Foundations
By Karin Speedy
5/5
()
About this ebook
Every day we face decisions, crossroads that can take us on wildly different rides. Our lives are never certain, no matter how well we plan. Although, fascinatingly, unknowingly, sometimes spookily, we can find ourselves on paths once trodden by our forebears…
In Foundations, Karin Speedy takes us on a whirlwind journey through time and space as she navigates intersecting personal, local, family and global histories, stories that help her reckon with who she is and where she stands in this complicated (post)colonial world. If colonialism, slavery, violence and heartbreak feature heavily in her memoir so too do friendship, love, poetry, books, music, laughter and resistance. Warm, funny, quirky yet also confronting and, at times, shockingly brutal, her childhood and young adult memories bring to life the scenes and sounds of 70s, 80s and 90s New Zealand. At university, Karin's unquenchable thirst for knowledge and social justice see her embark on her first research project, a decolonial study of Louisiana Creole, research that cements her future as an anti-racist, activist scholar. Forever questioning the master narratives, digging deeper and peeling back layers to expose what lies hidden beneath and behind, Karin reminds us that history and trauma are all around us, ingrained in our lives, etched into our landscapes and at the very foundations of our cities and infrastructure. When she begins to examine her own family stories, rooted in colonisation and working-class struggle and embedded in the national histories of Aotearoa and Australia, she uncovers astonishing inter-generational palimpsests and starts to grasp the importance of listening to her ghosts.
About the Author
Karin Speedy is an interdisciplinary academic whose research weaves together her expertise in history, literature, linguistics and translation. She has published extensively on colonial and decolonial Pacific and Francophone history and literature, as well as on Creole languages, slavery and African and Indian Ocean diasporas in the Pacific. Alongside her scholarly works, she enjoys communicating her research creatively which, until Foundations, has been mostly through poetry. In 2013, she was awarded the John Dunmore Medal for research, recognising her major contribution to knowledge of French language and culture in the Pacific and she recently obtained a Marsden Fund grant. Karin currently holds an honorary Visiting Research Fellow position at the University of Adelaide and lives in Aotearoa New Zealand with her two daughters, her partner and two cats.
Karin Speedy
Historian, academic, writer, literary scholar, linguist, poet and literary translator, Karin Speedy has published extensively on transnational, colonial and anti-colonial Pacific and Francophone history and literature, as well as Creole languages, slavery and forced labour and African and Indian Ocean diasporas in the Pacific. In addition to her scholarly writing, she is a published writer of creative histories, particularly in the form of poetry. 'Foundations' is her first memoir/literary non fiction novel. Karin was born in Auckland, New Zealand and lived for many years in Paris and Sydney where she taught at the Sorbonne (Paris IV) and Macquarie University respectively. She returned home to Aotearoa a few years ago and now lives in Wellington with her daughters, partner and two cats. In recognition of her major contribution to knowledge of French language and culture in the Pacific, she was awarded the John Dunmore research Medal in 2013. In 2022, she commenced her Marsden Fund project, 'When colonial worlds connect: trans-imperial networks of forced labour between the Indian and Pacific Oceans and the untold stories of Reunionese Creoles in Oceania'. Karin holds an honorary Visiting Research Fellow position at the University of Adelaide and is a full member of the New Zealand Society of Authors (NZSA) and the Professional Historians' Association of New Zealand/Aotearoa (PHANZA).
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Reviews for Foundations
1 rating1 review
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Written in a unique style and with a true talent for narrating Karin tells her own stories and shares her memories, adventures and achievements alongside those of her people - her family and ancestors.
Criss-crossing time, distance and degrees of separation, she paints the pictures in vivid and often amusing detail. There are memorable characters, dodgy relatives, historical figures and ordinary people. Stories within stories written with warmth, humour and intellect, interspersed with well researched glimpses into history and fascinating facts, including some confronting and at times uncomfortable truths.
Interesting and informative, entertaining and thought provoking, Foundations is a book I enjoyed that will stay with me for a long time.