Cultural Reporter Project: Australian Aboriginals, Blog 3

Blog 3: Moving Forward

This is my third and final blog entry for our cultural reporter project. My first blog covered the history of the Aboriginal Australian people and some of the hardships they have gone through ever since the British began colonizing Australia. In my second blog I went into more detail of Co-Cultural Theory. I also went more in depth on one of the more extensive hardships they faced in the “Stolen Generations”.  For this blog I am going to take a look at some of the things in place to help repair the relationship between the Aboriginal people and the White Australian population. I am also going to talk about how recognizing and cultivating empathy and implicature may help in this healing process (Dace & McPhail, 2002).

First off I would like to talk about actions taken to help repair wrongs to the Stolen Generations.  The policy that allowed government officials to take children from their homes began in 1910 and lasted until 1971 (McCarthy, 2000). Since then, successive Parliaments refused to acknowledge any wrong doing pertaining to that policy. This was very frustrating to the majority of the Aboriginal population. 

It wasn’t until 1997 that the policy was widely discussed. When they finally discussed it several points were brought up like physical and sexual abuse, exploitation for labor, and the social dislocation that led many of these people to alcoholism, violence, and early death (McCarthy, 2000). Once this came to light the Aboriginal people began organizing protests and other things to show their discontent. In 2008 the Parliament of Australia issued a formal apology to the aboriginal people for the Stolen Generations.  Some of the individual states also set up funds to compensate the members of the Stolen Generation from their state (Finn & McSmith).  There are still deliberations within the current Parliament about compensating all members of the Stolen Generation. The Parliament has also began implementing health care and education programs for the Aboriginal People.

Moving forward from the apology, I think the ideas of empathy and implicature, from Crossing the Color Line (Dace & McPhail, 2002) would be valuable in the process of repairing the relationship between Native Aboriginals and the White Australians. Empathy means to have intellectual or emotional identification with another person or group (Dace & McPhail, 2002). To me that means to actually identify with or to relate to another person. If both cultural groups would employ this ideal they might be able to understand each other better. This could essentially help the groups “get along” much better.  The definition of implicature extends from empathy by differentiating from psychological and physical side to how the self and other are never separate distinct, but are always interdependent and interrelated (Dace & McPhail, 2002). Looking at this makes me think of how a straw basket is woven together. The basket only works if all the strands are work together. If each group could take this idea and realize their similarities and how they could work with each other and help each other then they could build on those pillars. Once these two groups start working together they will be able to mend all the wrongs and move forward to a better future.

References

Dace, K. L., & McPhail, M. L. (2002). Crossing the color line. In Flores, L. A. & Martin, J. N. &

Nakayama, T. K. (Eds.), Readings in intercultural communication (p. 344-351). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Companies.

Finn, C. & McSmith, A. (2008). Austrailia’s stolen generation. The independent. Retrieved from

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/australasia/australias-stolen-generation-to-the-mothers-and-the-fathers-the-brothers-and-the-sisters-we-say-sorry-781543.html

McCarthy, T. (2000). The stolen generation. Time Magazine. Retrieved from    

 http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,998067-2,00.html

Aboriginal People and Co-Cultural Theory

The Aboriginal Australians are known to be the first settlers of Australia; this gives them a very long and rich history. As with almost all recorded histories, they have had their share of achievements and struggles.  Similar to the American Indians, the Aboriginal Australians have gone through many of the same trials and struggles, such as losing land, facing new diseases, and unequal treatment. For this application of intercultural theory blog I am going to be looking at Co-cultural theory. Co-cultural Communication Theory describes how language works between dominant and non-dominant groups. (Martin, 2010) This theory looks at how the groups formulate communication systems that suits their world view. (Martin, 2010) Throughout this blog I will look at how the Aboriginal Australians and the “new” white population interact and the role language plays in these interactions.

British people began to colonize Australia in 1788. Prior to 1788, the Aboriginal Australians were spread about the entire continent and inhabited most of the surrounding islands also. Once this colonization began, the Aboriginal Australians began losing their grasp on the land and their rights.  The British settlers brought with them several new diseases and weapons that caused many hardships for the Aboriginal Australians also. These hardships ranged from losing their land to being excluded from the country census until 1967. (Aidi, 2009) From 1869 until 1969 the Australian government imposed a policy that allowed police and other agencies to remove Aboriginal children from their parents.

