Cultural Studies/Aboriginal Studies
Book Details

Uncanny Australia

Sacredness and Identity in a Postcolonial Nation

Ken Gelder & Jane M. Jacobs

This challenging book examines how the sacred haunts the modern in Australian society through the effect of the uncanny.

Opinion

‘An excellent contribution to current discussions of the place of Aboriginality in the life of the Australian nation . . . I find its central arguments innovative, thoughtful and fundamentally right.’ (Professor Dipesh Chakrabarty, South Asian Languages and Civilisations, University of Chicago)

‘A terrific book . . . a very original and stimulating depiction of the way Australians are coming to terms with the indigenous challenge.’ (Dr Tim Rowse, University of Sydney)

About this Title

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.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements; Introduction: On Discourses of the Sacred, Minorities and Fair Deals; 1. The Modern Sacred: On the New Age of a Postcolonial Nation; 2. The Postcolonial Uncanny: On Reconciliation, (Dis)Possession and Ghost Stories; 3. The Sacred (in the) Nation: On Boundaries, Aboriginal Bureaucracy and the Arbitrariness of the Sign; 4. Where is the Sacred? On the Reach of Coronation Hill; 5. The Return of the Sacred: On Repatriation and Charisma; 6. Authorising Sacredness: On Storytelling, Fiction and Uluru; 7. Promiscuous Sacredness: On Women’s Business, Publicity and Hindmarsh Island; Conclusion: On Wik, Postcolonial Democracy and Other Matters; Notes; Bibliography; Index

About the Author

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).

Book Preview

978-0-522-84816-8