I'm not racist, but... : a collection of social observations
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Bibliographic Information
I'm not racist, but... : a collection of social observations
Salt, 2007
- : pbk
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Description and Table of Contents
Description
I'm not racist, but ... is a collection of social observations, thoughts and conversations the author has had over 15 years travelling Australia and the world; as a tourist, as a writer, as an academic, and always as a proud, strong, contemporary Aboriginal woman.
From the home of the largest Indigenous population in Australia - the city of Sydney - to the Mohawk Reserve of Kanhawake, Quebec, the work considers issues of Aboriginal identity, both imposed and self-defined, the process of reconciliation and issues around saying `sorry', notions of `truth' and integrity, biculturalism and invisible whiteness.
Poems like "My Best Friend's White" demonstrate the way in which racism is entrenched in every day Aussie phraseology, while the saturation of political correctness, the increased need for `token Kooris' and the unreal expectations of Aboriginal people are highlighted in the short radio play, "Token Kooris: Blackfellas for Hire".
In this collection, Heiss challenges her reader to consider what it is they are doing when they research or write about Aborigines, what role Aboriginal Studies plays in academia and what indeed, anthropologists actually study. Heiss questions what the spirit of Australia is and offers a "10 Point Plan for A Better Australia", which will possibly only come about after digesting her "A-Z of First Contact".
Some may consider Heiss' work as experimental. She considers them words that may help readers understand the issues that impact daily on the ways in which we all relate to each other regardless of heritage.
Table of Contents
Apologies
Aboriginal Studies
Anthropology is ...
Who's Truth
Different Lives, Different Values
Indigenous Intellectuals
I don't hate you, but ...
My Other
My 10 Point Plan for a better Australia
Ode to my mother
Pieces for peace
For our children
Making Aborigines
Us and Them
Advance Australia -Unfair
Checkerboard love
Expectations: (with respects to Phil Kawana)
Untitled
The Creator's Prayer
Holier than thou
Thoughts
Considering Self
Why I write
Pearls from an old Aunty
What I know
Dreaming You
I heard you
The A-Z of First Contact: (with respect to Gordon Hooky)
Anger
My Father's Homeland: For my Father
My friend the therapist said ...
White and Black poetry readings: distinct differences
Face The Truth
An Oztralian Preamble
Stop Asking Me ...
What is the spirit of Australia?
I'm Not Racist, But ...
Integrity
Sorry
Treaty
Reconciliation #1
Reconciliation #2
Token Kooris: Blackfellas for hire (radio play)
I know what you're thinking
Nameless face
My Best Friend's White
Invisible Whiteness
Coffee Coloured
Being Aboriginal
Bicultural Blackfella
But You're Not Really An Aborigine
Identity
Kahnawake
Leon Carmen
Proud to be Koori
We Have Survived
What Psyches You?
Tolerated but not valued
by "Nielsen BookData"
