Claiming Space: Aboriginal (Re)mappings of Contemporary Australia
Contemporary Indigenous-authored texts are often read as counter-narratives seeking to redress erroneous and oppressive representations of themselves in white-authored texts. Similarly, Indigenous narratives concerned with place and reclaiming the land lost to colonisation can be read as counter-map...
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| הוצא לאור ב: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/angles, |
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| מחבר ראשי: | |
| פורמט: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| שפה: | Anglais |
| יצא לאור: |
Angles
2026
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| נושאים: | |
| גישה מקוונת: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| id |
openedition-oai:revues.org:angles_11226 |
|---|---|
| record_format |
openedition |
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OpenEdition Journal |
| language |
Anglais |
| format |
Article ou chapitre numérique |
| building |
0/Bibliothèque numérique/ 1/Bibliothèque numérique/OpenEdition Journals/ |
| topic |
cartographie Australie territoire littérature aborigène études autochtones études postcoloniales relationalité oralité Wright Alexis Australia territory postcolonial criticism mapping relationality orality Aboriginal literature Indigenous studies Alexis Wright |
| spellingShingle |
cartographie Australie territoire littérature aborigène études autochtones études postcoloniales relationalité oralité Wright Alexis Australia territory postcolonial criticism mapping relationality orality Aboriginal literature Indigenous studies Alexis Wright Seran, Justine Claiming Space: Aboriginal (Re)mappings of Contemporary Australia |
| description |
Contemporary Indigenous-authored texts are often read as counter-narratives seeking to redress erroneous and oppressive representations of themselves in white-authored texts. Similarly, Indigenous narratives concerned with place and reclaiming the land lost to colonisation can be read as counter-mapping exercises, insofar as they engage not only with representations of space and the territory itself, but also question the very legitimacy of colonial cartography and therefore settler presence and ways of constructing knowledge about place. This paper engages with the Australian Aboriginal notion of “country” and its relationship with language, particularly in Alexis Wright’s 2006 award-winning novel Carpentaria, set in the eponymous Gulf of Carpentaria in far-north Queensland. Carpentaria tells the story of the Aboriginal Pricklebush people and their relationship with Uptown, the white zone of the fictional town of Desperance, and the Gurrfurrit mine. I argue that Wright is concerned with the way language is used in contemporary Australia to (re)inscribe Aboriginal presence onto the land and overwrite colonial inscriptions through the renaming of colonised places, the articulation of spiritual spaces such as the Dreaming, as well as the remapping of Indigenous bodies and languages as textual spaces. Indeed, Aboriginal writing itself can be likened to a frontier zone along which lies, on one side of the border, literacy, theory, materiality, and history; and on the other side, orality, experience, performance, and myth. Beyond stereotypical binaries, Wright writes from this frontier zone that blurs the border between the margin and centre of postcolonial discourse and complicates the position of the white reader in relation to space(s). Drawing from postcolonial theories of language, territory, and embodiment, I examine how Wright addresses the tensions between local traditions and rampant globalisation to illustrate the ongoing struggle for Indigenous mapping systems to overwrite external and internal colonial cartography, from natural features such as rivers in the Gulf, to sacred spaces like the Dreaming, and even the inner landscape of the reader who attempts to situate themselves within the story and orientate themselves with Wright’s words. As a response to colonial cartography, I examine “unsettlement” as particularly apt to describe the contemporary thrust of Aboriginal writing in Australia, where the very legitimacy of the settler state is threatened by official acknowledgements of the illegality of colonisation, as well as previous and ongoing ownership of the land by Indigenous people. |
| author |
Seran, Justine |
| author_facet |
Seran, Justine |
| author_sort |
Seran, Justine |
| title |
Claiming Space: Aboriginal (Re)mappings of Contemporary Australia |
| title_short |
Claiming Space: Aboriginal (Re)mappings of Contemporary Australia |
| title_full |
Claiming Space: Aboriginal (Re)mappings of Contemporary Australia |
| title_fullStr |
Claiming Space: Aboriginal (Re)mappings of Contemporary Australia |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Claiming Space: Aboriginal (Re)mappings of Contemporary Australia |
| title_sort |
claiming space: aboriginal (re)mappings of contemporary australia |
| publisher |
Angles |
| publishDate |
2026 |
| container_title |
URI:https://journals.openedition.org/angles |
| url |
https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://doi.org/10.4000/16307 https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://journals.openedition.org/angles/11226 |
| _version_ |
1877291726716010496 |
| spelling |
