Choose one question from the list below, and write a paper (4-5 pages, double space) on

it. Be sure to write this as an essay, with topic sentences and paragraph organizations that
make sense. When you quote from the relevant essays, put the material in quotation
marks and indicate (in parentheses) the author and page of publication. Papers are due
December 2.

1. “Identity” – a sense of self and what kind of person one is – has been an important
concern for many people in the contemporary world. Our readings suggest that who (or
what) is “Aboriginal” is a particularly significant issue for Indigenous people in
Australia. Using at least one of the articles, films, or discussions of art (readings from
Ian Anderson, Bain Attwood, Morphy, films by Darlene Johnson) and Sally Morgan’s
My Place, explore the issue of identity in the Indigenous Australian context and how it is
explored in these readings.
 What are some of the main issues that arise around Aboriginal identity? How do
Aboriginal people recognize identity and how do they define themselves?
 Is there a “search for Aboriginality”? Why or why not?

2. Bain Attwood writes, “In the post-war era of assimilation, […] Australian history was
a grand narrative of modernity and progress, and had no place for ‘a dying race’ or ‘a
primitive culture’” (Attwood 2001, 188). Sally Morgan’s autobiography My Place and
Darlene Johnson’s documentary “Stolen Generations” re-tell the historical narrative of
assimilation from the perspective of Indigenous people who were affected by this policy.
How do the film and the book represent Indigenous identity and how do these
representation respond to previous understandings of assimilation and Aboriginality? Be
sure to discuss specific examples.

3. Storytelling is said to be an important means through which Aboriginal culture and

experience have been transmitted through time. Discuss Sally Morgan’s My Place as an
example of “storytelling” that is concerned with the search for and/or construction of
Aboriginality.
 Are there dimensions of this story that might be specifically Aboriginal?
 What does “Aboriginality” mean for her?
 What role do stories and personal narratives play in the text?
 How does Morgan’s story resonate with other stories (readings or films) in this
section of the course?

4.
“…[R]epresentations which describe Indigenous peoples (or any other peoples)
as caught ‘between two worlds’ become ‘conceptual prisons.’ In the
transforming experiences through which Aboriginal people grow, those qualities
which constitute our identities are constantly re-forming as we engage and re-
engage our world.” (Ian Anderson, p. 51)

A major complaint of contemporary Aboriginal people, especially those in cities

and country towns, is that the stereotypical forms of representing Aboriginal people and
culture – in terms of ceremony, myth, and language – deny their felt identities as
Aboriginal persons. Discuss how the readings and films of the past few weeks, especially
Sally Morgan’s My Place, exemplify and engage with this problem. Be specific in your
discussion. How do external representations and stereotypes affect the way Indigenous
people experience their own identity? How do these representations compare with the
way Aboriginality is actually experienced or felt? How do Aboriginal people engage
with and respond to these representations?