Redressing the Silence

The term &s;life writing&s; is used in this chapter instead of the contested term &s;autobiography&s; and, by extension, &s;memoir&s;. Modern Aboriginal life writers grapple with ways to use English - the language of the oppressors - to express themselves and their cultures. Genre categories that require &s;truth&s; leave the text and the writer open to attack on the grounds of veracity. Autobiographical writing could be categorized as autobiography, life-writing, memoir, biography, testimony, or family history but such choices have implications for its reception. Morgan is a talented writer. Her own story plays an important role in drawing the reader into the narrative to hear the voices of the older people that testify to the cruelty of colonization. &s;Trauma&s; is defined in different ways, in common parlance and between and within various relevant fields of study, such as psychology and trauma studies.