Please note submissions for this print edition have now closed. If you’d still like to contribute under this theme, Woroni is always accepting submissions at woronicontent@gmail.com for online publication.

Woroni is currently sourcing for our Week 5 issue! The theme is Making Room for minority and ethnocultural voices at ANU and beyond. Send us your drafts or pitches by August 10th.

• All non-fiction — 1000 words or less
• All long-form fiction – 1500 words or less

We strongly encourage submissions from ethnocultural voices. It is important that our publication reflects the diversity of the ANU community so that we can better tell stories about everyone at the ANU.

See below for some prompts to get the gears grinding:

Multilingual –

• What’s it like being surrounded by a foreign language? What is it like not hearing or seeing your own language / culture in the place you live? How do you feel when you hear or see your own language?
•  Write a piece about your personal slang. What slang words does your language have that are different? How is slang different between languages?
• Are there aspects of your native language you find restrictive? What would you change about it if you could?
• Write a poem in your native language and translate it into English. How does it compare?

Comment –

• What are ethnocultural experiences in education like? The idea is to reflect on your own experiences (or those you’ve heard) studying and taking courses at ANU and thinking about how non-white narratives/content is treated.
  • If you study literature, are there are a lot of options to study indigenous literature?
  • If you study history/politics, how are colonial narratives presented to you? Do you think they’re fair? Do you feel like you are given a lot of exposure to non-white/ethnocultural narratives in your education?
• How effective do you think the recent Black Lives Matter protests have been?
• Good spaces/communities at ANU for ethnocultural people- this doesn’t have to be a space that is specifically meant for ethnocultural people (though that works great too!) but is just any space where you, as POC, have felt comfortable, and seen and welcomed. This could be anything from a residential hall to a club/society or maybe even a study group.
• The same idea as above but for spaces that have NOT been welcoming or that have been openly hostile.
• The difference between people of colour who grow up in Australia vs POC that grow up in the ‘homeland’ – These experiences can be very different and it would be interesting for someone who fits either category to give their opinions about this. This could be just talking about personal experience, or talking about how you wish there was more understanding between the two communities, or anything else within this topic!
• What representation of ethnocultural people do we see in Australia in politics? Legislation? What consequences does this have?
• How does ANU make room for ethnocultural voices? What more could be done?

Culture –

• What are the issues facing ethnocultural representation in media? How can we fix it? What would you like to see?
  
• Review a particular movie / TV show / book that has ethnocultural representation. What made this movie / show / book important to you?
• What’s something you miss from your home that you don’t get any more? What part of your personal culture do you wish you could see more often?
• A review or compilation of Canberra’s Indigenous Art Galleries. How can we better give the artwork of First Nations Australians the cultural significance it deserves? This could also be a piece on the history of Indigenous artwork in our ‘high art’ galleries and institutions.
  
• What do you recommend for when conversations like this all get too much? How to practice a genuinely restorative self-care? Have you engaged with Rachel Cargle’s work?

Creative –

• Create a location-based piece that centres around different characters in a room. How do they react with the space they occupy based on their identity and life experiences?
• Write a memoir-style/creative nonfiction piece about your experiences ‘making room’ for diverse voices at ANU.
• Write a piece exploring the journey of an older family member as they step aside to let a younger family member form their own identity and values.
• Write a piece exploring the struggles of someone whose voice is diminished by society.
• Play with different forms of narratology – create a piece that is polyphonic in order to explore how different voices create space differently in our world.

Sound like your kind of party? Here’s how to get involved:

• Join our Facebook group Woroni Contributors.
• Email all drafts and pitches to woronicontent@gmail.com
• Follow us on Instagram
• Keep an eye on the website for sourcing and hiring posts.