MINMIA helps me in my quest for critical analysis- Assignment 3

I wanted to share something that will be helping me to formulate my own responses to texts for our next assignment. It gave me a position that creatively stimulated my own critical analysis discourse....

Minmia (p.124) shares that, 'to fully understand and become intimate with something is to know its story.'

Using an analogy of Minmia's (p.124) lemon story...
she asks to enquire about:
'how did the lemon get here?' (the reader's position)
'How much is palatable?' (what type of positive lessons or insights have been gained by the text?)
How much is bitter?' (what leaves a 'bitter taste in my mouth, and why?)
'What about the tree?' (Understanding of Creation/knowledge, author's position)
Who planted the tree? (origin of theme, relationships)
'Who picked the lemon?' (readers' response to writing)
'Who cared for the tree?' (How has this knowledge or theme been maintained textually and sociologically?)
'How did the tree become strong?' (themes of resilience, resistance)

As Minmia declares: 'It's not just a lemon. It has a story. Everything has a story and everything has a teaching.'

The bracketed text is my own response to these questions for fine tuning my skills in textual analysis, these can be tailored to your own interpretations. Break it down.

I hope this even challenges your own notion of what 'a lemon' really means to you.

Ang


Reference:

Smith, M (Minmia) 2007, Under the Quandong Tree, Quandong Dreaming Publishing, Mogo, NSW.


End note:

In preparation for the major assignment, I will be exploring 3 themes that are emerging:

Self determination and resistance: in the context of Aboriginal writings' response to imposition of 'white ideologies' and the associated notion of hegemony.

Dispossession and Identity and the need to bring 'Unfinished business' to the fore.

Connection to Country, notably an over-arching theme which will connect everything together, an inseparable part of Aboriginal Law.

Ang

Recipe for Metropolis Brisbane as textual review by Ang O'Leary

Recipe for Metropolis Brisbane by Samuel Wagan Watson

Serves: Nearly 3 million people
(give or take a generation)

Ingredients:

1 utopian landscape with a blue river

1 mixture of European cultures seasoned with convicts

200 years of conservative politics

1 trillion tons of bitumen, steel, gas, concrete and treated timber

garnish with exhaust


1. Peel the utopian landscape of most of its flora, fauna and Indigenous flavour.
Place what remains in an obscure melting pot on medium heat.

2. Stir in a mixture of European cultures seasoned with convicts. Other cultural flavours may emerge in the process. They can be included or excluded. Cover and allow to simmer for over two centuries.

3. Every 10 years, add some conservative politics and gradually pour in the 1 trillion tons of bitumen, steel, glass, concrete and treated timber. Stir until the blue river turns brown.

4. Firstly, your dish will gel into Brisbane Town; drain and stir until it becomes Brisbane City; cover, and allow to simmer.
Include the rest of the politics until the desired thickness of Metropolis Brisbane is achieved.

Cook's note: Metropolis Brisbane is best served with the aroma of lead exhaust, sprinkled over the dish!

textual analysis:

Sam Wagan Watson's use of the 'recipe' format may appeal to readers initially for the creative use of time and measure. What is the final product of the recipe? Is it something palatable? The elegaic prose is a legacy to what has been lost. The recipe is said to serve nearly 3 million people, but it is the reference, 'give or take a generation', that is in brackets which was the first painful message within the text. Like Heiss states (2003, p2), it is clearly a portrayal of 'appropriation and exploitation of Aboriginal culture and identity'. The mere use of this statement being within brackets symbolizes the invisibility felt by those of the 'Stolen Generation' and families affected by the forcible removal of their kin.The ignorant use of power is illustrated well by the flippancy of the statement, 'give or take a generation'.

The succinct and impacting style of delivering the prose had a profound effect in illustrating how the plight of the 'white' to covet the land of Brisbane and it's land for the sole use of exploitation. It is very well captured with imagery of 'peeling the utopian landscape of it's flora, fauna and Indigenous flavour'.

The use of power could also be ascribed to in the format of the prose, with the analogy of the recipe signifying that the 'cook' is asserting dominance over the materials used within the 'recipe' just as the European colonists asserted their dominance over the landscape. Adding various ingredients such as, 'bitumen, steel, gas, concrete and treated timber' along with '200 years of conservative politics' forces imagery that is not very easy to stomach.

Watson challenges the reader to reconsider their own relationship with the environment, as this poem is indeed a realistic portrayal on how historical 'white' beliefs and policies have negatively impacted on Aboriginal people and their Country.

Shoemaker (2004, p.126) relates the historical theme as one of the most important in Aboriginal literature, further stating that there are many ways of conveying this. I feel that this particular piece makes use of 're-interpreting Australian ( and Indigenous Australian) interracial history'.



Reference:

Shoemaker, A 1998, Black words, white pages: Aboriginal Literature 1929-1988, University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, QLD

Heiss,A 2003, Dhuula-yula- to talk straight: publishing Indigenous Literature, Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra, ACT

Welcome

Hi !
My name is Angela and together with Kristi we hope to inspire some ideas and discussion with our specially chosen reference to films and poetry, and also other texts or media that will inspire preparation for our major essay.
It is my wish that this blog will inspire readers to ponder some of the key themes and messages and reflect, to generate discussions with each other and get angry, get sad, get proud of the Aboriginal Voices that move us to change the way we see things.

*The photo I am sharing is from a spot on the Coomera Circuit, Binna Burra. I felt that it captures the beauty of the Place. The many facets and colours that lie underneath are there to be seen, if we take the time to look. Just as with our own history, there is so much under the surface!