Chapter 9 - Cultural appropriation

Summary

In 2016, the Australian literary world was abuzz with rage when celebrated writer Yassmin Abdel-Magied walked out of the opening keynote address to the Brisbane Writers Festival. The speech was being delivered by Orange Prize-winner Lionel Shriver, American activist and author of such works as We Need to Talk About Kevin (2003) and The Mandibles (2016).

Abdel-Magied, Queensland”s Australian of the Year in 2015, in an article for The Guardian, described the speech as “a poisoned package wrapped up in arrogance and delivered with condescension“, because Shriver”s speech, “was a monologue about the right to exploit the stories of “others”, simply because it is useful for one”s story [book].”

This, in essence, is how the topic of cultural appropriation – or, rather, misappropriation – came to mainstream attention in Australia, but of course it had been a bone of contention for many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander writers and writers of colour for decades.