Text, Theory, Space: Land, Literature and History in South Africa and Australia

by Kate Darian-Smith (Editor), Liz Gunner (Editor), Sarah Nuttall (Editor)

Overview

Text, Theory, Space is a landmark in post-colonial criticism and theory. Focusing on two white settler societies, South Africa and Australia, the contributors investigate the meaning of 'the South' as an aesthetic, political, geographical and cultural space.
Drawing upon a wide range of disciplines which include literature, history, urban and cultural geography, politics and anthropology, the contributors examine crucial issues including:
* defining what 'the South' encompasses
* investigating ideas of space, history, land and landscape
* claiming, naming and possessing land
* national and personal boundaries
* questions of race, gender and nationalism

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781134804542
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	08/04/2005
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	280
File size:	616 KB

About the Author

Kate Darian-Smith, Liz Gunner, Sarah Nuttall

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements. Biographical notes. Introduction. Part O ne: Defining the South 1. Paul Carter Turning the Tables - or, Grounding Post-colonialism 2. David Bunn Comparative Barbarism: Game Reserves, Sugar Plantations, and the Modernization of South African Landscape 3. Kerryn Goldsworthy The Voyage South: Writing Immigration 4. Gillian Whitlock A 'White Souled State': Across the 'South' with Lady Barker Part Two. Claiming Lands, Creating Identites, Making Nations 5. Michelle Adler 'Skirting the edges of civilization': Two Victorian Women Travellers and 'colinial spaces' in South Africa 6. Kate Darian-Smith 'Rescuing' Barbara Thompson and other White Women: Captivity Narratives on Australian Frontiers 7. Liz Gunner Names and the Land: Poetry of Belonging and Unbelonging, a Comparative Approach 8. Sue Rowley Imagination, Madness and Nation in Australian Bush Mythology 9. Nhlanhla Maake Inscribing Identity on the Landscape: National Symbols in South Africa 10. Terence Ranger Great Spaces Washed with Sun: the Matopos and Uluru compared 11. Tony Birch 'A Land so inviting and still without inhabitants': Erasing Koori Culture from (post) colonial Landscapes Part Three. Borders, Boundaries, Open Spaces 12. Abner Nyamende Martha has no Land: the Tragedy of Identity in The Marabi Dance 13. Sophie Watson Spaces of the 'Other': Planning for Cultural Diversity in Western Sydney 14. Sarah Nuttall Flatness and Fantasy: Land Images in Two Recent South African Novels 15. Dorothy Driver Drum Magazine (1951-59) and the Spatical Configurations of Gender 16. Rob Nixon Rural Transnationalism: Bessie Head's Southern Spaces

Editorial Reviews

'The sixteen essays ... demonstrate interdisciplinary study at its best.' - Times Literary Supplement

'As its subtitle implies, this important collection pf essays embarks on a comparative exercise, namely to bring questions of Australian and South African literature and history into a comparative dialogue. Such a comparative undertaking has seldom been attempted before. By opening up the possibility for such 'interlocking conversations' this book is a pioneer in what'should become an important and burgeoning field of research.' - SOAS Bulletin, Vol. 61, No. 2, 1998

'Here is a genuinely provocative and courageous analysis...' - Nations and Nationalism

' ... rich in detail and diversity and highly informative.' - Ecumene

'an enormously pleasurable and rewarding collection of essays' - Interventions

From the Publisher