Proceeding IICLLTLC-2 2016

CULTURAL AUTHENTICITY IN CHRISTINE PIPER’S AFTER DARKNESS:

A PESRPECTIVE OF MULTICULTURAL LITERATURE
BY MINGSHUI CAI
Sari Fitria
Pascasarjana Ilmu Sastra Universitas Gadjah Mada
[email protected]

Abstract
This study is aimed to reveal the authenticity of After Darkness as multicultural literature.
Therefore, the characteristic of multicultural literature in After Darkness is described as a
beginning part of this study. Then, the level of authenticity in this novel will be measured. In the
last part, it is explained why this novel can show that level of authenticity. The concept of
multicultural literature by Mingshui Cai is applied in this study. Cai offers cultural authenticity
as a tool to evaluate multicultural literature. This cultural authenticity consists of cultural
boundaries, ethnic perspective, and brute facts. Besides, the concept of implied author is used
to reveal the author’s cultural identity. The result of this study shows that After Darkness can
be classified as multicultural literature because it focuses on those who are underrepresented
in multicultural society. In addition, it is shown that After Darkness is authentic multicultural
literature. The description of Japanese cultural-social condition in this novel is appropriate
with ethnic perspective and brute facts. The cultural boundaries portrays that the author
(Christine Piper) has brief knowledge about Japanese culture.

Keywords: multicultural literature, cultural authenticity, underrepresented culture

1. INTRODUCTION

“While working at a Japanese

hospital in the part of Broome, Dr. Ibaraki is
arrested as an enemy alien and sent to
Loveday internment camp in a remote corner
of South Australia. There, he learns to live
among a group of men who are divided by
culture and allegiance.”

(Christine Piper, After Darkness)

A country can be classified as a multicultural land if there are a lot of cultures grown there.
Some people argue that this country is a wealthy land due to their numerous cultures. In fact,
multicultural condition creates diversity that evokes inequality. Parekh (2008:15) states that the
diversity in multicultural land refers to cultural differences. These differences cannot be
avoided. It forms majority and minority group in multicultural land. As a result, conflict
becomes a part of multicultural society.
In multicultural society, majority group consists of people from dominant culture while
minority group is those who come from underrepresented culture. Parekh (2008:29) said that
cultural domination is basic desire concealed in mind. Therefore, conflict caused by cultural
differences is a predictable matter.
There are some cases expose how cultural differences arouse conflict. For example, some
cases that happened in Australia. Australia has had multicultural society since English
colonization in 18th century. At that time, many immigrants from Germany, Italia, China, Japan

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and Philippines worked and lived in Australia after the end of World War I 25. However,
conflict caused by cultural differences still happened many times in this multicultural country.
On December 11th, 2005, for example, there was an attack by White Australian toward Middle
East people. In this conflict, 12 people of Middle East got injured. Besides, there were
numerous pamphlets and posters showed Moslem as monsters, wild animals, barbarians, found
in Sydney around 2000 (Dagistanli via Collins: 22).
In multicultural countries that place western culture as mainstream culture, inequality can
be found through prohibition toward some tradition done by those who come from
underrepresented culture. For example, the arranged marriage acted by most of Asian in
England, the refusal of Sikh to wear helmet because they must wear turban for cultural reason,
the band of Hindu people to do cremation, etc. (Parekh: 2008).
The cultural and social condition of minority group in multicultural society is also reflected
in literary works. The works are written by both insider and outsider authors. Unfortunately, the
cultural and social condition of minority group is not described authentically in some works. In
fact, authenticity is an important element in multicultural literature. Through the authenticity in
multicultural literature, equality in multicultural society can be pursued.
One of literary works that depicts cultural and social condition of multicultural society is
After Darkness, a novel written by Christine Piper. This novel won The Australian/Vogel’s
Literary Award 2014 and nominated for Readings New Australian Writing Award 2014. It is
about inequality in Australian multicultural society. Through this novel, Piper portrays the
interaction among minority groups, also interaction between those minorities with the
majorities before and during World War II. Besides, After Darkness is written by a bicultural
author. Piper is an Australian-Japanese, born in Seoul, Korea Selatan in 1979. Her mother is
Japanese and her father is Australian.
Based on the explanation above, it shows that After Darkness is a novel written by an
insider author and it depicts the cultural social condition of Japanese as a part of Australian
multicultural society. Therefore, the authenticity of this novel as multicultural literature needs
to be revealed and the level of this authenticity needs to be measured.

