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SEMINAR: Bridging oral and literary modes in recent Indigenous Australian film and television�

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Today's date is Friday, March 29, 2024
Bridging oral and literary modes in recent Indigenous Australian film and television� : Social Sciences Seminar Series Other events...
Reconciliation is “a journey”. The destination is a state of being where “understanding, unity, trust and respect” between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians is the norm (http://www.icv.com.au/). Reaching this state, however, is hampered by many things including the widespread belief among the “broader Australian community,” along with most of the Western World, that oral cultures are inferior to modern cultures of literacy. It is time to remind literary cultures of their debt to an oral past and to find ways to increase respect for Indigenous people and cultures. Perth researchers found that a functioning art gallery for Indigenous art and artists gave rise to informal “ceremony[ies] of elevation” where “respect for Indigenous people and cultures” improved day to day relations (Trudi Cooper, Susanne Bahn and Margaret Giles, Edith Cowan, 2012 http://www.dia.wa.gov.au/Documents/ReportsPublications/Art_centre_report.pdf ).

In this paper I work with a set of case studies, works of Indigenous excellence arising from and circulating in an inter-cultural mediascape. As a group these works are analogous to a functioning gallery of art works but it is details of the works themselves that I take as raw data. The paper begins by applying the work of Stuart Cooke on the Songpoetry of Paddy Roe and Stephen Meucke. Cooke finds in Roe’s poetry techniques that serve Indigenous Australian oral poetics and are recognisable as elements of the ancient rhetoric that underpins western notions of high literature. I give examples of skilful use of these techniques from my audiovisual case studies then go on to examine the works as Fourth Cinema as envisioned by Barry Barclay. In particular I identify ways the film makers speak in to Aboriginal groups even as they speak out to wider audiences. The final section discusses contexts of production where community involvement respects guardianship of stories, places and culture resulting in what Faye Ginsberg calls “embedded aesthetics”, and the use of “immersive aesthetic” that counters or renders impossible the neo-colonial gaze. The paper concludes that the growing number of popular audio-visual works by Indigenous writers and directors provides opportunities for non-Indigenous researchers to initiate small ‘ceremonies of elevation’ both in providing an audience and in offering informed critique of the works.
Speaker(s) Dr Brenda Allen, Department of Film, Television and Media Studies, Uuniversity of Auckland, New Zealand
Location Social Sciences G 25
Contact Martin Porr <[email protected]> : 64887249
Start Fri, 30 May 2014 12:00
End Fri, 30 May 2014 13:00
Submitted by Emily Buckland <[email protected]>
Last Updated Thu, 29 May 2014 15:44
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