Cross-Species Affinities, Intergenerational Recovery and the Legacy of Trauma in Aboriginal Australian Memoirs 1970-2000

My project considers human-animal relations in memoirs by the Stolen Generations, the portrayal of the ameliorative presence and meaning of animals in children's lives. My interdisciplinary research proposes a framework for the writing of trauma that centres the nuanced relations between Aboriginal people, animals and

nature. My methodology exceeds humanist frameworks for interpreting trauma by prioritising Aboriginal culture and the specificities of human-animal relations. I offer a new way to read trauma through human-animal therapeutic support, extending the account of human-animal bonds and ways of portraying inter-species

relationships.