2. REVIEW OF RELATED THEORIES

In this study, multicultural literature concept by Mingshui Cai is applied. Cai explains
about this concept in his book Multicultural Literature for Children and Young Adults:
Reflections on Critical Issues (2002). The concept of multicultural literature comes from some
questions, such as ‘Who can create true multicultural literature?’, ‘Can insider and outsider
author write authentic multicultural literature?’, ‘How to evaluate multicultural literature?’
The debate centered insiders versus outsiders is not only a verbal battle over the question of
who can portray cultural authenticity in literary creation, but it also involves power struggle
over whose books get published. Furthermore, it is not only about the relationship of author’s
ethnicity and his/her literary work, but it is more about the relationship between imagination
and the author’s experience (Cai, 2002:38). In her/his multicultural literature, the author should
present realistic culture. Therefore, it needs a tool, called cultural authenticity, to evaluate
multicultural literature. If it is found that there is an unrealistic multicultural literature, the work
should be disregarded no matter how imaginative and how great it is.
a. Cultural Boundaries
It is important to do any kinds of efforts to get a brief understanding about another culture,
but is more important to understand how strong and how authentic the relationship between the
author and the culture so that she/he can write multicultural literature. Cai (2002:40) agrees
with Bank who proposes a four-level hierarchy of cross cultural competency to measure
authors’ authentic connection with another culture. They are:

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Australian Government, Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC)

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a. Level I: The individual experiences superficial and brief cross-cultural interactions.

b. Level II: The individual begins to assimilate some of the symbols and characteristics of
the "outside" ethnic group.
c. Level III: The individual is thoroughly bicultural.
d. Level IV: The individual is completely assimilated into the new ethnic culture.
An author is in level I if she/he, for instance, has visited Chinatown, eaten some Chinese
food and read a few books of Chinese. In this level, it can be concluded that the author has no
enough qualification to write a story about Chinese culture. On the other hand, if an author has
reached the highest level, she must have a great understanding about the culture she wants to
tell. Indirectly, racial problems can be solved slowly because the author is able to explain about
another culture in a right perspective.
b. Ethnic Perspective
A difficult task confronting writers who try to truthfully reflect the reality of an ethnic
culture, whether or not they are from that culture is to grasp the perspective of that culture in
order to provide culturally authentic literature for the readers. This perspective is reflected in
culturally specific ways of living, believing, and behaving. The key is to take on the group's
perspective "like actors who take on a role so thoroughly that they come to be identified with
it".
Basically, it is difficult and challenging to introduce another culture. Therefore, an author
must act as a cultural messenger in her/his multicultural literature. Unfortunately, the author
may unconsciously impose her/his cultural beliefs and values on the culture she/he tries to
recreate. Nodelman (via Cai:2002) called this as ‘cultural arrogance’.
Actually, ethnic perspective has nothing to do with gene but experiences. In this case, there
is no guarantee that an insider author is more compatible in describing a culture in her
multicultural literature. Some authors fail in writing good multicultural literature. It is not
because they are lack of imagination but they do not have any accurate ethnic perspective.
c. Brute Facts
Imagination is creative power but it is not master of reality. In fact, imagination can be
limited by reality. Unfortunately, cultural barriers take a role in developing authors’
imagination. As the effect, they are not able to present an accurate social condition in their
works. Cai called this brute facts. It imposes great constraints and limitations on the author's
imagination, especially in historical fiction. Cultural differences are brute facts that limit the
author's imagination and put constraints on his or her literary choices. To overcome this
problem, the authors need to do many efforts. If a member of an ethnic group has to make great
efforts to develop the group's special sense of reality, a non- member who is unfamiliar with the
ethnic culture has to make double efforts to get that sense.
d. Reader Response Theory
In multicultural literature, reader response theory is needed to identify the role of the
author. Reader response theory is applied to reveal the author cultural identity and to look out
how far the identity influences her/his literary works. Booth (via Cai, 2002: 58) states that there
is a presence of the author in the text. It is called implied author. The implied author is different
from the author. The author's presence is implied in his or her artistic creation. It is different
from the real author who writes the book. The implied author is the real author's "second self."

3. DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

a. After Darkness as Multicultural Literature
Those who are underrepresented in After Darkness
In After Darkness, Piper represents ‘those who are underrepresented’ through Japanese
society who lives in Australia. This Japanese society consists of full-blood Japanese and half-
blood Japanese. These immigrants began to come to Australia in 1920s. At that time, the

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government of Australia let immigrant to work and stay in their country 26. Thus, Australia
grows as a multicultural land.
The Japanese society in this novel is underrepresented by people from dominant culture. In
this case, full-blood Japanese are dominated by white Australian. Meanwhile, half-blood
Japanese are discriminated by both white Australian and full-blood Japanese. Piper describes
full-blood Japanese as Japanese community who live in Australia. Some of them have lived
there for couple of years so that they can speak English fluently, while others communicate
with gesture because they are not able to speak in English. In fact, no matter how long they
have stayed in Australian, they keep get discrimination from white Australian.
The full-blood Japanese is underrepresented by those from dominant culture. Piper
illustrates a group of white Australian who take a part in a formal ceremony held by Japanese
society. However, they refuse to join in informal events.

I was surprised at the food. I’d eaten at the Kanemoris’ several times before and had
always enjoyed Mrs Kanemori’s traditional cooking—she prepared dishes such as
glazed eel on rice and cold noodles with pork, egg and cucumber; meals I sorely
missed from home. I was surprised Kanemori had catered to the Western palate on this
occasion. Yet none of the white men at the ceremony had come to the party. Indeed,
the guests on the verandah were almost entirely Japanese or at least half-Japanese, save
for the Chinese wives of a few of the men. (p.126).

The quotation above implies that white Australian respects Japanese community as a
formality only. In fact, they do not think that this minority community is a part of them. This
dominant culture rejects to have a personal relationship with Japanese communit even though
some of them have become Australian citizen. They do not make friends with them and they
implicitly warn minority culture not to enter the border between them. In the quotation above,
Piper depicts how Kanemori family prepares western food in their party so that the White
Australian can enjoy the party. It reveals some efforts done by minority group to build a good
relationship with majority. However, the majority ignores these efforts. They reject the
Japanese community by ignoring the party.
Moreover, racism is also a kind of discrimination faced by minority group. Fortier
(2008:27) says that racism occurs because an ethnic assumes that they are better and more
powerful than other ethnics. To maintain their position, they ignore other.

We were at the station less than a minute when the whistle blew. As the train lurched
forward, the woman grabbed her daughter‘s hand and dragged her towards our
carriage. She came so close so I could see a mole above her lip. She spat. A glob
landed on the window in front of my face.
‘Bloody Japs!’ she said, shaking her fist. (p.3)

Piper portrays that racism is faced by Japanese society in multicultural lands may happen in
public area.it indicates that racism is a common thing in this land. Everyone from dominant
culture can discriminate minority no matter they are men or women, young or old, educated or
uneducated. The quotation also depicts that racism has been introduced to kids. It can be
revealed from the action of the adult White Australian who intimates minority in front of her
child. She humiliates the minority with her words without considering kid’s presence. As the
effect of this careless action, discrimination toward minority grows rapidly in multicultural
land. Those who come from underrepresented culture will not only get verbal humiliation but
also physical one.
Meanwhile, half-blood Japanese also get discrimination even though they are a part of
Japanese community. They got double oppression from dominant groups (White Australian and
full-blood Japanese). Piper describes how the half-blood Japanese is described as those who are

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http://www.immi.gov.au/media/publications/statistics3/federation/timeline1.pdf

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underrepresented because they are regarded as half-caste, the one who does not belong to any
community. They regarded as aliens.
Generally, the full-blood Japanese discriminate the half-blood Japanese because there are
some differences in their physical appearance. As the effect, the full-blood Japanese do not
want to admit half-blood Japanese as a part of them. The full-blood Japanese think that they are
able to distinguish whether a person is full-blood or half-blood Japanese based on their physical
characteristics, such as nose, eyes, and height. It indicates the rejection of full-blood Japanese
toward the half-blood Japanese.

