106-452 Reconciliation

Usually admission to the postgraduate diploma or fourth year honours in English or cultural studies, see Honours entry.

This subject asks students to consider settler-Aboriginal relations as a central theme in post-1788 national narrative and to examine the ways in which this relationship has been represented discursively. The subject explores the origins of the official policy of reconciliation; its representation in Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal cultural production and eventual formalisation as government policy. Students will encounter a range of historical and contemporary literary, critical and political texts. They should develop an understanding of the subsequent conservative critique of the underlying values of the reconciliation policy and its implication for issues of national identity.