Anna Rutherford Explained

Anna Rutherford (27 November 1932 – 21 February 2001) was an Australian-born academic and publisher, who helped to establish the field of post-colonial literature in Europe.^[1]

Biography

Rutherford was born in Australia in Mayfield, Newcastle, New South Wales.^[2]

From 1968 to 1996 she was Director of the Commonwealth Literature Centre at the University of Aarhus, Denmark, where she introduced African and West Indian courses, organising in 1971 the first European conference on the British Commonwealth novel.

In 1979, she founded Kunapipi: Journal of Postcolonial Writing & Culture and was its editor until her death.^[3] The name derives from kunapipi, a mother goddess in Aboriginal Australian mythology.^[4]

Rutherford also founded and was director of the small publishing company Dangaroo Press.^[5]

In 1996 an edited collection, A talent(ed) digger, was published in Rutherford's memory.^[6]

Works

• (ed. with Donald Hannah) Commonwealth Short Stories. London: Edward Arnold, 1971.
• (ed. with Kirsten Holst Petersen) Cowries and Kobos: the West African oral tale and short story. Mundelstrup, Denmark: Dangaroo Press, 1981.
• Silas Marner: Notes. Harlow: Longman, 1981. York Notes, 98.
• George Eliot, Middlemarch: Notes. Harlow: Longman, 1985. York Notes, 260.
• (ed. with Kirsten Holst Petersen) A Double Colonization: Colonial and Post-colonial Women's Writing. Mundelstrup, Denmark; Oxford: Dangaroo Press, 1986.
• (ed.) Aboriginal Culture Today. Sydney: Dangaroo Press, 1988.
• (ed. with Kirsten Holst Petersen) Displaced Persons. Sydney: Dangaroo Press, 1988.
• (ed. with Hena Maes-Jelinek and Kirsten Holst Petersen) A Shaping of Connections: Commonwealth literature studies, then and now: essays in honour of A.N. Jeffares. Sydney, N.S.W.: Dangaroo Press, 1989.
• (ed. with Kirsten Holst Petersen) Chinua Achebe: a celebration. Oxford: Heinemann, 1990.
• (ed. with Kirsten Holst Petersen) On Shifting Sands: new art and literature from South Africa. Earlsdon: Dangaroo Press, 1991.
• (ed.) From Commonwealth to Post-colonial. Sydney; Coventry: Dangaroo, 1992.
• (ed.) Populous Places: Australia's cities and towns. Sydney; Coventry: Dangaroo, 1992.
• (ed. with Shirley Chew) Unbecoming Daughters of the Empire. Sydney, N.S.W.: Dangaroo Press, 1993.
• (ed. with Lars Jensen and Shirley Chew) Into the Nineties: post-colonial women's writing. Armidale, N.S.W.: Dangaroo Press, 1994.
• (ed. with Susheila Nasta) Tiger's Triumph: Celebrating Sam Selvon. Armidale, N.S.W.; Hebden Bridge: Dangaroo, 1995.
• (ed. with Anne Collett and Lars Jensen) Teaching Post-colonialism and Post-colonial Literatures. Aarhus, Denmark; Oakville, Conn.: Aarhus University Press, 1997.
• (ed. with James Wieland) War: Australia's Creative Response. St. Leonards, NSW, Australia: Allen & Unwin, 1997.

Notes and References

1. Book: Preface: Remembering Anna Rutherford . Merete . Falck Borch . Eva Rask Knudsen . Martin Leer . Bruce Clunies Ross . Bodies and Voices: The Force-Field of Representation and Discourse in Colonial and Postcolonial Studies . Amsterdam; New York . Rodopi . 2008 . xi-xvi . 9789401205351 . https://books.google.com/books?id=xKWODwAAQBAJ&pg=PR11 .
2. News: David Dabydeen . David. Dabydeen. Anna Rutherford: Flying the flag for post-colonial literature . . 13 March 2001 . 4 February 2022 .
3. Editorial. Anne. Collett. Kunapipi. 34. 2. 2012. viii. 18 February 2022.
4. Book: Berndt, R. M. . Australian Aboriginal Religion . Ronald Murray Berndt . 1974 . 3 . . 9004037276 .
5. Anna Rutherford (1932–2001): Two Tributes. Bernard. Hickey. John Thieme. The Journal of Commonwealth Studies. 36. 1. 147–150. 1 March 2001. 10.1177/002198940103600110. 161784132. 18 February 2022.
6. Book: Jena . Maes-Jelinek . Gordon Collier . Geoffrey V. Davis . A talent(ed) digger: creations, cameos, and essays in honour of Anna Rutherford . Amsterdam; Atlanta, GA . Rodopi . 1996 .