Three Contemporary Australian/Australia-exposed Thinkers: Mudrooroo, Sally Morgan, and Epeli Hau'ofa

Abstract

Colin Johnson (aka Mudrooroo) has argued for a phenomena known as Maban (or shaman/magical) reality. Epeli Hau'ofa also espoused a third way, for the reflective 'outsider writer'; being able to embrace flexible ideas as to the meaning of one's inherited identity while also moving to creating a new future. Sally Morgan crafted a new sense of identity from shards of her family's old narratives. Each writer convincingly expounds on centrist themes (identity, tradition, and culture) beyond their immediate concerns, but is still not deemed mainstream. Using selected work from Sally Morgan, Epeli Hau'ofa and Mudrooroo, I endeavour to show how narrow categories based on gender, ethnicity, and race hamper deeper understandings of these three writers. At the very least, a close - and - comparative - examination of their work will prove their subject matter is not the 'other' and should be thought of as canonical and/or mainstream literature.