Here you will get the detailed summary of IGNOU MEG 19 Block 6 – Multicultural Writing.
We have provided the summary of all units starting from unit 1 to unit 4.
Introduction
IGNOU MEG-19 Block 6, titled Multicultural Writing, explores the diverse and complex cultural landscape of Australian literature shaped by immigration, diaspora, and intercultural dialogue. The block investigates how writers from different ethnic, racial, and linguistic backgrounds contribute to the Australian literary canon. It particularly focuses on A Change of Skies by Yasmine Gooneratne, an influential Sri Lankan-Australian novelist, examining themes of identity, migration, adaptation, and belonging.
Unit 1 – Australian Multicultural Writing
This unit introduces the concept of multiculturalism and its relevance to Australian society and literature.
Key Points:
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Multiculturalism in Australia emerged prominently after the White Australia Policy was dismantled in the mid-20th century.
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Immigration from Asia, the Middle East, and Europe transformed Australia into a multicultural society.
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Literature began to reflect diverse experiences of:
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Displacement
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Hybridity
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Cultural negotiation
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Belonging and marginalisation
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The unit also touches on:
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Tensions between assimilation and pluralism
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The representation of ethnic minorities and diasporic identities
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The challenge to mainstream Australian narratives of nationalism and whiteness
Multicultural writing becomes a tool for visibility, resistance, and cultural affirmation.
Unit 2 – Australian Multicultural Novelists
This unit surveys key multicultural writers who have contributed to the reshaping of Australian fiction.
Writers discussed include:
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Christos Tsiolkas (Greek-Australian)
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Nam Le (Vietnamese-Australian)
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Alice Pung (Chinese-Cambodian-Australian)
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Yasmine Gooneratne (Sri Lankan-Australian)
Their works address themes such as:
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Generational conflict within migrant families
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The experience of racial and cultural prejudice
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Language and identity
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Nostalgia for the homeland vs. adaptation to the host country
The unit emphasizes that multicultural novelists bridge cultures, offering pluralistic perspectives on Australian identity, thereby expanding the national literary imagination.
Unit 3 – Yasmine Gooneratne: A Change of Skies
This unit focuses on Yasmine Gooneratne, a Sri Lankan-born academic, poet, and novelist who migrated to Australia and brought a bicultural perspective to her fiction.
About Gooneratne:
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Her writing blends satire, irony, and cultural commentary.
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She often explores the emigrant experience, especially of South Asians in the West.
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A Change of Skies (1991) was awarded the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Novel (Asia-Pacific region).
The novel follows:
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Rajan and Nalini de Silva, a Sri Lankan couple who migrate to Australia
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Their struggles with cultural dislocation, professional identity, and generational adaptation
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The clash between old-world values and new-world realities
This unit introduces the plot, characters, and central concerns of the novel in preparation for deeper analysis.
Unit 4 – A Change of Skies: A Critical Study
This unit provides a detailed critical analysis of A Change of Skies.
Major Themes:
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Migration and Adjustment:
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The emotional and psychological challenges of relocating
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Cultural adaptation vs. alienation
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Identity and Transformation:
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Rajan’s shifting sense of masculinity, authority, and identity
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Nalini’s evolving autonomy and agency
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Satire and Irony:
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Gooneratne uses humour and irony to critique:
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Australian bureaucracy
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Ethnic stereotyping
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Diasporic nostalgia
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Hybridity and Belonging:
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The novel explores the formation of hybrid identities
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Language and memory become sites of cultural negotiation
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Narrative Techniques:
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The novel is written in a comic, episodic style
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Use of intertextual references to classical texts and South Asian culture
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Reflects the fluid, often fragmented experience of diasporic life
This unit argues that A Change of Skies is not just a migrant narrative, but a literary intervention into the politics of race, memory, and national identity in Australia.