Narrative and Visual Resources of Culture in Contemporary Indigenous Children’s Books from Australia
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Hanne Birk
Abstract
In response to Ansgar Nünning’s (2012) explorations of possible interfaces between narratology and cultural studies, this contribution presents a conceptualization of an analytical approach to Indigenous picturebooks from Australia. Following Nünning’s arguments, it asks how the media-specific narratological tools developed for illustrated texts could be extended by a concept that allows for more culturally sensitive interpretations. After a short sketch of pertinent narratological approaches the argument shifts to the question how picturebooks can be understood as ‘semanticized’ visualisations of (selected dimensions of) culture(s). In consequence, the concept of ‘visual resources’ is introduced and employed in an analysis of three Indigenous Australian picturebooks. The discussion highlights the poietic potentials of the texts as well as the cultural relativity and transculturality of semanticized narrative and visual forms and thus the heterogeneity and transculturality of ‘narrative worldmaking’.
Abstract
In response to Ansgar Nünning’s (2012) explorations of possible interfaces between narratology and cultural studies, this contribution presents a conceptualization of an analytical approach to Indigenous picturebooks from Australia. Following Nünning’s arguments, it asks how the media-specific narratological tools developed for illustrated texts could be extended by a concept that allows for more culturally sensitive interpretations. After a short sketch of pertinent narratological approaches the argument shifts to the question how picturebooks can be understood as ‘semanticized’ visualisations of (selected dimensions of) culture(s). In consequence, the concept of ‘visual resources’ is introduced and employed in an analysis of three Indigenous Australian picturebooks. The discussion highlights the poietic potentials of the texts as well as the cultural relativity and transculturality of semanticized narrative and visual forms and thus the heterogeneity and transculturality of ‘narrative worldmaking’.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter i
- Contents v
- A Tale of Two Concepts: Ansgar Nünning at Sixty 1
- Stories of Dangerous Life in the Post- Trauma Age: Toward a Cultural Narratology of Resilience 15
- Mind the Narratives: Towards a Cultural Narratology of Attention 37
- The End of the World (as We Know It)? – Cultural Ways of Worldmaking in Contemporary Post-Apocalyptic Narratives 57
- Plumbing Distant Spatiotemporal Scales: Towards an Econarratology of Planetary Memory in Narratives of the Global South 75
- Narrative Forms in the Age of the Anthropocene: Negotiating Human-Nonhuman Relations in Global South Novels 91
- Fact, Fiction, and Everything in-between: Strategies of Reader Activation in Postcolonial Graphic Narratives 109
- ‘It’s Not Our Opinion, It’s the Opinion of Our Roles’ – Fremdverstehen Revisited or: Where Foreign Language Education and Narratology Can Meet 129
- Narrative and Visual Resources of Culture in Contemporary Indigenous Children’s Books from Australia 149
- Troubling Justice: Narratives of Revenge 165
- Erin Burnett in Mali: Bardic Television and the Genealogy of Cultural Narratology 185
- New Media Narratives: Olivia Sudjic’s Sympathy and Identity in the Digital Age 199
- The ‘Death’ of the Unreliable Narrator: Toward a Functional History of Narrative Unreliability 215
- Odyssean Travels: The Migration of Narrative Form (Homer – Lamb – Joyce) 241
- A European Storyteller? Collective Narration in John Berger’s Into Their Labours 269
- Brexit as Cultural Performance: Towards a Narratology of Social Drama 293
- Contributors 321
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter i
- Contents v
- A Tale of Two Concepts: Ansgar Nünning at Sixty 1
- Stories of Dangerous Life in the Post- Trauma Age: Toward a Cultural Narratology of Resilience 15
- Mind the Narratives: Towards a Cultural Narratology of Attention 37
- The End of the World (as We Know It)? – Cultural Ways of Worldmaking in Contemporary Post-Apocalyptic Narratives 57
- Plumbing Distant Spatiotemporal Scales: Towards an Econarratology of Planetary Memory in Narratives of the Global South 75
- Narrative Forms in the Age of the Anthropocene: Negotiating Human-Nonhuman Relations in Global South Novels 91
- Fact, Fiction, and Everything in-between: Strategies of Reader Activation in Postcolonial Graphic Narratives 109
- ‘It’s Not Our Opinion, It’s the Opinion of Our Roles’ – Fremdverstehen Revisited or: Where Foreign Language Education and Narratology Can Meet 129
- Narrative and Visual Resources of Culture in Contemporary Indigenous Children’s Books from Australia 149
- Troubling Justice: Narratives of Revenge 165
- Erin Burnett in Mali: Bardic Television and the Genealogy of Cultural Narratology 185
- New Media Narratives: Olivia Sudjic’s Sympathy and Identity in the Digital Age 199
- The ‘Death’ of the Unreliable Narrator: Toward a Functional History of Narrative Unreliability 215
- Odyssean Travels: The Migration of Narrative Form (Homer – Lamb – Joyce) 241
- A European Storyteller? Collective Narration in John Berger’s Into Their Labours 269
- Brexit as Cultural Performance: Towards a Narratology of Social Drama 293
- Contributors 321
