Against the Grain

Literacy, Power, Identity

What happens when missionaries try to get indigenous people to read and write English? Sometimes what results is very different than what the missionaries intended. Laura Rademaker describes how members of an aboriginal community in Australia resisted and repurposed English literacies.

Tony Ballantine, Lachy Paterson and Angela Wanhalla, eds., Indigenous Textual Cultures: Reading and Writing in the Age of Global Empire Duke University Press, 2020

Laura Rademaker, Found in Translation: Many Meanings on a North Australian Mission University of Hawaii Press, 2018

Playlist

Artist Song Album Label
Biggabush,Lightning HeadIlu Baje13 Faces of Lightning HeadBELIEVE - Tru Thoughts
Dhamaal SoundsystemR/evolutionDhamaal SoundsystemDhamaal SF - Surya Vault Records
Ruby TerryGroovy BabyPop Funk - Commercial Background MusicMusic Man