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https://theconversation.com/jamie-oliver-wrote-first-nations-characters-the-wrong-way-non-indigenous-writers-need-to-listen-to-indigenous-writers-first-243349>
"First Nations authored literature continues to excite and educate Australian
readers. Non-Indigenous writers are grappling with how to craft inclusive
fiction that does not impinge on Indigenous knowledge, beliefs and rights of
self-representation. Inclusive fiction is central to a representative literary
landscape. In settler colonies such as Australia, this comes with the danger of
cultural appropriation.
British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has brought this issue into the limelight
with his attempt at crafting a First Nations Australian character in a
children’s novel, which has just been withdrawn from sale by his publisher,
Random House UK. Oliver and his publisher have confirmed there was no
consultation with any Indigenous organisation, community or individual before
the book was published.
The book,
Billy and the Epic Escape, features a First Nations Australian girl
living in foster care, who is stolen and taken across the world by the novel’s
villain. She tells the English children who rescue her she can read people’s
minds and communicate with plants and animals because “that’s the indigenous
way” and uses words from the Gamilaraay people of New South Wales and
Queensland, despite telling them she is from Mparntwe (Alice Springs). Oliver
has since apologised.
The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Corporation
(NATSIEC) told the
Guardian the book was damaging and disrespectful, and
criticised Oliver’s “erasure, trivialisation, and stereotyping of First Nations
peoples and experiences”. But releasing a book that draws the ire of NATSIEC
should never happen in the first place.
We’re writing this article as a collaborative response from a Wiradjuri poet,
critic, author and academic and from a non-Indigenous researcher who has
written a guide for non-Indigenous writers, soon to be published."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
