CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

Article Title

Voices in Australia's Aboriginal and Canada's First Nations Literatures

Authors

Kim Scott, Curtin University
Eden Robinson, Kitamaat, British Columbia

Abstract

Kim Scott suggests in his text "I Come from Here" by means of "yarning" that the authority of Indigenous people and language is primary to an authentic "sense of place." Scott uses an accumulative, episodic, and personal narrative style to argue that the return "to," and consolidation of cultural material "in," a "community of descendants of the informants" must be founded upon principles of community development. Collaboration between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people by sharing of ancestral material with ever widening, concentric circles is how this process results in respect and partnership that empowers community life.

Eden Robinson explores in her text "99.99% True & Authentic Tales" with humor how the past and present coexist in contemporary Haisla life. In the process, Robinson also depicts some of the challenges faced by Canada's First Nations writers, whose readers can become so determined to experience the culture represented to them that they wish to live not only in an author's hometown but in her very home. In this way Robinson explores issues of voice, authenticity, and the process of making meaning: to whom does a story belong and who has the right to tell it? How can a story be told?

Recommended Citation

Scott, Kim; and Robinson, Eden. "Voices in Australia's Aboriginal and Canada's First Nations Literatures." CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture 13.2 (2011): <http://dx.doi.org/10.7771/1481-4374.1747>

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