The Impact Of Colonization And Western Assimilation On Aboriginal People

Women were expected to obey the male members of their families without question. They have had to learn how to govern a household and become skilled in all housewifely duties. Their education would

The impact of colonization on First Nations peoples in Canada is unsurpassable, regarding every aspect of Aboriginal life and well-being. Throughout Canadian history, the government has been aiming to assimilate and annihilate Aboriginal people by way of racist policies, ethnocentric institutions, discriminatory laws and destructive capitalist behaviours. Because of this, Aboriginal people have suffered many losses, both physically and culturally. One of the main perpetrators of enacting this loss is the education system. The education system in Canada has and continues to threaten the relationship First Nations peoples have with the land. The connection First Nations peoples have with the land is crucial to their cultures, traditions, ceremonies and beliefs. Colonization and colonialism jeopardize this relationship and that is what this essay will address.

The deposition of their land, involvement in violent conflict and exposure to new diseases, resulted in the death of a vast number of Indigenous people. For the small population that did survive through this period of time, their lives were irreversibly changed, forever

For almost as long as European settlers have interacted with the native peoples of the Americas, they have had a notion: what many call ‘assimilation’. To Europeans, assimilation of native peoples meant for their culture, which they believed to be superior, to be accepted over time by the natives. And as they grew more and more European in language, religion, customs, organization, morals, and behavior, they would slowly shed off all of their old culture which the European culture would be replacing. The Europeans believed this process was for the best for the natives and that they would be happier living ‘civilized’ lives as opposed to practicing their own traditions.

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.

Native Americans have had a long history of resistance to the social and cultural assimilation into white culture. By employing various creative strategies, Native Americans have attempted to cope with the changes stemming from the European colonial movement into the Americas. There are fundamental differences in world views and cultural and social orders between Indians and Europeans, which contributed to conservatism in Native American cultures. In this paper, two aspects of such cultural and institutional differences of Native American societies will be examined: holistic Native American beliefs versus dualistic world views and harmony versus domination. These two aspects are important in terms of explaining changes (or lack thereof) in

Human rights are the rights of humans, regardless of nationality, gender, race, or religion. We should all have this in common as we are all part of humanity. However, Indigenous people did not always have these rights (Ag.gov.au, 2015). Aside from basic human rights, Indigenous people also have their own rights specific to their culture. Before 1967, Indigenous people had different rights in different states and the Australian federal government did not have any jurisdiction over Aboriginal affairs until Australia’s constitution was amended for this purpose in 1967 (Moadoph.gov.au, 2015). Between 1900 and the present time, there have been significant changes to the rights of Indigenous Australians. The effects of the European Settlement on the Indigenous people of Australia have been devastating. When white people began arriving in Australia, the Aboriginal people believed them to be ghosts of ancestor spirits. However, once they realised the settlers were invading their land, the Aborigines became, understandably, hostile (Slater & Parish, 1999, pp.8-11). In 1788, the total Indigenous population was believed to be between 750,000 and one million. By 1888, the Indigenous population was reduced to around 80,000 Australia wide (Korff, 2014). The three main reasons for this dramatic decline were the introduction of new diseases, violent conflicts with the colonisers, and settlers acquiring Indigenous land (Digital, 2015). In 1848, the Board of National Education stated that it

Native Americans were unable to resist invasion by the new United States because of overwhelming pressure from white officials and settlers therefor undercutting their society from maintaining independence and freedom. Disease, immigration, and forceful relocation would be the demise of both the populations and the spirits of the Native American tribes. White officials and new settling communities came in droves, some saw the Native American as either peaceful or logical, therefor capable of assimilation into the American populous; or they were seen as savages and hostiles capable of only bloody warfare and guerrilla tactics. Both images of the Native American residents were true, they tended to side with whoever they believed would help them keep their land during wars, for example the French in the French and Indian war, and the British in the American Revolution.

Indian people were the first nation people to arrive on this land, some aboriginals negotiated into a treaty in the late nineteenth century because they were told they would be given specific amounts of land, which in their view was known, as the promise land. Though the promise for the “Promise land” was not kept rather it was a profound and tough time for the aboriginal people because; the land they were promised was rendered to other immigrants.

In 1770, the British discovered the land of Indigenous and then they disgorged people who was socially excluded and brought along with their culture, knowledge, social order, nation of poverty and most important, their racial prejudice(Miller 1985, p7). The construction of race started with the claim of Terra-Nullius, the land was ‘waste and unoccupied’ (Reynolds 2003). By recognising the land as Terra-Nullius mean that they not considered Indigenous as a ‘fully human’, not recognised their culture, the ownership of land at that time. They failed to attempt to deal with the native, and start the invasion of the land. During the time, the Indigenous society was completely disrupted by the invasion and dispossession, and illness and death on Indigenous society started due to the lack of immunity of European disease (Stanner 1977).

All Aboriginal people are victims of colonialization and the vast majority of them are continuing to live in condition of disadvantage. They become racialize and treated differently simply because of their physical characteristics. According to statistic Canada they speak over 60 different languages across 52 different cultural groups. For instance “the Province of Alberta has 46 separate Indian bands among the First Nations population. There are distinct cultural differences between the tribes with Alberta being home to Blackfoot, Blood, Stony, Cree, Dene, Saulteaux, and Beaver tribes” (Voyageur and Calliou 16). The reserve life is always characterized by poverty, blocked opportunity, and ill health. First Nations, while constituting only

This essay will describe what the Gammage Thesis is and how it impacts on the perception of pre-colonised Australian and its indigenous populations. The Gammage thesis is the theory that Australia in its entirety had been managed and shaped by the Aboriginal communities, tending to it as one might a private park. William Gammage, author of the book “The Biggest Estate on EARTH: How Aboriginals Made Australia” describes in great detail Australia’s environment before and after the British colonisation and the destruction of the native populations, as well as giving huge amounts of evidence supporting his theory.

Assimilation, Westernization, Globalization – no matter which term you use, the immense negative effects that have been imposed on Indigenous Australians by the Western world cannot be ignored. Indigenous history dates back to prehistoric times in remote northwest Australia, before the last Ice Age caused an elevation of sea level and the forming of Australia’s continent as one large island land mass. For tens of thousands of years, Indigenous Australians were active preagriculturialist hunter-gatherers who adapted well to Australia’s various living environments. In fact, Indigenous Australians were the world’s most successful and largest population of hunter-gatherers – it is speculated that the effort-intensive collecting of foods as well

Impacts of Colonization in Indigenous People Physical Diseases and alcohol were introduced creating health and addiction issues Communities became childless Appearance changed Physical and sexual abuse in residential schools Emotional Language changed Disconnected from family Shame and guilt for being savages/not civilized Feels like they don’t belong, depression, anger Life purpose lost Mental Traditional knowledge discouraged and devalued Family roles changed, family history and connections lost Spiritual Banned ceremonies, dancing Christian beliefs and values imposed Separation from each other and the land Lost traditional cultural understanding, beliefs, knowledge

The emergence of cultures throughout our world have been in great part due to the historical events that have occurred. While colonization is only one of the many events, it is the leading factor that drives cultural development and establishment. During colonization, members of kinship and descent societies become occupied, colonized, and eventually an attempt is made to civilize the members into becoming more like the “colonizers”. Such is what happened to the Native Americans when Europeans immigrated to what is now called the United States of America. At first, a proclamation instituted by Great Britain tried to protect indigenous peoples’ territory from encroachment, but it was not effective as people later placed economic and social