Through a close reading of Kim Scott's Benang: from the heart, this thesis interrogates what whiteness in an Australian colonial context looks like from an Aboriginal perspective. Its central proposition is that Scott's narrator, Harley, discovers whiteness as a consequence of discovering his Aboriginality. It suggests whiteness is imbued with a power that arises through its invisibility and its ability to racialise and circumscribe non-white others. When this process is reversed, and whiteness is made visible, its power is diminished. Harley (re)places whiteness into an Aboriginal paradigm from within which he imagines a syncretic future for Australia.
History
Publication status
Unpublished
Rights statement
Thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for admission to the degree of Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Aboriginal Studies and English at the University of Tasmania