Ways of Remembering to Write Home
Abstract
This article draws on my own and some of my family’s search for home and belonging, exploring links between these experiences and the development of characters in my novels and short stories, mostly as migrants seeking meaning and identity at the intersection of cultures. I draw on my own cultural background of migration from Singapore to Australia with my Anglo-Australian mother and with my Eurasian father, whose lineage includes family from Malacca and Singapore descended from 16th century Portuguese seafarers’ partnerships with Malay women. I will occasionally refer to aspects of the “Kristang” culture, the name for Eurasians descended from those partnerships; and to my father and his siblings’ and parents’ lives in Singapore during British colonial occupation and since.
I refer to family photographs and anecdotes, historical documents and excerpts from my creative writing to draw parallels between the “real” and the “re-imagined” contexts, including the influence of the British Empire and the White Australia Policy as they affect two generations of a family’s capacity to feel “at home”. I use Marianne Hirsch’s concept of “postmemory” to help explicate how familial anecdotes and photographs inform some of my writing. Brief extracts from my published and current work-in-progress suggest further issues about home and belonging arising from migration.
Opsomming
Hierdie artikel delf in my eie en sommige van my familie se soeke na ’n tuiste en om te behoort, deur skakels tussen hierdie ervarings en die ontwikkeling van karakters in my romans en kortverhale te verken, meestal as migrante wat by die kruising van kulture na betekenis en identiteit soek. Ek put uit my eie kulturele agtergrond van migrasie van Singapoer na Australië met my Anglo-Australiese moeder en my Eurasiese vader, wie se afkoms familie uit Malakka en Singapoer insluit wat afstam van 16de-eeuse Portugese seevaarders se vennootskappe met Maleise vroue. Ek sal nou en dan verwys na aspekte van die “Kristang”-kultuur, die naam vir Eurasiërs wat uit hierdie vennootskappe gebore is; en na die lewe van my vader, sy broers en susters en ouers in Singapoer tydens Britse koloniale besetting en sedertdien.
Ek verwys na familiefoto’s en anekdotes, historiese dokumente en uittreksels uit my kreatiewe skryfwerk om parallelle te trek tussen die “werklike” en die “verbeelde” kontekste, insluitend die invloed van die Britse Ryk en die Wit Australië Beleid, in die mate waarin dit twee geslagte van ’n familie se vermoë om “tuis” te voel, beïnvloed. Ek gebruik Marianne Hirsch se konsep van “postgeheue” om te help verklaar hoe familiale anekdotes en foto’s sommige van my skryfwerk inspireer. Kort uittreksels uit my gepubliseerde werk en werk in wording belig verdere vraagstukke oor huis en om te behoort wat uit migrasie voortspruit.
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