Anita Heiss

Biographical note:  Dr Anita Heiss is a member of the Wiradjuri nation, and is an author, poet, satirist and social commentator. Anita’s published works include the historical novel Who Am I? The Diary of Mary Talence, Sydney 1937, satirical prose Sacred Cows, adult novel Not Meeting Mr Right, kids novel Yirra and her deadly dog, Demon and non-fiction text Dhuuluu-Yala (To Talk Straight) – Publishing Aboriginal Literature.

BIC Basic

EAN13:  9781844713165
ISBN:  9781844713165
Author:  Anita Heiss
Title:  I’m Not Racist, But ...
Series:  Salt Modern Poets
Product class:  BC
Language:  eng
Audience:  General/trade
BIC subject category:  CTCH1
Publisher:  Salt Publishing
Pub date:  01-Jun-07
Extent:  96pp
Height:  216 mm
Width:  140 mm
Thickness:  6 mm
Weight:  144 gms
Supplier:   Gardners Books
Supplier:   Ingram Book Group
Supplier:   Inbooks (James Bennett)
Availability:  NP
Price:  GBP 9.99
Price:  USD 15.95
Rights:  World

Main description:  I’m not racist, but … is a collection of social observations, thoughts and conversations the author has had over 15 years travelling Australia and the world; as a tourist, as a writer, as an academic, and always as a proud, strong, contemporary Aboriginal woman.

From the home of the largest Indigenous population in Australia – the city of Sydney – to the Mohawk Reserve of Kanhawake, Quebec, the work considers issues of Aboriginal identity, both imposed and self-defined, the process of reconciliation and issues around saying ‘sorry’, notions of ‘truth’ and integrity, biculturalism and invisible whiteness.

Poems like “My Best Friend’s White” demonstrate the way in which racism is entrenched in every day Aussie phraseology, while the saturation of political correctness, the increased need for ‘token Kooris’ and the unreal expectations of Aboriginal people are highlighted in the short radio play, “Token Kooris: Blackfellas for Hire”.

In this collection, Heiss challenges her reader to consider what it is they are doing when they research or write about Aborigines, what role Aboriginal Studies plays in academia and what indeed, anthropologists actually study. Heiss questions what the spirit of Australia is and offers a “10 Point Plan for A Better Australia”, which will possibly only come about after digesting her “A-Z of First Contact”.

Some may consider Heiss’ work as experimental. She considers them words that may help readers understand the issues that impact daily on the ways in which we all relate to each other regardless of heritage.

Table of contents:
Apologies
Aboriginal Studies
Anthropology is …
Who’s Truth
Different Lives, Different Values
Indigenous Intellectuals
I don’t hate you, but …
My Other
My 10 Point Plan for a better Australia
Ode to my mother
Pieces for peace
For our children
Making Aborigines
Us and Them
Advance Australia -Unfair
Checkerboard love
Expectations: (with respects to Phil Kawana)
Untitled
The Creator’s Prayer
Holier than thou
Thoughts
Considering Self
Why I write
Pearls from an old Aunty
What I know
Dreaming You
I heard you
The A-Z of First Contact: (with respect to Gordon Hooky)
Anger
My Father’s Homeland: For my Father
My friend the therapist said …
White and Black poetry readings: distinct differences
Face The Truth
An Oztralian Preamble
Stop Asking Me …
What is the spirit of Australia?
I’m Not Racist, But …
Integrity
Sorry
Treaty
Reconciliation #1
Reconciliation #2
Token Kooris: Blackfellas for hire (radio play)
I know what you’re thinking
Nameless face
My Best Friend’s White
Invisible Whiteness
Coffee Coloured
Being Aboriginal
Bicultural Blackfella
But You’re Not Really An Aborigine
Identity
Kahnawake
Leon Carmen
Proud to be Koori
We Have Survived
What Psyches You?
Tolerated but not valued

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Excerpt from book:  

What is the spirit of Australia?

Is it the flying kangaroo?
Or an image of a young Australians -
in choir outfits strategically positioned
at the base of Uluru singing”
“I still call Australia home”?
Can the ‘spirit of Australia’
be found in such commercialization?

Is it basking in Winter Olympic glory
when an Aussie wins gold because
everyone else in the race falls over?

Is it demonstrated by a Prime Minister
who isn’t afraid to cry before the nation
when it wins the America’s cup?

Is it denying freedom to asylum seekers?
Is it feeling comfortable knowing
Palestinian, Iraqi, Moroccan, and Iranian children
are detained because they thought
they’d find a less evil spirit here
than in their own country?

Is it found in accessories like
the Millenium collector’s item Akubra
adorned with a genuine kangaroo leather plaited band
and the ‘exclusive Sydney 2000 bronze filigree hat pin’.
Can you capture the spirit if Australia
by wearing clothes sporting
the so-called ‘Aussie Spirit’ logo of a kangaroo?

Is it to be found on the ‘Capture the Spirit of Australia’ website
owned by a US-based company?

These are all possible, however…

The spirit of Australia should be found -
in its soul,
it’s character,
it’s courage and
it’s foundation.
A collective generous spirit could exist
simply by celebrating
the diverse nation we are.

But, it seems
the ‘Spirit of Australia’
is an indefinable
essence of Aussie-dom
which can apparently be
bought,
marketed,
logoed,
animalized,
idolized,
bastardized and
accessorized.

Gold Coast, 2002