Michael Griffiths

Join Michael Griffiths in conversation with Eve Vincent and Evelyn Araluen, discussing his book The Distribution of the Settlement: Appropriation and Refusal in Australian Literature and Culture.

About the Book

Settler representations of Indigenous culture and identity weigh heavily on the way Indigenous people tell their stories in the present. The Distribution of Settlement: Appropriation and Refusal in Australian Literature and Culture engages closely with the history of non-Indigenous representations of Aboriginality by telling a story about the role of appropriation and misrepresentation in twentieth century Australian literature and culture before moving to read the way Indigenous writers and intellectuals engage with—or refuse to engage with—this legacy. The book also turns to the legacy of these acts on and in the work of contemporary Aboriginal writers such as Kim Scott, Alexis Wright, Tony Birch and Tara June Winch.

About the Author

Michael R. Griffiths lectures in English and Writing at the University of Wollongong. His work has appeared in such venues as Settler Colonial Studies, Discourse, Postcolonial Studies and The Journal of Commonwealth Literature amongst many others. Michael edited the book Biopolitics and Memory in Postcolonial Literature and Culture (Routledge 2016) and coedited a special issue (with Bruno Cornellier) of Settler Colonial Studies titled ‘Globalising Unsettlement.’

Praise

"The Distribution of Settlement is an important milestone in the ongoing conversation between settler and Indigenous literary histories. In its examination of Indigenous opacity and refusal, this book refocuses interest on the ethics of reading and reinvigorates pressing current debates about cross-cultural engagements. It’s essential reading for all readers of Australian literature."

Associate Professor Anne Brewster, University of New South Wales

Publisher

UWA Publishing.