I sensed a movement to my left and saw a figure come to stillness about thirty feet
away. As I stared at him, I know he was half-caste. The eyes were too round and the
nose was too broad for a Japanese. (p.15)

The quotation shows that the differences in physical condition become a reason why full-
blood Japanese ignore half-blood Japanese. This ignorance also leads into discrimination and
intimidation. In perspective of full-blood Japanese, half-blood Japanese is not appropriate to be
a member of any group because they come from nowhere. If they are Japanese-Australian, they
do not belong to Japanese or Australian. It is because they only ‘half’ of them. For the full-
blood Japanese, this ‘half’ means not complete to be a part of an ethnic.

Power struggle in After Darkness

In multicultural society, the minority group should face inequality. This leads into
oppression and discrimination. Therefore, the minority needs to have power struggle to protect
themselves. If the minority has power struggle, there is possibility for them to be accepted and
respected by dominant group (Cai, 2012:7). In After Darkness, powers struggle is done by
Japanese community that becomes a part of Australian multicultural society. This Japanese
community, actually, is a reflection of minority culture in multicultural land.
Power struggle can be done through some protests toward rules stated by majority group.
Usually, these rules are arranged for the dominant’s importance, so the minority group needs to
fight as their power struggle to get equality. In After Darkness, Piper depicts that the minority
group in multicultural land need to have power struggle toward the rules which humiliates
them.
‘He reckons I took more than my fair share because I took two pieces big. As if
counting how many pieces I take isn’t enough, they’ve also got an eye on the size of
the meat we take. Next they’ll be counting how many pieces f toilet paper we use.’
(p.17)

‘Playing’ with the rules is a kind of power struggle done by minority group. When the
minority group keeps agree with rules stated by majority group but they follow the rules on
their own way, it implies that the minority has had power struggle. It indicates how this
minority group do not let themselves harmed by the rules. On the other hand, they can get some
advantageous from the rules. In the quotation above, Piper portrays how the minority group
‘play’ with the rules about how much food they can take. Moreover, Piper reveals that power
struggle can be applied by voicing their argument. The character in the quotation above frankly
shows his protests towards other rules that make them underrepresented.

b. Cultural Authenticity in After Darkness

Ethnic Perspective
Ethnic perspective relates to a perspective of an ethnic that must be understood by authors.
Thus, Piper’s understanding toward Japanese culture will be revealed in this part. This Japanese
culture lies in the way of living, behaving and believing.
One of culture for Japanese is ojigi (bowing). Basically, Japanese greets each other by
doing ojigi. Besides, ojigi is done to apologize, to send thanks, and to introduce self. In After
Darkness, Piper illustrates that Japanese in Australia keeps doing ojigi in their daily activity,

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(1) ‘Sensei, it’s an honour to have you join our team,’ the young man said, bowing
deeply. (p.29)

(2) …, but I recognised him as the kind ‘uncle’ who used to piggyback me when I visited
their house. Mrs. Sasaki appeared beside him and bowed deeply. (p.58)
In the quotation above, Piper describes Japanese doing deep bow to another. The
description portrays the way of Japanese giving high respect toward other. Unfortunately, Piper
does not give a brief explanation about how this ojigi is done. In fact, Cai (2002:41) states a
culture should be described in detail to avoid misrepresentation. In the first quotation above,
Piper portrays ojigi done in working condition. It is shown that a lower employee does saikeirei
to upper one. In Japanese culture, it is common for employee to give respect by doing saikeirei
(Inouye: 2008:62). However, in the second quotation, Piper portrays how an old woman (Mrs.
Sasaki) does saikeirei to a younger person (Ibaraki) as a symbol of respect. It is not appropriate
with De Mente’s opinion in his book Etiquette Guide to Japan. De Mente explains that saikeirei
is deep bow done to give an honor to the emperor of Japan in feudal era. However, after World
War II, the emperor rejects saikeirei as a tradition to honor him only. Therefore, saikeirei
nowadays is done as a symbol to give honor toward certain people (2006:18). In this case, Piper
has minor inaccuracy when she depicts an old woman does seikeirei to the younger one.
Another ethnic perspective framed by Piper relates to Japanese belief, Shinto and Buddha.
In his book, Nihojin wa naze mushukyo na no ka‘ (1996), sold more than 100.000 exemplar in
Japan, Ama Toshimaru states that Japanese life is influenced much by Shinto and Buddha
(Bestor dan Yamagata, 2011:66). It is shown in numerous festivals, annual events, traditional
ceremonies and rituals done by Japanese. In After Darkness, Piper also portrays this belief.
However, she illustrates about Buddha only.
(1) I looked up the heavens and silently said a prayer of thanks. (p.1)

