Transpacific trajectories: Australian migrant literature in Spanish and its Cono Sur connections
Publication Name
The Routledge Companion to Migration Literature
Abstract
Australia is a migrant nation and from the landing of the First Fleet in 1788 to the most recent arrivals of refugees, experiences of migration have been a part of Australian literature (Longley Arthur). The study of migrant literature began in the 1970s when multiculturalism as government policy was established in response to the increasing acknowledgement of the cultural and ethnic diversity of Australian society. However, with few exceptions, the enthusiasm for migrant literature has remained limited to works in English, although well over 100 languages are spoken in Australia and for decades migrant communities have supported thriving literary production in their languages. Novels, essays, short stories, and poetry written in Italian, Greek, Spanish, Arabic, Vietnamese, and Chinese are published in Australia, covering diverse themes ranging from the challenges faced by newly arrived migrants, their experiences in detention, or their longing for lost homes, to works of fantasy, speculative fiction and surrealistic poetry. Scholarship on Greek and Italian literature in Australia dates from the 1980s and 90s (Castan; Nikas and Dounis; Rando), while research in Arabic, Chinese and Vietnamese literature in Australia is more recent (Hajjar; Huang and Ommundsen; Nguy?n; Jacklin, "South-East Asian Writing"). The documentation and analysis of Spanish-language Australian writing began in the 1990s (García) and continues today (Jacklin, "Desde Australia"; Seaton), as does research in the literature of other linguistic communities such as Polish (Besemeres and Kwapisz Williams), and French (Edwards and Hogarth). Yet despite the academic attention, most of this literature in migrant languages remains unknown to mainstream Australia. This is literature by migrants for migrants and, for most Australians, it is an unrecognised aspect of the nation's literary history.
Open Access Status
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First Page
371
Last Page
383