Uncanny Australia Sacredness and Identity in a Postcolonial Nation

by Jacobs, Jane M; Gelder, Ken

• ISBN13: 9780522848168
• ISBN10: 0522848168
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1994-06-07
• Publisher: Melbourne University Press

Summary

Aboriginal claims for sacredness in modern Australia may seem like minor events, but they have radically disturbed the nation's image of itself. Minorities appear to have too much influence; majorities suddenly feel embattled. What once seemed familiar can now seem disconcertingly unfamiliar, a condition Ken Gelder and Jane M. Jacobs diagnose as 'uncanny'. In Uncanny Australia Gelder and Jacobs show how Aboriginal claims for sacredness radiate out to affect the fortunes, and misfortunes, of the modern nation. They look at Coronation Hill, Hindmarsh Island, Uluru and the repatriation of sacred objects; they examine secret business in public places, promiscuous sacred sites, ghosts and bunyips, cartographic nostalgia, reconciliation and democracy, postcolonial racism and New Age enchantments. Uncanny Australia is a challenging and thought-provoking work that offers a new way of understanding how the Aboriginal sacred inhabits the modern nation.

Author Biography

Ken Gelder teaches English and Cultural Studies at the University of Melbourne. His previous books include Atomic Fiction: The Novels of David Ireland (1993) and Reading the Vampire (1994). Jane M. Jacobs teaches Geography and Environmental Studies at the University of Melbourne. She is the author of Edge of Empire: Postcolonialism and the City (1996).

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	ix	(2)
Introduction: On Discourses of the Sacred, Minorities and Fair Deals	xi
1 The Modern Sacred: On the New Age of a Postcolonial Nation	1	(22)
2 The Postcolonial Uncanny: On Reconciliation, (Dis)Possession and Ghost Stories	23	(20)
3 The Sacred (in the) Nation: On Boundaries, Aboriginal Bureaucracy and the Arbitrariness of the Sign	43	(23)
4 Where is the Sacred? On the Reach of Coronation Hill	66	(16)
5 The Return of the Sacred: On Repatriation and Charisma	82	(15)
6 Authorising Sacredness: On Storytelling, Fiction and Uluru	97	(20)
7 Promiscuous Sacredness: On Women's Business, Publicity and Hindmarsh Island	117	(18)
Conclusion: On Wik, Postcolonial Democracy and Other Matters	135	(9)
Notes	144	(9)
Bibliography	153	(6)
Index	159
Illustrations
Figure 1 Aboriginal Australia	58
Figure 2 Contemporary land use in Australia	140