I feel a moral obligation to other community blackfellas, who our awards and grants are designed for – who our elders had in mind when they fought for these gifts – to pick these issues apart, to speak on matters of identity and belonging from my own considerable and well-examined lived experience. I urge others think about identity as belonging – not as choice, but as lived in and embodied. Not made up in the mind.
I was brought up with cultural responsibilities and I take cultural protocol seriously, as a community person and as an Aboriginal researcher. Unlike some Aboriginal writers and artists, I know that it’s not right to make money off someone else’s struggles, or to stories you have no connection to. I know how to seek permission for research, and with this comes the knowledge of when permission is needed and when it is not. This was not one of those times.
Well, I tried. I did 6 posts! That's a good innings. And I was sincere at the beginning. But I am working at such a reduced capacity at the moment so I need to reign it in and pull focus to my writing and research.
Jingi! This month I was very happy to be picking up my project where I left off back in February. March was full on with book publicity and promo, so I took an intentional hiatus from my research for that month. It was very nice to be back to regular programming...kind of.
I took a brief hiatus from my MUFIR project this month as I was busy with book promotion and publicity. But I miss my research. Can’t wait to pick this back up next month.
I began my (re)reading with This All Come Back Now, the anthology of blackfella spec fic I edited in 2022. This MURFIR project is really an extension and a deepening and widening of my work on this anthology, so it made the most sense to start here. It was lovely to read all these stories again.
I have a research and writing plan! Eep, I'm only a few months into this blog and I'm already running late with my monthly posts! Fingers crossed I can get back on track next month. RESEARCH Now that I'm three months into my project, and I've built up my databases to as complete as I… Continue reading 3. January 2024: Planning
Building from last month I kept on building the databases. They are getting hefty now. I have one for First Nations spec fic stories - and I'm just adding every story I ever remember reading or watching that has speculative elements, and I am also adding others that I haven't read, including of course all those slated for release in the coming months. This is an exciting time to be a First Nations spec fic fan, let me tell you!
I spent most of this first month planning out my research project for the next three years - and doing way too much admin.
Welcome to my research blog, a place for me to document my research and writing journey over the coming three years - which is the length of my new postdoctoral fellowship.
Mykaela Saunders 