Sovereignty, place and possibility in Alexis Wright's The Swan Book

Abstract

This exegesis is prefaced with an introduction to finding the "real" site of remote Aboriginal communities within The Swan Book. An examination of the literature identifies the contextual and conceptual depth of the novel and the critical challenges it raises. Michel Foucault's related concepts of power and heterotopia, the utopian community and heterotopic sites of deviation and resistance are surveyed in order to establish how sovereignty is exercised in postcolonial Australia. The possibility of ethical relations of power raised within The Swan Book are then considered.

Date of Award	2019
Original language	English