(2) Trying to calm my mind, I continued walking along the fence. I was surprised to
discover a Buddhist altar in the space between the last row of tents and the outside
fence. It was a simple structure, no more than shoulder high. It was made from
unpainted timber; the roof was cracked and faded from the elements. Two rough-
hewn doors splayed open, revealing a miniature scroll with the words ‘Eternal
Happiness‘. In Japan, I would have lit a stick of incense at such a time. (p.14)

In the quotations above, it is shown that Japanese is a community who has religion. The
word ‘pray’ in the first quotation shows that they believe in God. In Japane, God is called
Kami. The belief toward Kami is also strengthened in the second quotation, which is shown by
Buddhist altar in Japanese camp. Sugimoto (2010:263) explains that almost all Japanese always
have Shinto Shrine and Buddhist Altar in their house. It is related to mana, Japanese belief
about mystical power in living and nonliving things. It makes them not to believe in one God
only. Japanese tend to combine Buddha and Shinto in their life. However, in After Darkness,
Piper does not depict this belief. She ignores Shinto and only talks about Buddha. In fact,
Shinto has been a part Japanese since Meiji kingdom. Japanese is regarded themselves as
special creature because they are the only one owning Shinto from generation to generation.
Japanese will not ignore Shinto even though they also believe in Buddha (Sugimoto,
2010:264).

Brute Facts
Inaccuracy in describing social condition of minority group in multicultural society can be
done by both insider and outsider authors. However, in order to create authentic multicultural
literature, a minor inaccuracy should be avoided (Cai, 2002:43). In this part, the authenticity of
Japanese social condition in After Darkness will be evaluated.
Tikonov (2013:1) states a marriage between Japanese and non-Japanese has begun when
Japan colonized Korean in 1910-1945. At that time, the citizens of Korea are forced to work for
Japan and to help them in bigger invention. As a result, many Japanese and Korean got

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married. In After Darkness, Piper also talks about this marriage. She shows how Japanese and
Chinese immigrant in Australia got married.

His father was a Chinese immigrant who’d found a modest fortune on the goldfields
and moved to Broome to start a restaurant, eventually marrying the Japanese daughter
of a laundry owner. (p.17)

The quotation exposes the background of Johnny Chang who was bicultural. His father is
Chinese and his mother is Japanese. Piper describes that Johnny Chang is 27 years old in 1942.
It reveals that intermarriage has occurred to his parents in 1915s. The description of this social
condition is appropriate with the history found in article mentioned before. It is stated that
Japanese has been immigrant to Australia since 1880. This immigration condition also takes a
part in intermarriage between Japanese and non-Japanese.
Another fact is relating to half-blood Japanese, commonly called haafu. Nowadays,
Japanese assumes that it is incredible to be born as haafu. Japanese think that haafu has more
perfect physical appearance than full-blood Japanese. Haafu also have international brief
knowledge and they have more chance in getting classy job (Yoshida, 2004: iv). On the other
hand, in 1940s, haafu is described as half-caste. Full-blood Japanese does not only ignore but
also reject them.

(1) ‘You haafu fools don‘t deserve the Japanese blood in you!’ said an old man at the
mayor‘s table, speaking in Japanese. (p.8)

(2) These four men. I was sitting in the mess hall after lunch, trying to write a letter,
and they came and told me to leave. They spoke in Japanese, so I didn‘t know
what they were saying at first, so I didn‘t move, and they just started yelling at me
and grabbed me. One of them hit me with a tent
pole. That‘s how I got this.
‘He nodded at the wound on his arm. I‘m sorry, I do not know your name.
‘Stanley Suzuki,‘ he said. But you can call me Stan’. (p. 74-75)

The quotation implies the condition of haafu who got verbal and physical violence.
Yoshida (2004:5-6) identified that before and during World War II, Japanese society
discriminates haafu. It happened until 1960s. Haafu was regarded as community that did not
have any understanding about Japanese culture. In her work, Piper reflects haafu condition in
1942s. They are rejected and discriminated.

