In Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason, Michel Foucault, the French philosopher, writes, “What desire can be contrary to nature since it was given to man by nature itself”. In this quote, Foucault examines the absurd nature of human conformity to social norms. Society has a way of creating unofficial rules and regulations for how the human race should behave and carry out daily activities. Australian writer and traveler Robyn Davidson challenged the constraints of conformity when she trekked 1,700 miles across the Australian desert with only four camels and a dog. As a young, broke, inexperienced, female embarking on an extraordinarily difficult solo journey, Davidson had all odds for success against her. From …show more content…
The Australian government degrades the Aboriginal culture and makes life difficult for them. Over the course of Davidson’s trek, she discovered the culturally constructed racist policies implemented by the government and how they affect the Aboriginals. According to the account of Davidson, “[government policies] ensure that Aboriginal lands go once again into the hands of the whites...that a cheap labour source is made available by removing all trace of black ethics and culture, leaving the white races pure”(49). The destruction of Aboriginal land as observed by Davidson, “once dispossessed of this land, ceremonial life deteriorates, people lose their strength, meaning, essence and identity”(171). Not only did the Australian government take land away from the Aboriginals in the physical sense, but they stripped them of their identity. In her travels, Davidson discovered, “no white person can fully enter Aboriginal reality and the more you learn, the more you’re aware of the vast gap of knowledge and understanding”(167). Although Davidson took the initiative to better understand the culture of the Aboriginals, she could never be considered one of the Aboriginals. On her journey, Davidson discovered there was no need for such racism and discrimination, and the Aboriginal people are not inferior to the white Australians. The Aboriginal people …show more content…
They do not need anything but the land to live off of, which is why they cannot understand the western culture and their materialistic need. In the words of Davidson, “[the Aboriginal people] are not separate from the land. When they lose it, they lose themselves, their spirit, their culture...by denying them their land, we are committing cultural and, in this case, racial genocide”(171). After observing Mr. Eddie, the Aboriginal man who accompanied Davidson for a leg of her journey, “[taking] nothing but his tin of medicines”(175), Davidson learned to shed her figurative and literal burdens. After meeting Eddie, Davidson “discarded much of [her] junk...so the pack was lighter and easier to load”(175). With a newfound ‘I only need the essentials’ mindset she learned from Mr. Eddie, Davidson “[began the] process of paring down possessions...until [she] had only the barest of essentials”(175). By the end of her journey, Davidson carried only “a survival kit,..a filthy old sarong for hot weather and a jumper and wooly socks for cold weather and [she] had something to sleep on and something to eat and drink out of”(259) with her. Everything she needed could be found in the desert. Before her trip, Davidson “had been sick of carrying around the self-indulgent negativity which was so much the malaise of [her] generation, [her] sex, and [her] class”(37). The Aboriginals taught Davidson to defy the materialistic norms of
After many years of European settlement in Australia, many Aboriginal people had been removed from their families and placed into schools with white Australians. This was due to the ‘protection policy’ laws that encouraged the removal of Indigenous children. Because fewer indigenous children were able to learn about their own culture, there was a slow decline in the culture of the indigenous people. As a result of this, there were continued tensions between the free settlers and Indigenous people as they had no roles in the government and couldn’t vote. This made them feel as if they were excluded from greater society and had long term negative impacts upon their sense of belonging to the new
The recent Australian film, Rabbit Proof Fence, similarly condemns the social, political and cultural mores of colonial and post-colonial Australia in relation to its past treatment of indigenous Australians. Like To Kill a Mockingbird, it too, is set in the 1930’s and reflects similar attitudes and values whites have to black people. The film is a true story based on the book by Doris Pilkington Garimara, the daughter of one of the half-caste children in the film who, together with two other Aboriginal girls, was forcibly removed from her family in Jigalong, Western Australia. These children form part of what is now known as the “Stolen Generation”. They, like many others who lived in the first part of the 20th century, were the victims of the official government assimilationist policy which decreed that half-caste children should be taken from their families and their land in order to be made “white”. The policy was definitely aimed at “breeding out” Aboriginality, because only half and quarter caste children were taken.
‘Australia’ also showed how the government controlled how children of Aboriginal descent were brought up with language used such as “The mixed raced children must be dislocated from their primitive full blooded Aborigine, how else are we to breed the black out of them”. This presented again the reason as to why the Aboriginal children were taken away from their own cultures to be raised in something completely different.
For Aboriginal Australians, the land has a special significance that is rarely understood by those of European descent. The land, or country, does not only sustain Aborigines in material ways, such as providing food and shelter, it also plays a major role in their spiritual lives. As Rose put it, "Land provides for my physical needs and spiritual needs." (1992, p.106). To use Rose 's own term, to Aboriginals the land is a 'nourishing terrain '. (1996, p.7).
Dockery (2010), points out that the effects of dispossession on the Aboriginal people have been overwhelmingly detrimental. The loss of land has destroyed cultural significance and the ability to fulfill their spiritual responsibilities has been lost.
