Women and constructing re-membering: identity formation in the stolen generations

This thesis is the examination of stories of women taken from their families of origin as part of an assimilation process carried out in Australia. What is unique about the women’s stories in this thesis is the identification of a process of disturbance deliberately enacted upon them with the goal of shifting their identity away from what it would have been if they had been able to stay within their family of origin. It is the main premise in this thesis that there was a deliberate process of disturbing the body, minds or psyche as well as the lived culture of these women. Hence, through body, mind as well as cultural dysphoria, Stolen Generations are challenged to construct an identity.