It’s time for a change. It’s the respect that matters. If you want to change this country, enough is enough. Because we are the first nation.” This quote by Timmy ‘Djawa’ Burarrwanga, a renowned Indigenous businessman, captures one of the central themes that Maya Newell aimed to convey through directing In My Blood It Runs (2019). The documentary follows Dujuan, a ten-year-old Arrernte/Garrwa boy in Alice Springs, as he navigates the challenges of the Australian education system and the juvenile system. Despite his intelligence, he faces struggles in school and with the police. The film particularly emphasises the importance of integrating a strong Arrernte education with a Western education. In My Blood It Runs conveys various thought-provoking …show more content…
In My Blood It Runs portrays the challenges Indigenous children like Dujuan face within the Australian education system to the viewers through the use of dialogue, close-ups and facial expressions. A focal point in the documentary is Dujuan’s experience in the Western education system. The scenes that depict Dujuan at school highlight his struggle to navigate between his Indigenous identity and the Western education system. The scenes within the classroom convey Dujuan’s feelings of alienation and disengagement with the curriculum. This positions the audience to also question the current education system. Dujuan and his peers are shown sitting in the classroom whilst a teacher reads a book about Captain Cook’s First Fleet. She proceeds to explain that the book she is reading “isn’t a story... it’s fact”. Newell applies camera close-ups of Dujuan’s face, focusing on his facial expressions as he expresses boredom, frustration, and disengagement with the content. Dujuan says the education system is ‘for white people, not …show more content…
Finally, throughout the documentary, a heavy emphasis is placed on the revitalisation of the Arrernte language that Dujuan is learning through the use of dialogue and interviews. Throughout the documentary, Dujuan is taught his traditional Arrernte language, which he struggles with compared to English. In the documentary, Nana Carol talks about how the ‘white people educate their kids in the way they want to be educated’ but she wants them to learn both ways. Multiple times during the scene we hear Dujuan’s family members telling Dujuan to ‘say it in Arrernte’ which shows the importance of learning the Arrernte language. This positions the viewers to understand how highly Indigenous people value their language and the importance it holds for them. In another scene, Nana Carol plays a crucial role in preserving the Arrernte language by teaching the children some essential Arrernte words for its continuity. Through the use of dialogue and interviews, the audience is positioned to understand the importance of passing down the language so that it doesn’t get
Her book focuses on the myriads of issues and struggles that Indigenous men and women have faced and will continue to face because of colonialism. During her speech, Palmater addressed the grave effects of the cultural assimilation that permeated in Indigenous communities, particularly the Indian Residential School System and the Indian Act, which has been extensively discussed in both lectures and readings. Such policies were created by European settlers to institutionalize colonialism and maintain the social and cultural hierarchy that established Aboriginals as the inferior group. Palmater also discussed that according to news reports, an Aboriginal baby from Manitoba is taken away every single day by the government and is put in social care (CTVNews.ca Staff, 2015). This echoes Andrea Smith’s argument in “Heteropatriarchy and the Three Pillars of White Supremacy: Rethinking Women of Color Organizing” that colonialism continues to affect Aboriginals through genocide (2006, p. 68). Although such actions by the government are not physical acts of genocide, where 90% of Aboriginal population was annihilated, it is this modern day cultural assimilation that succeeded the Indigenous Residential School System and the Indian Act embodies colonialism and genocide (Larkin, November 4,
Though the film mentioned the impact that residential schools had and still has on the aboriginal people, I felt that this issue needed to be stressed further because the legacy of the schools is still extremely prominent in aboriginal communities today. The film refers to the fact that residential schools harmed the aboriginal people because they were not able to learn their culture, which has resulted in the formation of internalized oppression within in the group. “The...
... of language and education is the most important in this story and society. The make use of two different languages in a narrative, provides a reader a perplexing yet fascinating image of characterization and customs. Multilingual story telling pushes the reader to decelerate and acquire supplemental focus on the expressions which are in the small fragments, however as soon as the reader has figured out the foreign words, he or she acquires a priceless picture of the theme of this story. The panorama of native words and phrases, cultural perceptions, and class dispute taken from the incorporation of two different languages are helpful for the reader to obtain significance that he or she couldn't gain if exclusively one language was employed in the story. Just as the power of language is applied to unveil a society, a better comprehension is provided to the reader.
