The location of the duststorm entitled 'God's Breath', is in flying over Adelaide, towards the Mallee. The grid indicates the impositions of perception which is projected on the land by the viewer, often from a cultural or political viewpoint. In this case the author's perception is influenced by the auto-biographical gaze and the duststorm itself becomes a metaphor for memory and interiority. The medium of wax as a preserving substance is used in the artworks, however this can be seen as being an agent of change, able to re-define it's form according to environmental conditions. The land as 'Self' or 'Mother' is not a constant location, but as in the 'Wilderness' can be seen as a spiritual and/or psychological space, a multi-dimensional filter for the senses and the mind, wherein the spirit can be expanded and be still in it's receptiveness. The four wax rectangles are representative of a duststorm, as seen from the interior perspective of the sensory. These works suggest a multitudinal level of experiences, not necessarily definable but open ended in concept. The void as a creative fullness nurtures the more transient moments of the sensory and temporal. From scarification and pain, through breath and loss, the journey through the wilderness results in a melodic tonal experience, indicative of memory, place and identity / Master of Arts (Hons) (Visual Arts)

In this thesis, Taiwanese Aboriginal Literature from the mid 1980s is the focus of discussion. The material I will cover includes literature in the genre of poetry, prose, fiction and song lyrics. I situate my thesis in the field of literary and cultural studies based on contemporary aboriginal writing. Application of postcolonial-colonial discourse, such as diaspora and articulation, explicates the close relationship between the socio-political context and Taiwanese Aboriginal Literature, in particular, the process of re-construction of aboriginal identity. My thesis develops from the following hypothesis: firstly, the concerns expressed in aboriginal writing are closely tied to social and cultural issues, such as the disruption, or construction of aboriginal heritages, under or after the rule of colonial governments. Secondly, as a result of broader changes in Taiwanese society, writers’ focus and strategies change with their specific social environments. To compare the shared and different characteristics of aboriginal writing and to summarize its development, I examine two periods of Aboriginal Literature and relate them to the internal and external factors pertinent to the writing. Chapter Two and Three contain textual analysis of Aboriginal Literature. Chapter Two “The Pre-Shanhai Period” introduces literature by Walis, Hu Defu, Monaneng, Tien Yage and Wenchi. These are works closely related to aboriginal political movements and deal with the disruption of indigenous communities. Chapter Three “The Shanhai Period” discusses Taiwanese Aboriginal Literature of the Shanhai Period through the works of Auvini, Lanpoan, and Vava. The findings illustrate the validity of the above hypothesis through discussion on the relationship between theme and period, change of writing position as a result of the social contexts of the time when the writer wrote, and strategies aboriginal authors deploy to reconstruct aboriginal identity. The two periods of literature show changes in aboriginal writers’ speaking positions, that is, as pan-aboriginal speakers, or as tribal speakers, or as individuals. In its first stage of development, Taiwanese Aboriginal Literature was a discourse about survival and about appealing for justice. Writers wrote to make sense of the world in which they live. In writing they asked questions pertinent to their identity: first, “What does it mean to be born as a Taiwanese Aboriginal, or as one of the Bunun people, or the Atayal people? Writers wrote mainly to counter the perspectives imposed by the colonizers, and to pass on indigenous knowledge. In the second stage of development, Aboriginal Literature reached a period of negotiation and border crossing between indigenous culture and colonial cultures. At this stage, many writers asked: “What does my traditional culture mean to me in modern society?” Out of speculation on cultural differences, they wrote to know themselves so as to position themselves in a challenging modern, globalized society. Through this process aboriginal writers attempted to build up aboriginal subjectivity in Taiwanese literature. This study demonstrates that the writing position and strategy of identity construction in Taiwanese Aboriginal Literature shows a development from a literature of resistance to a literature of cultural building and self-examination. It is from the Shanhai period onwards that Taiwanese Aboriginal Literature gradually seeks and forms a literary norm. The literature under study manifests diverse expressions of identity. The writing process further demonstrates a dialogue of aboriginal writers with mainstream society, a constant diasporic process of generating new indigenous subjectivity. As such, the study brings an understanding of Taiwanese Aboriginal Literature to Western readers and scholars to facilitate future studies in this field.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / ABSTRACT Background: Since British arrival, Aboriginal people have experienced marginalisation and extreme disadvantage within Australian society. Urban-based Aboriginal people, even more than those living in remote communities, have been subject to the impact of racism and discrimination on self-identity. Nonetheless, many urban-based Aboriginal people proudly identify with their Aboriginality. Having long been the subject of others’ research, it is only in recent times that the question of identity has attracted attention in Aboriginal research. Furthermore, few studies have addressed urban Aboriginality from an insider’s perspective. Aim and significance: The main aim of this research was to understand better the process of the construction of Aboriginal identity. Knowing how Aboriginal people see themselves and their future as Aboriginal within the broader Australian community is significant in providing a foundation for both the protection and the preservation of urban-based Aboriginal identity, while helping to create positive practical benefits and minimising the damage to Aboriginal culture that result from collective memory loss. A secondary aim was to test whether tools of narrative analysis could be used within an Indigenous Australian context, utilising Aboriginal Australian English language, and in the context of a specific urban setting. Method: The study used purposeful sampling to recruit 11 individuals from three age cohorts of mixed-descent Aboriginal people living in urban communities on the south coast of New South Wales, Australia. Data were collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews which were tape-recorded and then transcribed in full. Both thematic and narrative methods were employed to analyse the data. Interpretations benefitted from an insider perspective, as the researcher is a member of the community under study. Results: Findings from both methods of analysis show that participants experience their Aboriginality as problematic. Nonetheless, they make strong claims to Aboriginal identity. In making such claims, they link the personal to the social in a variety of ways, drawing on both negative and positive aspects of being part of a marginalised culture to explain the construction of the problem of Aboriginal identity and, as importantly, its on-going resolution through processes of identity construction and re-construction. The Shoalhaven Aboriginal worldview is revealed thorough a thematic analysis of 11 interviews and shows that participants are able to construct positive versions of self when they perceive themselves as living in accordance with the prescribed worldview. Results from case study analyses reveal how four participants distinctly craft the Shoalhaven worldview. The adoption of multi-method qualitative analysis documents the construction of both collective and personal Aboriginal identities and shows how these become core elements of the various strategies for solving the broader problems of Aboriginal identity in contemporary urban Australian society. Conclusion: Understanding the construction of Aboriginal identity from a micro-sociological perspective, with the added benefit of an insider’s analysis, can point the way to the development of more meaningful and appropriate strategies to both address and alleviate the broader problems of Aboriginal marginalisation in Australia. The findings from this research have documented the narrative construction of urban Aboriginal identity revealing the positive and negative aspects of the urban Aboriginal identity concept. A starting point to address the broader problem of Aboriginal marginalisation in Australia is to focus on the positive elements of the urban Aboriginal identity concept, with a view to devise, develop and implement culturally appropriate strategies and policies. The researcher’s life experience, informed by the ontology (collective values and perspectives) of the community, influenced and informed the analysis and results of the study. This shared ontology and community acceptance was integral in the process of developing and maintaining rapport and trust with participants which ultimately shaped the interaction process influencing personal accounts told in the interview.

