Beyond the race

Sturt University Course Plan, staff are encouraged to 'consolidate the profile of disciplines and fields of study in order to improve the depth of staffing and resources.' Creative arts practice, as a research and teaching strength of my professional profile, is important to the teaching of literacy and literature subjects within the School of Education. It is important to teach writing skills from the perspective of a practitioner.Charles Sturt University is committed to enhancing inclusiveness through the development of an Indigenous Education Strategy and a Western Regions Strategy and promotes social and environmental sustainability. Poetry, the oldest literary art form, enables us to empathise with the original Wiradjuri custodians of the lands on which our campuses stand.Title of Work: Beyond the race. Reference: Thompson, J. (Summer 2004) Beyond the race. In Grover, P. & Lumley, K. (Eds.) Studio: A journal of Christians writing (p.6).Albury, NSW: Studio.ISSN:0729-4042. Research Background. Poetry. This poem predates the suite of poems written during a LitLink residency at Willandra Station west of Hillston. It was written in response to a Reading by Anita Heiss at the Victoria Hotel, Wagga Wagga during her residency at the Booranga Writers Centre.The research question was finding a way to identify commonalities between the inhabitants of the Australian continent without undervaluing the cultural heritage of each of the participants. It attempts to widen the discourse of dispossession to include all of the inhabitants of Australia who are often depicted in a binary opposition in the poetry of political activists such as Anita Heiss.Research Contribution This is a contribution, through poetry, to a nationally contested debate about cultural heritage and history. Few voices approach reconciliation as a shared recovery from historical wounds inflicted by the repressive social system of Colonial Australia. In this light the race debate is recast as a socio-economic struggle over resources and the right to self determination for repressed minorities both within and outside of the white society.Research SignificanceThe poem was read at Wagga Wagga Writers Writers workshops and public readings in an attempt to engage wider debate about these issues. The internationally recognised indigenous poet, Sam Wagan Watson, reviewed this poem and a number of other race related pieces I had written during this period. He was Writer in Residence at the Booranga Writers Centre, Charles Sturt University, and suggested we use the poems for a shared poetry reading. This was significant to my development as a poet as I had doubts and misgivings about challenging the politically accepted views on indigenous poetry and reconciliation.As part of t