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y separately published work icon Up from the Mission : Selected Writings selected work   autobiography   biography   prose  
Issue Details: First known date: 2009... 2009 Up from the Mission : Selected Writings
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Up from the Mission charts the life and thought of Noel Pearson, from his early days as a native title lawyer to his position today as one of Australia's most influential figures.

'This is writing of great passion and power, which introduces a fascinating man and a compelling writer. Many of the pieces included have been hard to find until now. Gathered together in a cohesive, broad-ranging book, they show a key Australian thinker coming into being.

'Pearson evokes his early life in Hope Vale, Queensland. He includes sections of his epoch-making essay Our Right To Take Responsibility, which exposed the trap of passive welfare and proposed new ways forward. There are pieces on the apology; on Barack Obama and black leadership; on Australian party politics - Keating, Howard and Rudd; and on alcoholism, despair and what can be done to mend Aboriginal communities that have fallen apart.' (Publisher's blurb)

Notes

  • Dedication: For my late parents, Glen and Ivy Pearson.
  • Contents indexed selectively.

Contents

* Contents derived from the Melbourne, Victoria,:Black Inc. , 2009 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
Old Man Urwunhthin, Noel Pearson , single work biography (p. 17-20)
Hope Vale Lost, Noel Pearson , single work autobiography (p. 139-142)
Layered Identities and Peace, Noel Pearson , single work prose (p. 332-343)
Up from the Mission : Introduction, Noel Pearson , single work prose

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Melbourne, Victoria,: Black Inc. , 2009 .
      image of person or book cover 6289058066037794279.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 400p.
      Note/s:
      • Introduction by Noel Pearson.
      • Includes bibliographical references and index.
      ISBN: 9781863954280 (pbk.)

Works about this Work

Pearson’s Mission : Revisiting Noel Pearson’s Revisionist History of Hope Vale Elizabeth Watt , 2018 single work criticism
— Appears in: Journal of Australian Studies , vol. 42 no. 1 2018; (p. 34-50)

'In 2000, Noel Pearson drew on his experiences of growing up on the Hope Vale, the Guugu Yimidhirr–speaking community that emerged from the Cape Bedford mission in the south east of Cape York, to write a revisionist history of the region. Indigenous communities were “strong, if bruised” in the wake of colonisation, he argued, but had descended into chaos since the 1970s because alcohol and welfare benefits had undermined the formerly resilient Aboriginal norms of “responsibility”. This paper offers a critical review of this politically potent account of the past, drawing on alternative oral histories, ethnographies and ethnohistories of Hope Vale, including Pearson’s own honours thesis (1986). Without challenging this sketch of his own experience, nor the sincerity of his nostalgia for the mission of his youth, I argue that Pearson’s more recent retellings are selective. In particular, his revisionist history overlooks evidence of drug abuse in the early colonial period and overstates both Guugu Yimidhirr agency in the process of missionisation and the uniformity and representativeness of the community that developed at Cape Bedford. Finally, I offer some possible personal, philosophical and political explanations for Pearson’s shifting approach to the past.'  (Publication abstract)

Self-Interest as a Path to Aboriginal Flourishing Dan O’Donovan , 2011 single work criticism
— Appears in: Eureka Street , 4 November vol. 21 no. 21 2011; (p. 26-27)
'Noel Pearson's book, Up From the Mission: Selected Writings is more than worth a read. It is a shaker. In the Kimberley, we are feeling its impact on the ground.' (p. 26)
Untitled Margaret Robson Kett , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: Fiction Focus : New Titles for Teenagers , vol. 23 no. 3 2009; (p. 58-59)

— Review of Up from the Mission : Selected Writings Noel Pearson , 2009 selected work autobiography biography prose
An Uncertain Mission Nicole Watson , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: National Indigenous Times , 3 September vol. 8 no. 185 2009; (p. 23)

— Review of Up from the Mission : Selected Writings Noel Pearson , 2009 selected work autobiography biography prose
Power and the Passion Johanna Leggatt , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: The Sun-Herald , 30 August 2009; (p. 13)

— Review of Up from the Mission : Selected Writings Noel Pearson , 2009 selected work autobiography biography prose
Untitled Michael Jacobs , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: The Adelaide Review , June no. 352 2009; (p. 34)

— Review of Up from the Mission : Selected Writings Noel Pearson , 2009 selected work autobiography biography prose
Cape Crusader J. B. Hirst , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: The Australian Literary Review , June vol. 4 no. 5 2009; (p. 14-15)

— Review of Up from the Mission : Selected Writings Noel Pearson , 2009 selected work autobiography biography prose
Books Ian Nichols , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: The West Australian , 13 June 2009; (p. 20)

— Review of Up from the Mission : Selected Writings Noel Pearson , 2009 selected work autobiography biography prose
Review of the Week Waleed Aly , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: The Age , 14 June 2009; (p. 22)

— Review of Up from the Mission : Selected Writings Noel Pearson , 2009 selected work autobiography biography prose
The Boy from Hope Vale Jonathon Altman , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , July-August no. 313 2009; (p. 40-41)

— Review of Up from the Mission : Selected Writings Noel Pearson , 2009 selected work autobiography biography prose
To the Point Rosemary Sorensen , 2009 single work column
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 20-21 June 2009; (p. 16-17)
Self-Interest as a Path to Aboriginal Flourishing Dan O’Donovan , 2011 single work criticism
— Appears in: Eureka Street , 4 November vol. 21 no. 21 2011; (p. 26-27)
'Noel Pearson's book, Up From the Mission: Selected Writings is more than worth a read. It is a shaker. In the Kimberley, we are feeling its impact on the ground.' (p. 26)
Pearson’s Mission : Revisiting Noel Pearson’s Revisionist History of Hope Vale Elizabeth Watt , 2018 single work criticism
— Appears in: Journal of Australian Studies , vol. 42 no. 1 2018; (p. 34-50)

'In 2000, Noel Pearson drew on his experiences of growing up on the Hope Vale, the Guugu Yimidhirr–speaking community that emerged from the Cape Bedford mission in the south east of Cape York, to write a revisionist history of the region. Indigenous communities were “strong, if bruised” in the wake of colonisation, he argued, but had descended into chaos since the 1970s because alcohol and welfare benefits had undermined the formerly resilient Aboriginal norms of “responsibility”. This paper offers a critical review of this politically potent account of the past, drawing on alternative oral histories, ethnographies and ethnohistories of Hope Vale, including Pearson’s own honours thesis (1986). Without challenging this sketch of his own experience, nor the sincerity of his nostalgia for the mission of his youth, I argue that Pearson’s more recent retellings are selective. In particular, his revisionist history overlooks evidence of drug abuse in the early colonial period and overstates both Guugu Yimidhirr agency in the process of missionisation and the uniformity and representativeness of the community that developed at Cape Bedford. Finally, I offer some possible personal, philosophical and political explanations for Pearson’s shifting approach to the past.'  (Publication abstract)

Last amended 22 Sep 2016 16:49:22
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