   

 This policy was loosely based on child neglect. As time progressed the policies were amended over the year. By 1915 the wording of the policies allowed the removal of Aboriginal children from their parts without having to establish neglect or need for protection.(Wikipedia, n.d.) This is an example of how the dominant culture used their written language in the form of laws to help support their word views.  When these children were removed from their parents they were placed with a white foster family or placed in Aboriginal Institutions that were often run by religious groups. These children were then taught English and prevented from speaking their native language. They then were raised to be agricultural laborers and domestic servants. (Wikipedia, n.d.) This and several other instances displayed the wrong doings of the European people to the Aboriginal population.

Looking at the issue of the “Stolen Generation” co-cultural theory is immediately brought into play.  The British settlers quickly became the dominant group. In the instance of the “Stolen Generation” the dominant group formed policy’s and laws in their language that allowed them to seemingly force assimilation upon the less dominant Aboriginal people. Many people believe this was an attempt to slowly get the Aboriginal people to blend in to the dominant culture, yet on the other hand many members of the dominant culture disputed these ideas along with accusations of genocide. (Wikipedia, n.d.)  

This is a prime example of the dominant group formulating a communication system that supports their perception of the world. (Martin, 2010)  In my third blog I will expand on co-cultural theory and how the communication between the Aboriginal People and the European population has changed since the area of “The Stolen Generation”.

Stay tuned.

References

Aidi, H. (2009). Australia’s blacks threaten to disrupt Olympics. Retrieved from:

http://www.raceandhistory.com/worldhotspots/stolenaborigines.htm

Martin, J. N., & Nakayama, T. K. (2010) Intercultural communication in contexts. New York, NY: The

McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Stolen Generations. (n.d.) Retrieved October 27, 2011 from the Wikipedia:   

           http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stolen_Generations

Aboriginal Australians

Cultural Reporter 

Aboriginal Australians

Growing up in a small town in Central Nebraska, I didn’t have a lot of opportunities to “experience” culture.  In my younger years I always just thought everyone lived and acted just like me. Everyone had cars, clothes, a house, and went to the store for food.  As I continued to mature my worldview began to change as I slowly came into contact with other cultures.  When I got older I began to understand that the world is full of a large variety of cultures and lifestyles. 

As soon as I started to stray from my Saturday morning cartoons on the TV I started learning about the world and all it’s different people through the television.  This is the only basis, or reasoning I have behind choosing Aboriginal Australians for my Cultural Reporter Project. Learning about different tribes that live off the land, waste nothing, and live in homes built by their own hands has always been interesting to me.

Aboriginal Australians is a broad term that that encompasses all of the regional groups of Australia’s Indigenous People’s. [1] There are several different subdivisions of the Aboriginal Australians that are generally based on the region and the local indigenous languages. Many scholars have dated the arrival of humans from 40,000 up to 125,000 years ago.

 In 1788 the British began to colonize Australia. This caused many problems of the Aboriginal Australians, such as loosing land and new illnesses brought to Australia by these new “white men”.  [2] When the British colonization began, the Aboriginal People inhabited all of the continent and most of the surrounding islands.

Today this culture has dwindled over time and has become a minority in Australia.  Indigenous people only make us 2.5 percent of Australia’s population. [3] The Aboriginal Australians have been mistreated and undermined by the government in various ways over the years.

Now days a new administration in the Australian government is trying to repair some of these wrong doings and helping to raise the Indigenous People’s standard of living. [4]  In my mind, Aboriginal Australian’s story is very comparable to that of the American Indian and that is another reason I am interested in learning more about Aboriginal culture and customs, then and now. 

Works Cited

[1]   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_Australians

[2]   http://library.thinkquest.org/28994/abhistory.html

[3]  http://www.culturalsurvival.org/node/8503

[4]  http://www.culturalsurvival.org/australia?gclid=CNCkhJSitKsCFc_AKgodNmkdiQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3JvnLpTuZI&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lay46ftS_3w