Cultural Boundaries
Piper is an author who has a good understanding about Japanese culture. It is not only
because she is a bicultural, but also because he has studied many things about Japanese culture.
She has visited and stayed in Japan for several times. She also has a closed interaction with
Japanese community because she is half-Japanese. In addition, she does some Japanese
traditions and customs in her life. Piper also did some researches that relates to Japanese life.
Based on this fact, Piper is in Level III in cross cultural competency. In order to write a
multicultural literature, this level is quite good because the author has had experiences about
the culture she wants to write. However, Piper is still not able to reach the highest level (Level
IV) in cross cultural competency. In this level, an author must be a part of that ethnic group so
that she can assimilate totally with the culture.

Implied Author
In After Darkness, the implied author tends to give voice to minority group. The implied
author sees that there in inequality between majority and minority group in Australian
multicultural society. In implied author’s perspective, the minority is underrepresented in this
situation. They got discrimination and oppression by majority group because they have
difference culture. The implied author also portrays how this minority group got verbal and

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physical violence from the dominant. In short, it can be stated that the implied author supports
the minority group.

4. CONCLUSION
The result of this study shows that Piper, as an insider author, is able to write
multicultural literature that has a high-level authenticity through his novel, After Darkness. It is
caused by Piper’s good understanding about Japanese culture. After Darkness can be classified
as multicultural literature because it tells about multicultural society in Australia. Moreover, it
focuses on ‘they who are underrepresented’ and their power struggle.
Meanwhile, the authenticity of After Darkness can be explored through the
appropriateness of cultural-social condition in this novel with ethnic perspective and brute
facts. The research shows that Piper just does some minor inaccuracy when she describes about
Japanese culture and Japanese social condition in Australia before and during the World War II.
Finally, it can be concluded that Piper is able to write multicultural literature because she has
closeness with Japanese ethnic.

5. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bestor, Victcoria Lyon dan Akiko Yamagata. 2011. Routledge Handbook of Japanese Culture
and Society. New York:Routledge
Cai. Mingshui. 2002. Multicultural Literature for Childern and Adults:Reflections on Critical
Issues. United States of America:Greenwood Press.
Collins, Jock. Minority Youth, Crime, Conflict, and Belonging in Australia. Sydney: University
of Technology
De Mente, Boye Lafayette. 2006. Etiquette Guide to Japan. Linconwood: Passport Book
Fortier, Anne-Marie. 2008. Multicultural Horizons: Diversity and the Limits of the
Civil Nation. New York: Routledge.
Greer, Tim. 2005. Co-constructing Identity: The Use of ‘Haafu’ by a Group of Bilingual Multi
Ethnic Japanese Teenagers. Somerville: Cascadilla.
Hendry, Joe. 1995. Understanding Japanese Society. London: Routledge.
Inouye, Charles Shiro.2008. Evanescence and Form. An Introduction to Japanese Culture.
New York: Palgram Macmillan.
Kumakura, Isao. Characteristic of Eating Culture in Japan. Shizouka University of Art and
Culture.
Piper, Christine. 2014. After Darkness. Sydney: Allen & Unwin.
Piper, Christine. After Darkness: Japanese Civilian Internment in Australia during World War
II. Sydney: University of Technology Sydney.
Parekh, Bikhu. 2008. Rethinking Multiculturalism: Kebenaran Budaya dan Teori Politik.
Yogyakarta: Kanisius.
Sugimoto, Yoshio.2009. The Modern Japanese Culture. Melbourne: Cambridge University
Press
Tikhonov, Vladimir. 2013. Korean Japanese Marriages in 1920s-40s Korean Prose:
University of Oslo.
Yoshida, Shima. 2014. Being Hafu (Biethnic Japanese) in Japan: Through the Eyes
of Japanese Media, Japanese University, and Hafu Themselves. The University of
Utah.

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