Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/35383

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Title
The geopolitics of Australian national reconciliation in Kooemba Jdarra's 7 Stages of Grieving
Author/Creator
Schaefer, Kerrie
Institution
The University of Newcastle. Faculty of Education & Arts, School of Drama, Fine Art and Music
Description
In Australia, the issue of national reconciliation is registered in and through the Indigenous struggle for land rights. In the 1992 Mabo decision, the High Court of Australia ruled that Indigenous title to land is recognised in the common Iaw of Australia, rejecting outright the legal fiction that Australia in 1788 was terra nullius: an empty land without owners. In 1993 the Mabo decision was converted into legislation in the Native Title Act. The creation of Native Title legislation represents an opportunity for the achievement of greater national resolution of the question of Indigenous land rights, and an improvement in relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Here it is acknowledged that reconciliation is intrinsically linked to the Indigenous struggle for land rights which involves an intricate mapping of the physical geography of land and the human geography of language, law, custom, kinship and spirituality. In 1996, the Australian High Court's Wik decision reaffirmed Indigenous self-determination and land rights, asserting the co-existence of native title and pastoral leases. However, the High Court decision has been and still is subject to acrimonious challenge by a conservative governmenta backed by the formidable interests and investments of farming and mining industries. The current government's determination to significantly reduce the scope and effectiveness of native title legislation has put into serious question the possibility of achieving land justice and a reconciled Australian polity. It is in this troubled context that I wish to locate and discuss Kooemba Jdarra's production of The 7 Stages of Grieving (1995).
Relation
Keying in to Postcolonial Cultures: Contemporary Stage Plays in English p. 37-50
Relation
Reflections: Literatures in English Outside Britain and the USA 12
Relation
http://www.wvttrier.de/top/Beschreibungen/ID605.html
Date
2003
Publisher
Wissenschaftlicher Verlag
Keyword(s)
Kooemba Jdarra;  Aboriginal theatre companies;  7 Stages of Grieving (1995);  Australia;  land rights;  national reconciliation
Resource Type
book chapter
Identifier
http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/35383
Identifier
ISBN:3884764756
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"The geopolitics of Australian national reconciliation in Kooemba Jdarra's 7 Stages of Grieving"
 
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