AustLit

Bradford introduces this edition of Papers by engaging with Peter Hunt's representation of current research and teaching practices in children's literature. Drawing attention to the binarized approach which frames Hunt's descriptions, Bradford argues that Hunt tends to over-generalize and oversimplify the variety and scope of children's literature scholarship, stating '...the study of boooks of the past, far from being 'essentially abstract and inward looking' (Hunt, 202), is capable of informing our understanding of the practices, ideologies and cultural formations which produced these books and which teach us about the implied child reader...' (4). Bradford challenges Hunt's categorisation with a short but concise discussion of A Mother's Offering to Her Children (1841).

Dunscombe discuss the work of Louisa Anne Meredith positing that the attention she gives to the natural environment in her novels has an 'overt conservationist message' (17) and engages with issues of domination, exploitation and general disrespect for the environment. Dunscombe argues that Meredith 'strove to foster in her readers a multi-dimensional appreciation of the natural world, encompassing emotional, spiritual, ethical, aesthetic, cultural scientific and practical understandings' (16). Dunscombe admires Meredith's work as an example of 19th century environmentalism and also for Merediths awareness and foregrounding 'of her less than authoratative status as woman and author' (as opposed to the more authoratitive position of male-professional environmentalist). Dunscombe believes that 'Meredith's well-established commkitment to close personal observation is the backbone of her scientific approach' (24) while her 'earnest purpose is to 'inculcate a love and respect for nature by using all the means at her disposal' (29).

McCallum is interested in texts which deal with narratives of migration and cultural difference and representations of social and cultural diversity in children's literature, as '...attempts in film and literature to represent cultural diversity in Australian society are apt to proceed through quotation of iconic and stereo-typed images of difference...' (40). She analyses three Australian films, No Worries, Captain Johnno, and On Loan and argues that fundamentally the 'representations of social and cultural difference are ideologically shaped by an overarching metanarrative of subject formation which stresses the value of intersubjective relationships as a way of overcoming the alienation that occurs from cultural, social and physical displacement' (46).