Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2009
Volume
33
Journal
Journal of Australian Studies
Issue
1
First Page
19
Last Page
35
URL with Digital Object Identifier
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14443050802672494
Abstract
The representation of Aborigines in the popular Australian magazine Walkabout has attracted the attention of a small number of scholars. For the most part their analyses draw a distinction between the portrayals of primitive natives and those of the emergent modernising Australian nation. It is argued that Aborigines appear as debased, as noble savages, or as bearers of an idealised and imagined traditional culture. These representational strategies are evident in both photo- graphs and text in Walkabout. Whilst not necessarily disagreeing with these critiques, more nuanced readings of Aboriginal photographic representation in Walkabout are possible. This article seeks to reveal the potential for a more diverse and complex understanding of the images appearing throughout the 1930s.
Included in
Critical and Cultural Studies Commons, Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Ethnicity in Communication Commons