Benang
First edition cover
|
|
| Author | Kim Scott |
|---|---|
| Country | Australia |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Novel |
| Publisher | Fremantle Press, Australia |
|
Publication date
|
1999 |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| Pages | 497 pp |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 41877548 |
| 823/.914 21 | |
| LC Class | PR9619.3.S373 B46 1999 |
Benang (subtitled "From the Heart") is a 1999 Miles Franklin Award winning novel by Australian author Kim Scott. The award was shared with Drylands by Thea Astley.
Reviewing the novel for The Hindu, K. Kunhikrishnan wrote:
Reading Benang, one could see that the narration could be seen as unreliable. Narration and writing style used are similar to that of stream of consciousness, factual information, history and memories. All of these help compose the complex and sometimes confusing narration of Benang. Writing styles can be compared to the novel Beloved by Toni Morrison, in the way the narrator speaks through his memories or stream of memories and facts. It is difficult to find what the narrator is going for but upon further reading all the memories, thoughts and emotions presenting in this novel finally come together.
One of the main contexts in the novel deals with the process of "breeding out the colour". This was a process in which children were forcibly removed from their homes and assimilated into the white Australian society. These children were forced to "breed" with white Australians in order to lessen the appearance of the Aboriginal in them. It was believed that through this continuous process that eventually there would be no trace of Aboriginal in the future generations. Chief Protector of Aborigines in Western Australia, A. O. Neville, was a key player in this process and he believed that it would work. This process occurred due to the government's inability to classify mixed children for the government system, as well as their fear of what mixing would do for the society.
It was originally claimed that Australia was uninhabited. The Stolen Generations are the mixed (Australian Aboriginal and white Australian) children who were forcibly removed from their homes and families. According to the Stolen Generations webpage, "The notion that the absorption or assimilation of some Aboriginal people into the European population is a form of genocide had gone around academic and leftist political circles long before Wilson’s enquiry but gained enormous impetus from it." There has been a debate about this situation in Australia as genocide.
...
Wikipedia