First Person Plural: Aboriginal Storytelling and the Ethics of Collaborative Authorship

Abstract

In this innovative exploration, told-to narratives, or collaboratively produced texts by Aboriginal storytellers and (usually) non-Aboriginal writers, are not romanticized as unmediated translations of oral documents, nor are they dismissed as corruptions of original works. Rather, the approach emphasizes the interpenetration of authorship and collaboration. Focused on the 1990s, when debates over voice and representation were particularly explosive, this captivating study examines a range of told-to narratives in conjunction with key political events that have shaped the struggle for Aboriginal rights to reveal how these narratives impact larger debates about Indigenous voice and literary and political sovereignty.