Lisa Slater | University of Wollongong (original) (raw)
Lisa Slater’s work is committed to broadening and challenging key concepts that inform policies and politics such as ‘reconciliation’, ‘recognition’, ‘wellbeing’, ‘community’, ‘sustainability’ and the ‘environment’.
Such challenges require concepts that help unpack the relationship between people, knowledge, power and governance, to understand the effects of privileging the ideas of particular cultures over others. Place is foregrounded in Lisa’s work because politics and policies always unfold somewhere.
Her recent projects have a strong focus on remote, rural and regional Australia.
Research Interests/Areas of Expertise
Indigenous cultural studies; cultural theory; settler colonialism; socio-cultural wellbeing; issues of space, place and belonging; & cultural methodologies.
Aboriginal festivals provide a rich focus because ‘Aboriginal culture’ is both celebrated and problematised by settler Australia, but rarely understood on Indigenous terms. Festivals are meeting places where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s stories, knowledge and histories take precedent. Lisa asks, how do cultural festivals help broader Australia’s understanding of Indigenous lives? In these cultural spaces, how are solutions to social problems, wellbeing and the future differently imagined?
Another strand of her current research examines the cultural politics of ‘recognition’ and ‘equality’ by analysing what ‘well-intentioned’ settler Australians see and feel when they interact with Aboriginal people. To do so, she examines various cultural artifacts – memoirs, film, cultural tourism and policy – to map settlers’ emotional responses to Indigeneity. Her particular interest is in the anxiety that arises when settlers are confronted with, what they perceive as politics when they wanted to learn about ‘culture’. She asks why does Aboriginal political will continue to provoke and disturb? How does settler anxiety shape and inform public opinion and political solutions to Indigenous inequality and issues of social justice? How is ‘culture’ imagined and understood by different peoples? Through this work, Lisa also investigates models for moving through and beyond settler anxiety to learn to be at home together in difference.
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Papers by Lisa Slater
This book analyses the anxiety \u27well-intentioned\u27 settler Australian women experience when ... more This book analyses the anxiety \u27well-intentioned\u27 settler Australian women experience when engaging with Indigenous politics. Drawing upon cultural theory and studies of affect and emotion, Slater argues that settler anxiety is an historical subjectivity that shapes perception and senses of belonging. Why does Indigenous political will continue to provoke and disturb? How does settler anxiety inform public opinion and \u27solutions\u27 to Indigenous inequality? In its rigorous interrogation of the dynamics of settler colonialism, emotions and ethical belonging, Anxieties of Belonging has far-reaching implications for understanding Indigenous-settler relations
(Shepparton and Aurukun social profile background) Maya Haviland (Derby social profile background... more (Shepparton and Aurukun social profile background) Maya Haviland (Derby social profile background) Glen Morrow (Selected Garma interviews)
There are two essential points here, though they are to some extent the same. One is that in any ... more There are two essential points here, though they are to some extent the same. One is that in any true journey one must be lost for at least some of time, and the other is the journey\u27s trajectory towards the thing that has not yet been said
Australian Historical Studies, 2017
In Kim Scott’s Benang, bodies in excess of, or incompatible with, assimilationist and eugenicist ... more In Kim Scott’s Benang, bodies in excess of, or incompatible with, assimilationist and eugenicist discourse, narrate and make sense of their world. Scott has composed a novel that opens up a space to affirm and re-articulate subjectivities, and hence challenge the fantasy of a uniform civic body. Although he is the body who mediates the plurality of stories, his voice does not synthesise heterogeneous stories into a unified and coherent whole. Instead, Harley’s narrative— like his performance— creates a meeting place where diverse and multifarious stories are articulated. Scot t introduces the reader to Harley as a hybrid, floating being
Anxieties of Belonging in Settler Colonialism, 2018
Representation and Contestation, 2010
A Companion to the Works of Kim Scott, 2016
Since the mid-1980s there has been a sharp rise in the number of literary publications by Indigen... more Since the mid-1980s there has been a sharp rise in the number of literary publications by Indigenous Australians and in the readership and impact of those works. One contemporary Aboriginal Australianauthor who continues to make a contribution to both the Australian and the global canon is Kim Scott (1957-). Scott has won many awards, including Australia's highest, the prestigious Miles FranklinAward, for his novels Benang (in 2000) and That Deadman Dance(in 2011). Scott has also published in other literary genres, including poetry, the short story, and children's literature, and he has written and worked professionally on Indigenous health issues. Despite Scott's national and international acclaim, there is currently no comprehensive critical companion that contextualizeshis work for scholars, students, and general readers. A Companion to the Works of Kim Scott fills this void by providing a collection of eleven original essays focusing on Scott's novels, shortstori...