Government policies authorising the removal of Aboriginal children have caused extensive and unrepairable damage to every aspect of Indigenous culture. It could be argued that the emotional turmoil which occurred as a result of this policy, is greater than any physical abused ever faced by the Australian Aboriginal people. The act of child removal would be a scarring experience for parents and children of any race or culture. This policy had a particularly damaging impact on the Indigenous people as their identity is based within a set of strong traditional guides and teachings. These lessons are not recorded, but can only be taught through speaking with elders and learning through a connection to others within the mob, connection to art forms
Since the time of federation the Aboriginal people have been fighting for their rights through protests, strikes and the notorious ‘day of mourning’. However, over the last century the Australian federal government has generated policies which manage and restrained that of the Aboriginal people’s rights, citizenships and general protection. The Australian government policy that has had the most significant impact on indigenous Australians is the assimilation policy. The reasons behind this include the influences that the stolen generation has had on the indigenous Australians, their relegated rights and their entitlement to vote and the impact that the policy has had on the indigenous people of Australia.
Aboriginal people, since British settlement, have faced great inequalities and much racial discrimination on their own soil. Aboriginal Australians through great struggle and conflict have made significant progress in the right to their own land. To better understand the position of the Aboriginal Australians, this essay will go into more depth about the rights that Aboriginal people had to their own land prior to federation. It will also include significant events and key people who activated the reshaping of land rights for Indigenous Australians and how that has affected the rights Aboriginal people now have in the 21st Century, in regards to their land.
Each example given has also shown how self-determination was and continues to be a major struggle for Aboriginal people. Beginning with the Whitlam government, the Land Rights Act was going to be the national recognition that Aboriginal people had been waiting for, however the swift dismissal of the government and subsequent changes to the bill meant that an uninformed government would dictate claims of Aboriginal land rights. This was continued in the Heritage Protection Act for Western Australia in which no monitoring of abuses of power within the authoritative ministry was assessed; hence damage to heritage sites for the development of industries occurred. Finally the Racial Discrimination Act although making racial discrimination illegal has clearly been violated by the government in the Northern Territory interventions and hence is not valued by Australia despite the international commitments made to recognising Indigenous rights. Although legislation has been introduced to recognise Indigenous rights, there seems to always be a catch. A final reoccurring theme in the legislation discussed is the uninformed views of the non-Indigenous government as decisions are made on behalf of Aboriginal people; hence two major statements were discussed that precisely define Aboriginal self-determination by Aboriginal
64, Commonwealth of Australia 2011). Policy then moved towards more assimilationist strategies in which attempts were made to convert Aboriginal Australians into ‘responsible citizens’ (Gilbert 2005, Haebich 2000). The protectionist and assimilationist policies share the core values that Aboriginal culture is inferior and on its way to an ‘evolutionary end’ (Gilbert 2005, p. 64).
This article gives the reader an inequitable view of Indigenous Australians, defending Tony Abbot’s point of view and the audience is encouraged to agree with mainstream media in regards to whether or not Tony Abbott is racist. Article B from the Koori Mail condemns Tony Abbott’s viewpoint as not only racist but he is insulting the very culture that he is representing. Article B states that Tony Abbott does not understand Indigenous culture and how important land is to them “Connection to country is everything to Aboriginal people – defines Aboriginal people and sustains us in a cultural and spiritual sense and can play a vital role in building economic independence, self-determination and healing” (Greg Cromelin, Article B). With Article B the audience is encouraged to get angry at Tony Abbott’s comments and make him out to be racist.
The Stolen Generation has left devastating impacts upon the Aboriginal culture and heritage, Australian history and the presence of equality experienced today. The ‘Stolen Generation’ refers to the children of Aboriginal descent being forcefully abducted by government officials of Australia and placed within institutions and catholic orphanages, being forced to assimilate into ‘white society’. These dehumanising acts placed these stolen children to experience desecration of culture, loss of identity and the extinction of their race. The destructive consequences that followed were effects of corruption including attempted suicide, depression and drug and alcohol abuse. The indigenous peoples affected by this have endured solitude for many
Within the stories “Compatriots” by Emma Lee Warrior and “Traplines” by Eden Robinson, it is shown through further examination that both stories share similar concepts. Both stories demonstrate prominent examples of loss of Aboriginal culture, identity, and the use of stereotypes. Loss of Aboriginal Culture is shown throughout both stories, showing the lack of respect and love the characters in Compatriots and Traplines go through. In Compatriots, identity is a major factor the characters within the story deal with, as it touches about the question: What does it mean to be a true Aboriginal? In Traplines, the struggle to find one’s identity is shown throughout the main character Will, and his journey, as he finds it difficult to figure out where he belongs.
“The land is my mother. Like a human mother, the land gives us protection, enjoyment and provides our needs – economic, social and religious. We have a human relationship with the land: Mother, daughter, son. When the land is taken from us or destroyed, we feel hurt because we belong to the land and we are part of it.” This quote was written by Djinyini Gondarra, an Aboriginal that is working to towards enhancing the health and well-being of his fellow aboriginal people. Over the years, aboriginal people have been mistreated and have experienced a large magnitude of discriminations that range from health to social inequalities, which have led to many health-related issues that have made it very difficult for Aboriginal people to break the stigma and prejudice they continue to experience.
For over 200 years Aborigines have endured a long history of suffering due to the unpropitious effects of internationalism and western colonization; in Europeans attempt for cultural assimilation and taking their land to which has caused catastrophic consequences within individuals and the community as a whole by