‘Decolonising the Character of the Magdalene in White Settler Colonies’

Magdalenism is often associated with Ireland; however, it was in fact practised in more than 60 western and westernised countries from the Middle Ages to the late twentieth century. This structure, which is known for oppressing, repressing, and censoring femininity, women’s rights over their own bodies, and women’s access to the public sphere, also participated in the Baby Scoop Era (1940s–1980s), separating more than 1 million unwed mothers from their babies in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States, Australia, and Aotearoa New Zealand. Visual narratives by Magdalene survivors themselves are the focus of this article, which examines the cultural and historical specificities of Magdalene trauma as experienced in Canada and Australia. A decolonial, transnational, and feminist approach to trauma-reading will be applied on two shorts: Zuma, a filmed performance by Sharon Alward (non-Indigenous Canadian) (2011), as well as the visual poem, Magdalen Diaries (2011) by Rachael Romero (non-Indigenous Australian) (2011). This article examines how both women artists stage Magdalene trauma on the screen to decolonise the character of the Magdalene in their respective white settler colonies, focusing on clothes/costumes, narratorial perspectives, and institutional silence.