Flourishing in Country: an examination of well-being in Australian YA fiction

Adrielle Britten*, Brooke Collins-Gearing

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    1 Citation (Scopus)

    Abstract

    This article is the result of a collaboration between two academics-one Indigenous and one non-Indigenous-to investigate the representation of Indigeneity in two contemporary YA novels. Melissa Lucashenko's killing Darcy is narrated by multiple Indigenous and non-Indigenous characters, whereas Clare Atkins's Nona and Me is told from the perspective of a white character and explores her relationship with an Indigenous community. Cultural identity forms a significant part of well-being, and this article investigates versions of sufficient well-being. It explores how the novels represent flourishing subjects-both Indigenous and non-Indigenous-in the context of Australia as it struggles to come to terms with its colonial past and demonstrates how cognitive mapping replaces damaging colonial assumptions about Indigenous Peoples with a model of overcoming.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)15-39
    Number of pages25
    JournalJeunesse: Young People, Texts, Cultures
    Volume12
    Issue number2
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2020

    Keywords

    • anti-colonialism
    • Indigenous Australians
    • schemas and scripts
    • well-being
    • YA fiction

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