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'Children's books seek to assist children to understand themselves and their world. Unsettling Narratives: Postcolonial Readings of Children's Literature demonstrates how settler-society texts position child readers as citizens of postcolonial nations, how they represent the colonial past to modern readers, what they propose about race relations, and how they conceptualize systems of power and government.
Clare Bradford focuses on texts produced since 1980 in Canada, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand and includes picture books, novels, and films by Indigenous and non-Indigenous publishers and producers. From extensive readings, the author focuses on key works to produce a thorough analysis rather than a survey. Unsettling Narratives opens up an area of scholarship and discussion - the use of postcolonial theories - relatively new to the field of children's literature and demonstrates that many texts recycle the colonial discourses naturalized within mainstream cultures ' (From publisher's catalogue).
Contents: Introduction. Part One: 'When Languages Collide': Resistance and Representation 1. Language, Resistance, and Subjectivity.2. Indigenous Texts and Publishers.3. White Imaginings.4. Telling the Past. Part Two: Place and Postcolonial Significations.5. Space, Time, Nation. 6. Borders, Journeys, and Liminality.7. Politics and Place.8. Allegories of Place and Race.Conclusion
Notes
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Subject works listed selectively.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Writing East Timor for Children : Mobilizing Sympathy
2016
single work
criticism
— Appears in: New Review of Children's Literature and Librarianship , September vol. 22 no. 2 2016; (p. 108-123) 'Novels about East Timor in English and Portuguese for children have been scarce. Despite a contemporary background of revisionist approaches to history, the nationalist focus of such material means that certain stories are handled rarely, even those that interpellate the nation in some way. This article examines ways in which support for East Timor is underwritten in the few novels for children and young adults that deal with East Timor in English and Portuguese, concluding with a brief assessment of the extent to which they realize Herbert Kohl’s suggestions of appropriate strategies for what he terms “Radical Children’s Literature.”' -
[Review] Unsettling Narratives : Postcolonial Readings of Children's Literature
2010
single work
review
— Appears in: Journal of Postcolonial Writing , May vol. 46 no. 2 2010; (p. 237-238)
— Review of Unsettling Narratives : Postcolonial Readings of Children's Literature 2007 single work criticism -
[Review] Unsettling Narratives : Postcolonial Readings of Children's Literature
2007
single work
review
— Appears in: Viewpoint : On Books for Young Adults , Summer vol. 15 no. 4 2007; (p. 40)
— Review of Unsettling Narratives : Postcolonial Readings of Children's Literature 2007 single work criticism
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[Review] Unsettling Narratives : Postcolonial Readings of Children's Literature
2007
single work
review
— Appears in: Viewpoint : On Books for Young Adults , Summer vol. 15 no. 4 2007; (p. 40)
— Review of Unsettling Narratives : Postcolonial Readings of Children's Literature 2007 single work criticism -
[Review] Unsettling Narratives : Postcolonial Readings of Children's Literature
2010
single work
review
— Appears in: Journal of Postcolonial Writing , May vol. 46 no. 2 2010; (p. 237-238)
— Review of Unsettling Narratives : Postcolonial Readings of Children's Literature 2007 single work criticism -
Writing East Timor for Children : Mobilizing Sympathy
2016
single work
criticism
— Appears in: New Review of Children's Literature and Librarianship , September vol. 22 no. 2 2016; (p. 108-123) 'Novels about East Timor in English and Portuguese for children have been scarce. Despite a contemporary background of revisionist approaches to history, the nationalist focus of such material means that certain stories are handled rarely, even those that interpellate the nation in some way. This article examines ways in which support for East Timor is underwritten in the few novels for children and young adults that deal with East Timor in English and Portuguese, concluding with a brief assessment of the extent to which they realize Herbert Kohl’s suggestions of appropriate strategies for what he terms “Radical Children’s Literature.”'
Awards
- 2007 finalist Foreword Reviews : INDIES — Education
- The Children of Mirrabooka 1997 single work novel
- Songman 1994 single work novel
- Betty and Bala and the Proper Big Pumpkin 1996 single work picture book
- Deucalion 1995 single work novel
- Roughtail : The Dreaming of the Roughtail Lizard and Other Stories Told by the Kukatja 1990 selected work children's fiction