Emotions: History, Culture, Society, 2019
The focus of this essay is the racialised political emotions of ‘good white people’. I examine wh... more The focus of this essay is the racialised political emotions of ‘good white people’. I examine what Berlant names ‘public feelings’, focusing on the way emotional states are part of communal experiences. My interest is Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ repeated calls for mainstream Australia to genuinely engage with political and cultural difference, and listen. Such claims often make ‘good white people’ anxious. They protest, insist they are trying but don’t know what to do. Good white people’s anxiety is much more telling than the stories that are told about bad racists. Thus, it is a productive site to analyse the cultural dynamics of settler–Indigenous relations, and to understand how race structures Australian culture and the endurance of racism.
This paper discusses the findings of a three-year study that examined the role and significance o... more This paper discusses the findings of a three-year study that examined the role and significance of Australian Indigenous cultural festivals on community and youth wellbeing. The study found that Indigenous organisations and communities, funded by government and philanthropic agencies, are increasingly using festivals as vehicles to strengthen social connections, intergenerational knowledge transmission and wellbeing (Phipps & Slater 2010). However, at both a state and national level, Indigenous affairs routinely continue to assert social norms based upon non- Indigenous national ideals of experience and wellbeing. On the basis of the empirical findings, it becomes clear that there is a need to promote and support public spaces, such as Indigenous cultural festivals, that foster culturally appropriate, localised and stable Indigenous control, voices and values. This paper focuses on two distinctly different festivals, both with the express aim of celebrating Indigenous culture: Croc ...
In his first novel True Country. Kim Scon esrablished himself as a writer who is determi ned to i... more In his first novel True Country. Kim Scon esrablished himself as a writer who is determi ned to investigate the continued traumatic effects of colonial violence. Harley, the protagonist of Scott\u27s second novel Benang: from the Heart (thc co-winner of the Miles Franklin award), takes up a pen in response to reductionist assimilationist records. He states: But I found myself among paper, words not formed by an intention corresponding to my own, and I read a world weak in creative spirit
The narrator, Harley, of Kim Scott’s novel Benang, suggests that he is writing “the most local of... more The narrator, Harley, of Kim Scott’s novel Benang, suggests that he is writing “the most local of histories” (10). However, he also questions what it is that he is writing—“What was it? A family history? A local history? An experiment? A fantasy?” (33). Furthermore, throughout the novel, Harley worries that his “little history” might be resuscitating racist discourse. The questions that Harley raises regarding what it is he is writing parallel Scott’s concerns with problems of style, genre and frame. The colonial ideology of assimilation was disseminated through writing, which informed non-Indigenous people’s knowledge of and relationships to Indigenous people and laid the foundation for contemporary race relations
A Companion to the Works of Kim Scott, 2016
Anxieties of Belonging in Settler Colonialism, 2018
From 2005 to 2007 we had the enriching, yet demanding, experience of teaching Indigenous Australi... more From 2005 to 2007 we had the enriching, yet demanding, experience of teaching Indigenous Australian studies together at the Koori Centre, University of Sydney. We each taught a number of different units of study including a large survey course, Introduction to Indigenous Australia, to local and international students. In the last few years of the Howard government it was no easy task to convey to young non-Indigenous Australian students the particular history and experience of Indigenous Australians. Most had grown up in a conservative culture which marginalised Indigenous people and silenced Indigenous political voices, and so had little experience in engaging with Indigenous history or the continuing legacy of Australia's colonial past. While the majority of our students were open-minded and possessed a genuine willingness to learn, they were also keenly attuned to any seemingly excessive pro-Indigenous bias on our part. Any readings deemed too political or theoretical, were assumed to lack practicality and treated with scepticism-'A treaty? Australians would never accept that!' Thus we faced the at times stomach-churning and teeth-gritting task of having to objectively and dispassionately explore the motives and implications of the Howard government's dilution of native title rights, dismantling of the peak Indigenous representative body, and intervention into the lives of Aboriginal Northern Territorians. We also taught Indigenous students, whose frustration with the conservative status quo was often entangled with their visceral identification with the injustices and tragedies of the past, posing challenges of a different kind. Here we had to encourage students to collectively move beyond the personal and anecdotal, and engage with theoretical and scholarly examinations of Indigenous Australian history and culture. Sharing interconnected offices, we regularly sought each other out for advice on teaching matters, occasionally to vent minor frustrations, and most often to relate amusing stories from the classroom. On reflection it is interesting how many of these teaching anecdotes concerned our own corporeality. Teaching Indigenous Australian b o rd e rla n d s 7 :2
