Pascoe’s Enablers Flog a Dead Emu

It seems the issue of Bruce Pascoe’s aboriginality is not quite so settled as we might have thought a week or so ago.  It is unclear if he is the target of a recent call by activists Stephen Hagan and Ann Weldon for more stringent scrutiny of claims of aboriginality, but given the level of support he has among influential figures of the Left, both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal, I think he is unlikely to be held to account. There is little chance, in other words, of the ABC/Screen Australia’s  two-hour twin-episode adaption of Dark Emu being dropped.

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That Pascoe continues to benefit from his notional Aboriginal heritage  owes much to Indigenous activist Professor Marcia Langton, who is heavily invested in Dark Emu, having declared it “the most important book in Australia which should be read by everyone”.  She has also stated that Pascoe’s “sources are correct”.  In a recent article in Quadrant Online, I provided two…