Teaching Australia: The role of literature in (re)forming the nation
Submitted by:
Larissa McLean Davies
Abstract:
Historically, national literatures have played a vital role in defining a citizenry’s sense of local and global identities and imaginations (Anderson, 1983). While, in some nations, the national literature functions like an undisputed moral technology (Eagleton, 1983) Australian literature, in some school and university curricula, is contested and maligned. Indeed, the teaching of Australian literature, particularly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander literature, and literature by women, is generally underrepresented. Responding to the often cursory or monochromatic presentation of Australian literature in schools, in 2008 with the introduction of Australian’s first national school curricula, the Federal Australian Government mandated the teaching of Australian literature from Foundation (five year olds) to Year 10 (sixteen year olds) in the newly created Australian English Curriculum, and drew particular attention the teaching of indigenous and Asian Australian texts.
This paper reports on a project motivated by this directive to Australian primary and secondary teachers and the resourcing issues that accompany this curriculum mandate. With the support of funding from the Australian Copyright Agency (CA), in 2016 the presenters undertook, a pilot study exploring what version of Australia was being taught in schools. This project involved a nation-wide survey, the establishment of a website and illustrations of classroom practice. The presenters will offer key findings from this data, and offer both an analysis of the way Australia is being ‘taught’ across the country, and suggest some of the challenges faced by teachers and their students as they seek to expand definitions and understandings of Australian literature.
-Literature, nation, education, identity, English
References:
Anderson, B. (1983) Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. New Left Books, London
Eagleton, T. (1983). Literary theory: an Introduction. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota press.