Anxieties of Belonging in Settler Colonialism, 2018
Anxieties of Belonging in Settler Colonialism, 2018
This book analyses the anxiety \u27well-intentioned\u27 settler Australian women experience when ... more This book analyses the anxiety \u27well-intentioned\u27 settler Australian women experience when engaging with Indigenous politics. Drawing upon cultural theory and studies of affect and emotion, Slater argues that settler anxiety is an historical subjectivity that shapes perception and senses of belonging. Why does Indigenous political will continue to provoke and disturb? How does settler anxiety inform public opinion and \u27solutions\u27 to Indigenous inequality? In its rigorous interrogation of the dynamics of settler colonialism, emotions and ethical belonging, Anxieties of Belonging has far-reaching implications for understanding Indigenous-settler relations
(Shepparton and Aurukun social profile background) Maya Haviland (Derby social profile background... more (Shepparton and Aurukun social profile background) Maya Haviland (Derby social profile background) Glen Morrow (Selected Garma interviews)
There are two essential points here, though they are to some extent the same. One is that in any ... more There are two essential points here, though they are to some extent the same. One is that in any true journey one must be lost for at least some of time, and the other is the journey\u27s trajectory towards the thing that has not yet been said
Australian Historical Studies, 2017
In Kim Scott’s Benang, bodies in excess of, or incompatible with, assimilationist and eugenicist ... more In Kim Scott’s Benang, bodies in excess of, or incompatible with, assimilationist and eugenicist discourse, narrate and make sense of their world. Scott has composed a novel that opens up a space to affirm and re-articulate subjectivities, and hence challenge the fantasy of a uniform civic body. Although he is the body who mediates the plurality of stories, his voice does not synthesise heterogeneous stories into a unified and coherent whole. Instead, Harley’s narrative— like his performance— creates a meeting place where diverse and multifarious stories are articulated. Scot t introduces the reader to Harley as a hybrid, floating being
Anxieties of Belonging in Settler Colonialism, 2018
Representation and Contestation, 2010
A Companion to the Works of Kim Scott, 2016
Since the mid-1980s there has been a sharp rise in the number of literary publications by Indigen... more Since the mid-1980s there has been a sharp rise in the number of literary publications by Indigenous Australians and in the readership and impact of those works. One contemporary Aboriginal Australianauthor who continues to make a contribution to both the Australian and the global canon is Kim Scott (1957-). Scott has won many awards, including Australia's highest, the prestigious Miles FranklinAward, for his novels Benang (in 2000) and That Deadman Dance(in 2011). Scott has also published in other literary genres, including poetry, the short story, and children's literature, and he has written and worked professionally on Indigenous health issues. Despite Scott's national and international acclaim, there is currently no comprehensive critical companion that contextualizeshis work for scholars, students, and general readers. A Companion to the Works of Kim Scott fills this void by providing a collection of eleven original essays focusing on Scott's novels, shortstori...
Emotions: History, Culture, Society, 2019
The focus of this essay is the racialised political emotions of ‘good white people’. I examine wh... more The focus of this essay is the racialised political emotions of ‘good white people’. I examine what Berlant names ‘public feelings’, focusing on the way emotional states are part of communal experiences. My interest is Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ repeated calls for mainstream Australia to genuinely engage with political and cultural difference, and listen. Such claims often make ‘good white people’ anxious. They protest, insist they are trying but don’t know what to do. Good white people’s anxiety is much more telling than the stories that are told about bad racists. Thus, it is a productive site to analyse the cultural dynamics of settler–Indigenous relations, and to understand how race structures Australian culture and the endurance of racism.