The film illuminates the life of the Wampanoag language and cultural meanings. How there had been threats posed to both since the times of European colonization, when the Wampanoag people had put up little resistance. The film is not a recap of the Wampanoag
The fact that this film is based on a true story makes it more powerful and real. The film puts a human face to the stolen generation, and the young actress who plays the main character Molly does not disillusion the viewer of the real emotions and disgusting actions taken upon the young half caste children taken from their families. She makes the journey real and her cleverness is created by the need to survive, not as an entertainment construction to make the film more exciting, but to give the viewer an emotional impact. The racial activist, A.O. Neville constantly shows strong discrimination against both Aboriginal culture and half-caste children. He is determined to `breed the black out of them'. "Are we to allow the creation of a third unwanted race?" resembling the cause of World War Two where Adoff Hitler proposed the creation of the `perfect race' therefore killing off over half the Jewish people.
Specific elements of the storyline that display the theme racism include: the display of animalistic treatment, enforced religious practices, and historical comparisons. The film reveals the overarching government belief that the white race is smarter and purer, to the inferior, uncivilized and misguided, darker-skinned, Aboriginals. This belief is demonstrated throughout the film and signifies the government’s attitudes toward the half-caste race as: uncivilized animals that need a trainer to discipline them. For example, the film shows the girls being transported like livestock to th...
Through of rhetorical devices Tan uses her experiences to educate those who do not speak multiple languages. Therefore, they can loosen up their gate and let the non-native speakers in. Tan wants us to give non-native speakers a chance to prove they are more than the “broken” English they speak. From there, we can become united socially and culturally.
Tan’s essay does more than just illuminate the trouble with language variations; her essay features a story of perseverance, a story of making a “problem” harmonize into a “normal” life. Almost like a how-to, Tan’s essay describes an obstacle and what it takes to go above and beyond. Mirroring Tan, I have been able to assimilate “the [world] that helped shape the way I saw things” and the world that I had to conform to (Tan 129). Life is a struggle, but what makes it worth it is the climb, not what is on the other side.
The Stolen Generation has had a profound impact on every aspect of the lives of Indigenous communities. It has jeopardised their very survival. It has impoverished their capacity to control and direct their future development. The Stolen Generation has corrupted, devastated and destroyed the souls, hopes and beliefs of many Australian lives through damaging assimilation policies established in an attempt to make a ‘White Australia’ possible. Discrimination, racism and prejudice are some of the many permanent scars upon Indigenous life that will never be repaired. However, recently Rudd and the Australian public have sincerely apologised for the detrimental effects the Stolen Generation had caused. The Stolen Generation has dramatically shaped Australian history and culture.
• AW’s work is deeply rooted in oral tradition; in the passing on of stories from generation to generation in the language of the people. To AW the language had a great importance. She uses the “Slave language”, which by others is seen as “not correct language”, but this is because of the effect she wants the reader to understand.
Australia, often commemorated for its’ diverse landscapes and laid-back lifestyle, has recently been grappling with confronting and complex issues. Whilst the community boasts about our multicultural identity, beneath that surface lies the reality that First Nations Peoples (FNP’s) are suffering from discriminatory acts of racism and institutional prejudice. Persuasive texts like “I’m A Blackfella” by Steven Oliver, and “The Rabbits” by John Marsden, concur with Australia’s lack of inclusivity. We, the readers of Electric Lit, can see these reoccurring acts and aren’t doing enough to fix them. Australia needs more ongoing conversations about inclusivity, equality, and the absolute need for systemic change.
Cheech Marin’s film, Born in East L.A., spotlights many key issues brought upon mainly by immigration. This comedic production hits the hearts to many because while it may be humorous, it is also a reality to hundreds of thousands of people worldwide and so it hits close to home to many. Immigration is the main topic of this motion picture, but I want to focus on one subdivision of it only; language. The linguistic barriers in between a border is evident in the movie and especially a reality in our world.
“Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan, was written for all kinds of people. Those who, like her mother, speak a broken form of English, those who speak a more...
In “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” Gloria Anzaldúa explains the implications of living under the influence of two cultures. She begins with a story of how she was punished by a teacher for correcting the pronunciation of her name. She explains that Chicana women are taught to be ashamed of their language.
I came to realize how language influences culture. The way you speak provides an insight into on how other individuals perceive you. Language can cause misinterpretations among students and teachers. As an educator, I need to respect and take into account a child’s home language and not judge on the bases that they may use slang or have a dialect that does not fall into the social norms. Reading the book