Review of Kate Darian‐Smith, Liz Gunner and Sarah Nuttall (eds.), Text, Theory, Space: Land, Literature, and History in South Africa and Australia

Abstract

This is a collection of sixteen essays delivered at a conference of literary critics, historians and practitioners of cultural studies from Australia, Britain and South Africa, who examine two white settler societies, Australia and South Africa, from a 'postcolonial' perspective. The main theme is, as the editors point out in a useful introduction, a concern with land, space and cultural identity in such conquest societies, though issues of race and gender are a prominent feature. The essays have been arranged in three parts 'Defining the South'; 'Claiming Lands, Creating Identities, Making Nations'; and 'Borders, Boundaries, Open Spaces', though themes overlap sections.