Samia Khatun is a writer, filmmaker and cultural historian. She was born in Dhaka, educated in Sydney and has held research fellowships in Berlin, Dunedin, New York and Melbourne. She is soon to develop a history programme at the University of Liberal Arts, Bangladesh.
'Epic in scale, Khatun's history is a note-perfect composition of
imagination and deep research. [She] breathes new life into the
"dead object" anthropological view of colonised people, most
electrifyingly in her exposition of the links between South Asian
migrants and Indigenous Australians.... In this book, Khatun has
given us a scaffold to build a hopeful future.' -- The Saturday
Paper
'At its heart is a manifesto against the structures that silence
and objectify colonised people, the myths of 'blank space' and the
prevalent belief in the superiority of European thought. . . . an
exciting addition to Australian postcolonial history.' * History
Today *
'This is a compelling book, not only because of its lucid prose and
deep research, but because of the intensely personal story threaded
through its pages ... Writing with luminous prose, Khatun
undertakes an innovative, carefully researched and critically
analysed exploration of [the] South Asian experience.' -- History
Australia
'Khatun's virtuosity and sheer genius in tracking down ... records
and reports, both in official as well as community archives, is a
feat of scholarship that deserves to become a model of historical
work everywhere'. -- Sydney Review of Books
'['Australianama' is] exquisitely written ... an extension of, and
a timely contribution to, Australian history and the narrative of
South Asian migration in Australia.' -- The Journal of Asian
Studies
'Every now and again a book comes along that shifts how we
understand the history of this country. Samia Khatun's history of
South Asians in Australia is one of them.' -- The Sydney Morning
Herald
'Every page of this iridescent books shimmers with insight. Khatun
makes the world anew, drawing Australia into Indian Ocean networks,
languages, stories and intellectual traditions. Exquisitely written
and ingeniously crafted by a superb scholar-storyteller,
Australianama will become a classic.' -- Isabel Hofmeyr, Global
Distinguished Professor, NYU and Professor of African Literature,
University of the Witwatersrand
'By delving deep into the Australian interior, Khatun has brought
forth a brilliant postcolonial history for our times. Australianama
eschews the conventional migrant narrative in favour of a
startlingly original perspective on settler colonialism.' --
Marilyn Lake, Professional Fellow in History, University of
Melbourne
'Khatun's wonderful work gives us very new ways to understand
'Australia', challenging the simplistic binaries of colonial
histories. It threads us all--women and men--into stories telling
different histories and so offering hopes of new futures.' --
Heather Goodall, Emeritus Professor of History, University of
Technology Sydney
'A tour de force. Khatun weaves together an extraordinary range of
powerful South Asian and Aboriginal narratives from across
Australia, showing how stories in colonised tongues can transform
our understandings of past and present, and point the way to a more
hopeful future.' -- Catherine Hall, Emerita Professor of Modern
British Social and Cultural History, University College London
'A riveting and timely intervention in Global feminist and
migration histories, Australianama is a pioneering excavation of an
Australian Aboriginal archive of memory, revealing tales of Muslim
prophets, "Afghan" camel-drivers and other non-white working groups
and their dreamworlds.' -- Indrani Chatterjee, Professor of
History, University of Texas at Austin
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