Indigenous Australian Stereotypes

Respect for Aboriginal culture and traditions which is part of the Aboriginal reconciliation and integration movement in Australia is highlighted many times throughout Crow Country and illustrates the best and worst of Australians. The way different characters show respect towards aboriginal culture and feelings contrasts two different attitudes. Today, opinions about aboriginal life and culture are shared through politics, social media and protests. Kate Constable’s book portrays extreme behaviour with racism and provides the reader with a perspective on just how cruel people can be. We have a very superficial understanding about aboriginal culture and this novel encourages readers to explore aboriginal culture and beliefs.

The discourse of whiteness has severely impacted on the educational outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples (herein referred to as Indigenous Peoples). The discourse is based on an ontology founded on overt racism, discrimination, prejudice, exclusion and dispossession and towards all Indigenous Peoples. Subsequently, the history of Indigenous Peoples experiences in relation to education is extremely negative. They have been denied the right to the same education as non-Indigenous students, frequently expelled and continually forced to deny their cultural identity. The discourse of whiteness has resulted in pedagogies and pedagogical practices that are overly racist and not inclusive of Indigenous Peoples culture. To improve future educational outcomes it is necessary to decolonise Australia and rewrite the curriculum so that it is inclusive for all students.

Adam Goodes is an Indigenous Australian famous for being a player for the Sydney Swans team in the Australian Football League (AFL). Being a well-known AFL player and also winning Australian of the year for his charity work with indigenous youth, Adam Goodes can be considered as a high profile Indigenous person. Throughout his career, he has used his status as a platform to address racial discrimination towards indigenous peoples within Australia, as he himself has received public discriminatory racial slurs. Through sport and community work – Adam Goodes has transformed indigenous culture, by challenging its race relations and empowering the next generation of Indigenous role models. Indigenous Australians continue to have an ongoing resistance to the processes of colonisation and also of emphasizing an indigenous presence within Australia.

Identity is often constructed based on affiliations with particular groups. When one identifies with a group, one mimics the perceived qualities of that group (Swann, Jetten, Gomez, Whitehouse & Bastian, 2012). For Indigenous Australians, they may conform to the above negative stereotypes partly because of how they are represented in the dominant culture. Forrest notes that dominant cultural perspectives bombard Indigenous Australians (Forrest, n.d.). Therefore, prevailing negative stereotypes and conformity with those stereotypes can be attributed to the dominant culture.

Moreover, educators are implicated within this negative sphere, were potential racist behaviour manifests itself through their pedagogy, associated with their attitudes, comments and learning expectations and thus, impacting upon Indigenous students educational outcomes, as well as self wellbeing. Racist attitudes are cast by the stereotyping of students as poor academic achievers, handicapping them from the beginning, were the only avenue out of this cycle is it abandon it and to continue on a path of self destruction. A disproportionate access to resources, in terms of social emotional positive responses from the teachers has the adverse impacts on students self esteem and their ambitions. It has been shown that social exclusion leads to trauma and to states of deprivation of people which in turn generates psychological distress.

Stan Grant’s speech ‘Racism and the Australian Dream’ (2015) effectively reminds the Australian population of the racism and harsh inequalities indigenous Australians have faced in the past and still face today. In reminding us of this reality, Grant engages us to discover issues of civic participation in Aboriginal people and in doing so perpetuates a need for social change. More?

The article uses compelling first hand evidence of Adam Goodes quoting on the topic of the article from an optimistic angle to persuade the reader to agree with the article. The images accompanying the article show Goodes looking positive and proud, the second image giving a visual of the article itself. Goodes is further described as being a “legend” and “winning the admiration and respect of people around Australia.” This use of selective language aids the journalist’s point of view on the athlete. This article displays Goodes as being a commendable repient for the Australian of the Year Award for his “anti-racism advocacy and youth work,” both inside and outside his sporting career.

The notion of the contemporary indigenous identity and the impact of these notions are both explored in texts that have been studied. Ivan Sen’s 2002 film ‘Beneath Clouds’ focuses on the stereotypical behaviours of Indigenous Australians highlighting Lina and Vaughn’s journey. This also signifies the status and place of the Australian identity today. Through the use of visual techniques and stereotypes the ideas that the Indigenous are uneducated, involved in crime and the stereotypical portrayal of white people are all explored. Similarly the notion of urban and rural life is represented in Kennith Slessor’s ‘William Street’ and ‘Country Towns’.

This Assessment will be my personal reflection and analysis of contemporary issues raised for post-colonial Indigenous Australians through two programs on the National Indigenous Television station (NITV), Living Black and NITV News. I will reflect on how these issues have impacted on the relationships between Indigenous Australians and non-Indigenous Australians, and how Indigenous culture impacts 21st century Australia. Through this I will also consider my own feelings and opinions on how these issues are raised and considered.

Australian film and television deal with such themes by accepting the reality of Australian contexts. The Australian demographic are known for their rough humour and approach, hence the depiction of an Australian man, or woman, can be taken lightly and not offensively. At the same time, film and television are careful in representing Indigenous Australian as opposed to stereotypical white Australians. It is these historical, political, socio-economic ideologies that shape Australia’s national ‘type’.

These stereotypical binaries of the childlike and savage Indian are directly linked to the narratives of white settler society and colonization. Essentially, by classifying all First Nation cultures under a monolith of a few stereotypes the white setter society claimed dominance over the First Nation peoples as they created the lens through which the First Nation’s history and identity would be read. The influence of the press and government policies lead to the acceptance of these stereotypes as defining truths about First Nations people which aided the settler societies in solving the Indian problem by destroying what it meant to be Indian. In this way, the stereotypes not only developed the idea of assimilation to save the Indian, but they

Through my life, I have seen several different approaches to Indigenous people’s rights and importance in Australia. I have been fortunate enough to visit Ayers Rock and undertake a tour which allowed me to see Aboriginal culture in art and drawings as well as hearing Dreamtime stories from guides. I have also witnessed family friends who have been severely racist and disrespectful of Indigenous heritage and history. I also was lucky to work with some Indigenous students who were in Reception during my Professional Experience 1, and I was able to see first-hand how a culture clash can affect a student’s behaviour. I feel that even before entering this course, I have had the privilege of being able to observe both positives and negatives

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.

Tom Wright demonstrated through his play ‘Black Diggers’ the harsh reality of the treatment of indigenous Australian during the time of World War 1.’Black Diggers’ captured the exclusion, the violence and loss of opportunities faced by the Indigenous Australians. Australia 100 years on still shows similar hostilities towards Aboriginal individuals, some movement has been may towards Aboriginals being equal but still not much meaningful change has occurred.

Since British arrival, Aboriginal people have experienced marginalisation and extreme disadvantage within Australian society. Urban-based Aboriginal people, even more than those living in remote communities, have been subject to the impact of racism and discrimination on self-identity. Nonetheless, many urban-based Aboriginal people proudly identify with their Aboriginality, asserting their identity. In this case study, I will examine the identity of Aboriginal Australian’s, comparing this construction from the time period of colonisation in Australia to the current time period in Australia. Perhaps the most salient features of this construction are the impact of Australian colonisation, along with the effects of the Stolen Generation.