Effects of Stereotypes on Aboriginal Identity in the 1960s

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Chief’s behaviour and actions were moulded by the culture’s views of Aboriginal people at the time. In the 1960s, Aboriginal people were seen a lesser people who were merely uneducated, lazy alcoholics. The First Nations people also had their own strong beliefs, and the combination of the two caused Chief’s decline. Chief’s behaviour changed into one of a person who was broken by their culture’s views and stereotypes; the alcoholic stereotype that taught Chief he had no other future, the views on masculinity in the Aboriginal community that took Chief’s pride and courage and the deaf and dumb stereotype that defined him in the mental hospital. To begin with, as an Aboriginal man, Chief had no high expectations placed upon him from the mainstream culture. The widespread …show more content…

Chief was pushed around by the other patients, along with nurses, who assumed he was incapable of the same level of thought because of his ancestry. This belief that all First Nations are incompetent was belittling and created a stigma that no matter the person’s intelligence or kindness, they could never succeed. As well, being told you cannot do anything by the majority of society is difficult to overcome and could feel as though the world is against you, depleting your confidence and bravery. Chief took on a new persona that the culture believed he deserved and did not face his own problems and lost his courage and self-confidence as well. Chief was shaped into the man he is by his culture’s views and stereotypes; the alcoholic stereotype that taught Chief he had no other future, the Aboriginal community that took Chief’s pride and courage from him with their views on strength and masculinity and the deaf and dumb stereotype that defined him in the mental hospital. The culture that Chief lived in during the 1960s defined his behaviour and created lack in

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