openedition-oai:revues.org:angles_11226 https://doi.org/10.4000/16307 urn:doi:10.4000/16307 en https://journals.openedition.org/angles/11226 2026-04-16T02:00:00Z info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess article info:eu-repo/semantics/article urn:handle:20.500.13089/16307 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Claiming Space: Aboriginal (Re)mappings of Contemporary Australia Angles Société des Anglicistes de l'Enseignement Supérieur info:eu-repo/semantics/reference/issn/2274-2042 URI:https://journals.openedition.org/angles Seran, Justine cartographie Australie territoire littérature aborigène études autochtones études postcoloniales relationalité oralité Wright Alexis Australia territory postcolonial criticism mapping relationality orality Aboriginal literature Indigenous studies Alexis Wright Contemporary Indigenous-authored texts are often read as counter-narratives seeking to redress erroneous and oppressive representations of themselves in white-authored texts. Similarly, Indigenous narratives concerned with place and reclaiming the land lost to colonisation can be read as counter-mapping exercises, insofar as they engage not only with representations of space and the territory itself, but also question the very legitimacy of colonial cartography and therefore settler presence and ways of constructing knowledge about place. This paper engages with the Australian Aboriginal notion of “country” and its relationship with language, particularly in Alexis Wright’s 2006 award-winning novel Carpentaria, set in the eponymous Gulf of Carpentaria in far-north Queensland. Carpentaria tells the story of the Aboriginal Pricklebush people and their relationship with Uptown, the white zone of the fictional town of Desperance, and the Gurrfurrit mine. I argue that Wright is concerned with the way language is used in contemporary Australia to (re)inscribe Aboriginal presence onto the land and overwrite colonial inscriptions through the renaming of colonised places, the articulation of spiritual spaces such as the Dreaming, as well as the remapping of Indigenous bodies and languages as textual spaces. Indeed, Aboriginal writing itself can be likened to a frontier zone along which lies, on one side of the border, literacy, theory, materiality, and history; and on the other side, orality, experience, performance, and myth. Beyond stereotypical binaries, Wright writes from this frontier zone that blurs the border between the margin and centre of postcolonial discourse and complicates the position of the white reader in relation to space(s). Drawing from postcolonial theories of language, territory, and embodiment, I examine how Wright addresses the tensions between local traditions and rampant globalisation to illustrate the ongoing struggle for Indigenous mapping systems to overwrite external and internal colonial cartography, from natural features such as rivers in the Gulf, to sacred spaces like the Dreaming, and even the inner landscape of the reader who attempts to situate themselves within the story and orientate themselves with Wright’s words. As a response to colonial cartography, I examine “unsettlement” as particularly apt to describe the contemporary thrust of Aboriginal writing in Australia, where the very legitimacy of the settler state is threatened by official acknowledgements of the illegality of colonisation, as well as previous and ongoing ownership of the land by Indigenous people. La littérature contemporaine aborigène est souvent perçue comme contre-narration cherchant à rectifier les représentations erronées et oppressives dans les textes écrits par des auteurs blancs. Ainsi, les romans autochtones qui prennent pour thème la reclamation des terres confisquées lors de la colonisation peuvent être lus comme des tentatives de contre-cartographie car ils s’intéressent non seulement à la représentation de l’espace et du territoire, mais interrogent également la légitimité de la cartographie coloniale et donc la présence des colons et leur conception du territoire. Cet article prend comme point de départ la notion aborigène de « country » et sa relation au langage, en particulier dans le cadre du roman d’Alexis Wright Carpentaria, sorti en 2006 et situé dans le golfe éponyme au nord de l’état du Queensland. Le peuple aborigène Pricklebush et leur relation avec Uptown, le quartier blanc de la ville fictionelle de Desperance, et la mine Gurrfurrit, sont au coeur de cette épopée qui franchit les frontières de l’espace et du genre littéraire. Wright se préoccupe de la manière dont le langage est utilisé par les auteurs autochtones pour (ré)inscrire la présence aborigène sur le territoire et rectifier les inscriptions coloniales en articulant des espaces spirituels ainsi qu’en re-cartographiant les corps et les langues autochtones comme espaces textuels. En effet, la littérature aborigène elle-même est une zone frontalière le long de laquelle se trouvent, d’un côté, l’alphabétisation, la théorie, la matérialité, et l’histoire ; et de l’autre, l’oralité, l’expérience, la performance, et le mythe. Au delà des stéréotypes binaires, Wright écrit depuis cette zone frontalière qui brouille les limites entre les marges et le centre du discours postcolonial, et complexifie la position du lectorat blanc et sa relation aux espaces du texte. Je m’appuie sur les théories postcoloniales pour examiner la manière dont Wright répond aux tensions entre traditions locales et mondialisation effrénée pour illustrer la lutte continue pour les systèmes de cartographie autochtones et la réécriture des cartes coloniales, depuis les rivières du golfe de Carpentarie jusqu’aux espaces sacrés du Dreaming, et même l’espace intérieur d’un lectorat qui tente de s’orienter au sein du texte à l’aide des mots de Wright. J’examine également la notion d’« unsettlement » dans la littérature aborigène contemporaine, à la fois perturbation et décolonisation, comme particulièrement apte à représenter la menace que fait peser sur la légitimité de l’état colonial la reconnaissance officielle à la fois du caractère illégal de la colonisation et de la possession ancestrale de la terre par les peuples autochtones. |