The Stereotypes Of Indigenous Australians And Torres Strait Islanders Essay

In Australia, we have a diverse society, consisting of many different groups. The people in these groups are all economically and socially different in terms of their backgrounds, as well as having different cultural traditions. The behaviours, attitudes and values of individuals affects the treatment of people in different groups.

Education is fundamental to growth, the growth of the individual, and the growth of a nation. Anthropologically this can be seen from the earliest of developments of human societies where practices emerge to ensure the passing of accumulated knowledge from one generation to the next. In the centuries since the invasion and colonisation of Australia in 1788, colonist authorities and governments have dominated the making of policies regarding most major aspects of Australian life, including the lives of Indigenous Australians. The enactment of these policies and legislation, whether targeted at society as a whole or directly at education, has had significant and most often negative causal impact on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, resulting in not only poor educational outcomes, but the loss of cultural identity, the development of serious issues in health and wellbeing, and the restriction of growth of Aboriginal communities. Moreover, there has been an ongoing pattern of the adoption of ill-informed policies in Australia, resulting in these poor outcomes and cultural decimation. Aboriginal people have developed a wariness, a mistrust, and even an attitude of avoidance to engage with non-Indigenous officials and those who they associate as their representatives, i.e. personnel working within

According to Sarra (2014, p. 10) false stereotypes have been cast upon Indigenous people historically from main stream Australia and have a profound negative effect on Aboriginal people. He states his disbelief that people’s perceptions of a notion that being Aboriginal means being inferior. Sarras’ Stronger Smarter philosophy reflects his belief of a positive sense of cultural identity and a need to honour the humanity of others. These types of false stereotypes can be seen in the SBS First Contact television

Due to all of the problems mentioned above, many people in society have a negative stereotype of First Nations people. A common stereotype is 'all Aboriginal people are alcoholics.' Studies have acknowledged that the alcoholism that does exist within Native culture is linked to the cultures history of economic disadvantages and are trapped in a cycle of oppression that is difficult to break, especially with limited options for help. Indigenous women are frequently sexually objectified and are often stereotyped as being promiscuous. Such misconceptions lead to murder, rape and violence of Aboriginal women and girls by non-Aboriginal men.

In these situations stereotypes are commonly created and held over individuals who are part of that race: such as the “drunk Indian.” This particular stereotype of the drunk Indian has taken away some of the privileges that Aboriginals should be granted as a result of being placed into a box. Another factor to this stereotype is due to individualism and people creating their ideas of “personal responsibility”; society has come to believe that alcoholism has become a part of Aboriginal’s genetic makeup and is not a result of society, but rather their personal problem (Tang 118). In consequence, this stereotype has often be used as the lens that society wears while considering the issue of alcoholism for many Aboriginals. Tang gives an example of discrimination that a man felt when he visited the hospital; however, he emphasized that he does not share these examples with the intention to scold or put down healthcare providers but rather emphasize the experience the patient had:

Traditionally Indigenous Australians main form of learning was through practice, art and music using their native language and culture (Foley, 2010, p. 176). Indigenous Australians have been discriminated against, abused and forced to forgo their traditional way of life through assimilation policies. Furthermore, Indigenous Australians were neglected in obtaining any form of education, such as basic literacy and numeracy (Foley, 2010, pp. 180-182). Inequalities for Indigenous Australians continue, creating a common stereotype in today’s society (De Plevitz, 2007, p. 66). It is the history of disposition Indigenous Australians have faced through constant degradation that formed this stereotype (Phillips, 2005). Wyn (2009)

Aboriginals were stereotypically judged by others throughout the whole world. They thought all Aboriginals have the same physical and mental abilities. The idea of these stereotypical judgements came from comics, books and movies containing Aboriginals who are super talented and can do miraculous things.

In one of the videos, they explained how the stereotypes of Indigenous people were not true. They tell the viewers that these stereotypes does not what makes them the Indigenous people that most believe they are. I think they way they tried to explain it was creative and amazing. Instead of structured sentences, they told the viewers of these stereotypes like in a poem. In another video, they show the life of a young girl before she was to be taken to the residential school. I think the video is trying to tell us about the last days she was spending with her beloved family before being forcefully taken; to have her culture, language and tradition taken away. In the last video, it shows the pain and suffering of a mother loosing her child to

Australian Indigenous Education has exposed me to a different perspective on Australian history past and present. During this unit, I have been provided with the opportunity to develop a better understanding of what is typical stereotyping of Aboriginal culture, origins and history. My knowledge has broadened from Aboriginal people are typical in non-education and not wanting to learn, alcoholics and ‘bad’ people. In fact, Aboriginal people are misunderstood due to the myths and stories that have been told in the past.

egative representations of aborigines in the media has been distinguished as a noteworthy reason for partiality against Indigenous groups of Australia. We regularly read reports in the news which superfluously report on alcohol, drug abuse, unemployment, victimhood, uneducated, and helplessness. This negative stereotyping of Aboriginal individuals has been justified as being realistic, but these ‘cliché’ ideas are as old as our settlement

This cycle.” discusses another stereotype of Aboriginals, that they are careless and that they are violent and are involved in too much crime, ending up in

Negative stereotypes are ways in which people think about us, that are imposed on us from the outside, and originates as something that is external to our being, that may or may not be connected to reality depending on what people see as being negative. Stereotype threat is ultimately connected to negative stereotypes and is based on something external to an individual, whether it’s assumptions, or even stereotypes about he or she, etc. Stereotype threat is felt by those with high ability and who care a lot about their performance and not confirming the negative stereotypes that classify them. It can especially affect performance, resulting in the underperformance of areas related to the various

2004). Seibt et al, (2004) found that positive self-induced stereotypes created a risky focus style, whereas negative self-induced stereotypes created a prevention focus reverting to avoidance strategy. Demonstrating that negative stereotypes cause a reversion on performance ability because of avoidance rather than boosting the performance like positive stereotypes.

The media has always played a pivotal role in providing information regarding anything that’s happening around in the world. However, the Australian media seems to have lacked at various aspects when it comes to matters regarding the representation of the Indigenous Australia. The Australian media has always managed to focus on the amazing wilderness that surrounds Indigenous Australia but rarely has there been any detailed curiosity relating to their culture and history. Aboriginal History is being completely overshadowed by ‘the mainstream Australia’ and its landscape. Not only their history but their voices are not heard through media very often as well. Along with that, racial stereotype is another big problem resulting in poor media representation of Aborigines. With the population as low as 1%, many Australians may go through their entire life without knowing anything about Aboriginal Australians, let alone meeting one. So, their knowledge about Aboriginals completely depends upon the media representation. They still only get their information about the Indigenous Australia through the media. Therefore, it would be seemed best that the media show an honest picture of what is life for an Aboriginal Australian.

In society and the media, the Maori’s are rarely given good impressions. Also, what is shown regarding the Maori’s is actually quite limited. However, when we do see them, we see them shown in a negative way, and, therefore, we feel obliged to believe that the negative stereotypes portrayed are all that the Maori’s are.