The Postcolonial Ghost Story

Abstract

Australia's postcolonial condition originates in claims of all sorts - land claims, compensation claims etc. Looking at these claims as a form of privileging Aboriginal people often results in so-called "postcolonial racism", the term conveying a paradox in itself. This paradox can be explained with the help of psychoanalysis. Freud's essay about the uncanny addresses the question of one's place in the world referring to anxieties that were roaming in post-war Europe. The uncanny refers to the feeling of simultaneously being in and out of place. Freud's concept of the uncanny can also be applied to postcolonial Australia, especially after the Mabo Judgment in which Australia's occupation by white settlers is put into question. Consequently, the postcolonial Australian ghost story often deals with the return of the repressed, namely the "truth" about colonization. Possession and dispossession are central themes in Australian ghost stories. Gelder and Jacobs come to the conclusion that ghosts can only function in a climate of ongoing conflict in which sameness and difference are constantly negotiated.