Dominant and Subordinate Cultures

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Dominant and Subordinate Cultures Some of the greatest assaults committed on particular cultures have been with good intentions. In some cases, the cultures just may have different viewpoints as to what is right, or best in that specific situation. For the Australian Aboriginals, the greatest assault may well have been the taking of children from their families; they later became known as the ‘Stolen Generation’. These children were then raised among the white community, usually with minimum knowledge of their true identity. This essay will focus on the good intentions of the white Australians, the objective of which was to incorporate these Aboriginal children into the white Australian culture, as well as the reasons for such a drastic failure of this effort. This effort caused families to be torn apart and children to grow up in a culture that was not naturally their own. From the late 1800’s until the practice was officially ended in 1969, Indigenous children were taken from their families to be raised by white Australians. This was a common occurrence in every Australian state and could generally be separated into three forms: some children were placed into Government run institutions, others were adopted into white families and the remaining children were fostered into white families (Stolen Generation [accessed July 2003]). The adoption and fostering of Indigenous children was more common among the ‘fair-skinned’ children, as they were expected to be less cons... ... middle of paper ... ... BIBLIOGRAPHY: * Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Social Justice, [access July 2003] Brining them home: The ‘stolen generation’ report < http://www.humanrights.gov.au/social_justice/stolen_children/index.html> * Davies, Nick 1996. Of white lies and stolen lives. The Age 6/7/96, 14. * Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, [access July 2003] Bringing Them Home- The Report. http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/special/rsjproject/rsjlibrary/hreoc/stolen/part1.rt * McGuinness, 1994, ‘A history of invasion ignores more balanced school of thought’ The Age: 15. * Muecke, Stephen 1999, Postcolonial Studies. Volume 2, Issue 1- The Institute of Postcolonial Studies * Stolen Generation [accessed July 2003] Stolen Generation. www.dreamtime.net.au/indigenous/family.cfm

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