In this thesis, I argue for anti-colonial constructions of the non-Aboriginal self. I take as my starting point that members of the invader/settler society in Australia must place them/ourselves in “an embodied awareness of ‘being in Indigenous sovereignty’” (Nicholl, 2004: 17) and name them/ourselves accordingly. An anti-colonial construction of non-Aboriginality formed within the locus of Aboriginal Sovereignty undermines the potency of ‘post-colonial’ processes of identity formation, which privilege the colonialist centre, and the concomitant marginalised position of Indigenous people. Thus, an anti-colonial construction of non-Aboriginality constitutes a radical recentring for processes of identity construction within invader/settler societies. This work responds to critical whiteness studies and post-colonial discourses of ‘belonging’. I acknowledge both whiteness studies and work on invader/settler belongings have gained traction in recent years as a means to problematise the whiteness of the settler/invader group and the legitimacy of their/our belongings. However, I argue they continue to operate within colonialist paradigms and perpetuate (neo)colonial power relations. In this thesis, I argue anti-colonial constructions of non-Aboriginality are constructed in dialogue with Aboriginal people. I conceive non-Aboriginality as a political identity that rejects ‘race’ and ‘colour’ as markers for identity. ‘Non-Aboriginality’ enables members of invader/settler societies to articulate support for Aboriginal Sovereignty and Aboriginal claims for social justice and human rights.

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