This paper discusses the findings of a three-year study that examined the role and significance o... more This paper discusses the findings of a three-year study that examined the role and significance of Australian Indigenous cultural festivals on community and youth wellbeing. The study found that Indigenous organisations and communities, funded by government and philanthropic agencies, are increasingly using festivals as vehicles to strengthen social connections, intergenerational knowledge transmission and wellbeing (Phipps & Slater 2010). However, at both a state and national level, Indigenous affairs routinely continue to assert social norms based upon non- Indigenous national ideals of experience and wellbeing. On the basis of the empirical findings, it becomes clear that there is a need to promote and support public spaces, such as Indigenous cultural festivals, that foster culturally appropriate, localised and stable Indigenous control, voices and values. This paper focuses on two distinctly different festivals, both with the express aim of celebrating Indigenous culture: Croc ...
In his first novel True Country. Kim Scon esrablished himself as a writer who is determi ned to i... more In his first novel True Country. Kim Scon esrablished himself as a writer who is determi ned to investigate the continued traumatic effects of colonial violence. Harley, the protagonist of Scott\u27s second novel Benang: from the Heart (thc co-winner of the Miles Franklin award), takes up a pen in response to reductionist assimilationist records. He states: But I found myself among paper, words not formed by an intention corresponding to my own, and I read a world weak in creative spirit
The narrator, Harley, of Kim Scott’s novel Benang, suggests that he is writing “the most local of... more The narrator, Harley, of Kim Scott’s novel Benang, suggests that he is writing “the most local of histories” (10). However, he also questions what it is that he is writing—“What was it? A family history? A local history? An experiment? A fantasy?” (33). Furthermore, throughout the novel, Harley worries that his “little history” might be resuscitating racist discourse. The questions that Harley raises regarding what it is he is writing parallel Scott’s concerns with problems of style, genre and frame. The colonial ideology of assimilation was disseminated through writing, which informed non-Indigenous people’s knowledge of and relationships to Indigenous people and laid the foundation for contemporary race relations
A Companion to the Works of Kim Scott, 2016
Anxieties of Belonging in Settler Colonialism, 2018
From 2005 to 2007 we had the enriching, yet demanding, experience of teaching Indigenous Australi... more From 2005 to 2007 we had the enriching, yet demanding, experience of teaching Indigenous Australian studies together at the Koori Centre, University of Sydney. We each taught a number of different units of study including a large survey course, Introduction to Indigenous Australia, to local and international students. In the last few years of the Howard government it was no easy task to convey to young non-Indigenous Australian students the particular history and experience of Indigenous Australians. Most had grown up in a conservative culture which marginalised Indigenous people and silenced Indigenous political voices, and so had little experience in engaging with Indigenous history or the continuing legacy of Australia's colonial past. While the majority of our students were open-minded and possessed a genuine willingness to learn, they were also keenly attuned to any seemingly excessive pro-Indigenous bias on our part. Any readings deemed too political or theoretical, were assumed to lack practicality and treated with scepticism-'A treaty? Australians would never accept that!' Thus we faced the at times stomach-churning and teeth-gritting task of having to objectively and dispassionately explore the motives and implications of the Howard government's dilution of native title rights, dismantling of the peak Indigenous representative body, and intervention into the lives of Aboriginal Northern Territorians. We also taught Indigenous students, whose frustration with the conservative status quo was often entangled with their visceral identification with the injustices and tragedies of the past, posing challenges of a different kind. Here we had to encourage students to collectively move beyond the personal and anecdotal, and engage with theoretical and scholarly examinations of Indigenous Australian history and culture. Sharing interconnected offices, we regularly sought each other out for advice on teaching matters, occasionally to vent minor frustrations, and most often to relate amusing stories from the classroom. On reflection it is interesting how many of these teaching anecdotes concerned our own corporeality. Teaching Indigenous Australian b o rd e rla n d s 7 :2
Anxieties of Belonging in Settler Colonialism, 2018
Anxieties of Belonging in Settler Colonialism, 2018