ENH2145

The postcolonial child: Australian children's books 1950-2000

(ART)

Heather Scutter

6 points + 2.5 hours per week + Second semester + Clayton + Prerequisite: A first-year sequence in English, Literary Studies or Cultural Studies or permission + Prohibition: ENH3145

Synopsis: The unit examines the development of Australian children's literature from 1950 to the present. Texts will be analysed to consider such phenomena as the uses of landscape, the rise of the sub-genres of picture story books, speculative fantasy and young adult fiction, the function of nationalist and civic discourses, the influence of pedagogic theory and institutionalised award systems, changing representations of Aboriginal people and Aboriginality within a postcolonial context, and ideologies of growing up. Using such theoretical approaches as new historicism, feminism, semiotics and cultural studies, we will consider discourses of childhood, gender and race politics, and aspects of narratology.

Assessment: Essay (2250 words):50% + Test (2250 words): 50%