Explorations – No 50 Jun 2011

COLIN NETTELBECK, Foreword

JEAN FORNASIERO, Strangers on the Shore: Musical Encounters in Terra Australis, 1802

This article documents the cultural encounter between members of the 1802 Baudin expedition and indigenous Australians through the medium of music. In their attentive observation of the importance of art in the Aborigines’ daily lives, the French explorers projected an image quite distant from British colonists’ views of a ‘terra nullius’.

Keywords: Nicolas Baudin, Society of Observers of Man, cross-cultural encounters, Joseph-Marie Degérando, Péron, anthropology

KERRY MULLAN, Une entente glaciale? French and Australian English Interaction

An examination of how present-day intercultural misunderstandings in conversations between French and Australian English interlocutors cast light on stubborn stereotypes. Without being overly optimistic about overcoming judgmental attitudes, the author guides her readers towards a greater awareness of how social interactions are informed by underlying cultural values.

Keywords: interactional styles, respect, speaking one’s mind, expressing an opinion

SOPHIE MASSON, The Language of Astonishment: A French-Australian Author’s Reflections on her Identity

This article is based on the author’s reflection on her childhood and on the ‘in-betweenness’ of her identity as a French-Australian and as a writer. The author’s book The Hunt for Ned Kelly has won the 2011 Patricia Wrightson Prize, the children’s literature category in the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards and was recently elected as President of the Australian Society of Authors. The article concludes with a list of all her published works.

Keywords: Andreï Makine, Le Testament Français, bilingual writers, citizenship

BOOK REVIEWS

Jean Fornasiero and Colette Mrowa-Hopkins (eds), Explorations and Encounters in French, reviewed by John Dunmore

Anselme Ricard, Lettres d’Australie, reviewed by Ivan Barko

ELAINE LEWIS, French-Australian Bibliographical Notes

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