Rites/rights/writes of passage: Identity construction in Australian aboriginal young adult fiction

Abstract

Arite of passage is an experience that triggers a significant transformation. During the journey an individual crosses a border or boundary and is transformed in a way that empowers him or her to live in the world differently than before. A genre in Aboriginal writing that often traces a main character's journey from adolescence to adulthood is young adult fiction. Three prolific Aboriginal young adult fiction writers are John Muk Muk Burke, Melissa Lucashenko, and Tara June Winch. This chapter will look at the bildungsroman in Aboriginal writing through the works of these three authors with particular attention to identity construction, belonging, and the search for a sense of place for the..