The (Hydro)power Relations within Nation and Region, and the (de)formation of Identity in the case of Richard Flanagan

Key words in the conference theme, such as Nation and Region, require an engagement with politics; I am not a political scientist. And it would be foolish to try and engage with the politics of a multiple India given that I am amongst experts. So I’ll engage with the historical and literary politics of a specific bioregion of Australia. Though you might ask yourself why on earth would the good people of Chennai be interested in such a topic? It’s a fair question. Are Australian literary politics so remotely different from the South Indian context that I currently find myself in? It’s my hope that readers will recognise (tragically) that parallels do exist. So in order to provide some sort of comparative framework I will begin—despite the presence of experts—with the local.