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Australianama

2020 - Shortlisted

Shortlisted

Judges' comments

Samia Khatun’s Australianama charts a fascinating series of histories that connect Australia with various South Asian locations. From a mosque in Broken Hill to the library of Jadavpur University in Kolkata, the book transports its readers across continents and oceans, following stories and languages as they illuminate contexts of circulation and exchange. Throughout Australianama, Khatun patiently pulls at the multilingual threads of unsettled histories, offering readers a multifaceted vision of the country’s past.

Khatun’s ambitious book both extends and transcends received ideas of history, memoir, and storytelling. Australianama is historiographically daring and imaginatively compelling in its varied approaches to the movement of people, texts, and ideas. With its sedulous attention to the historical details and vibrant contexts of non-English sources, Khatun’s work opens up original ways of conceptualising Australia’s identities. Australianama is theoretically rich and elegantly crafted. It illuminates the history of stories and the stories of history.