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Food Insecurity in Uncertain Times : Ways Forward Post-­pandemic single work   essay  
Issue Details: First known date: 2021... 2021 Food Insecurity in Uncertain Times : Ways Forward Post-­pandemic
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'‘COOKALINGEE’, BY QUANDAMOOKA poet Oodgeroo Noonuccal, tells the story of fragmenting relationships within colonial frontiers. Working as a kitchenhand, Cookalingee, an Aboriginal woman, finds herself having to leave behind the ‘old free ways’ in hope of attaining the so-­called ‘safety’ and ‘civility’ that white society has ‘trained’ and ‘blessed’ upon her. It portrays a time when Aboriginal peoples were increasingly beholden to white resources and rations because of colonial dispossession and threats of violence. Cookalingee appears to adopt the ‘white man’s way’ in order to survive, but it comes at a cost. Entering the realm of the colonisers, Cookalingee cries – she is not only removed from kin, but also knows that in the eyes of the colonisers, she will remain something ‘other’.' (Introduction)

Notes

  • Epigraph:

    Wistfully she muses on / Something bartered, something gone / Songs of old remembered days / The walkabout, the old free ways / Blessed with everything she prized / Trained and safe and civilized / Much she has that they have not / But is hers the happier lot? / Lonely in her paradise / Cookalingee sits and cries

    ‘Cookalingee’, Oodgeroo Noonuccal (1981)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Griffith Review Remaking the Balance no. 71 January 2021 21045017 2021 periodical issue

    'As the world teeters between old and new ways of doing, can we remake the balance between what we need and what we nurture? Can we forge a new equilibrium to sustain us into the twenty-first century?

    'Having challenged so much – social practices and social structures, habits of mind and habits of leisure – will the pandemic leave a lasting legacy on how we shape the world? Griffith Review 71: Remaking the Balance examines how our natural, economic and cultural systems might be refashioned post-pandemic: will it be a return to business as usual, or can we reinvent our relationship with all that is animal, vegetable and mineral to create a more sustainable future?

    'Edited by Ashley Hay, Remaking the Balance looks at how we can do more with what we have, and features leading writers and thinkers, including Gabrielle Chan, Clare Wright, Matthew Evans, Sophie Cunningham, Inga Simpson, John Kinsella,  Declan Fry, plus and exclusive Q&A with Barbara Kingsolver.' (Publication summary)

         2021
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Last amended 2 Feb 2021 12:51:59
Food Insecurity in Uncertain Times : Ways Forward Post-­pandemicsmall AustLit logo Griffith Review
Subjects:
  • Cookalingee Oodgeroo Noonuccal , 1964 single work poetry
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