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Indigenous people of australia an essay
Essay on indigenous australia
Indigenous people of australia an essay
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Gazing up, my eyes set upon the powerful red, black and yellow Aboriginal flag hoisted above the class. I leaned my shaggy blonde head on my arms and felt the cloud of sleep engulfing me. My eyelids became too heavy; the attraction between them was like a magnetic force. The tip of a pencil poked the side of my skull like a dart on a board; my lids snapped open. The boy’s with wide toothy grins sniggered at my defencelessness. I starred at the over-sharpened pencil, and examined the small characters embedded into its wood exterior, 100% Aboriginal made HB. The projectile caught the sharp eye of the class teacher, her wide nostrils flared as she sucked in the room’s air, her angular body manoeuvred swiftly between the desks. The dark curly head beside mine muttered, ‘Wanjibaayn’ yet as usual I didn’t understand. Ms Kalinda was furious at the disturbance, a screeching roar made the class judder like hitting a speed bump, “Roger! If you disturb this class one more time, the rest of your day will be spent sitting in the principal’s office! Am I clear?” In disbelief, I replied, “But it wasn’t me—.” The teacher instantly cut me off. “No buts young man! You are one of few white students accepted in a private school as reputable as Gooloogong College. You must try harder to fit in.” The echoing didgeridoo invaded the awkward silence, and the chairs scraped the wooden floors, marking the conclusion of the period. I attempted to bolt through the large crowd, squeezing through the narrow doorway of the class. I was shoved into a row of desks, “Step back loser or I will get Bulan to give you another reminder.” I waited, head down, looking at my hideous pale legs, wishing they were dark. When the laughter was fading down the hall, I ... ... middle of paper ... ...t and reopened them widely, his face disappeared. I turned my head over my right shoulder and saw Bulan’s body being driven into the wall by his closest friend and captain of the school, Cortes Phillips. He lectured with a loud voice, “Lay off Roger, just because he is a different skin colour than us, doesn’t mean you have to treat him differently. We are all part of one big tree, we are all equal and no matter what we are called or what we look like, we are part of the same being. I don’t want to see another hand laid on him. Not by any student or teacher.” A large audience gathered in the bathroom. Cortes reached his arm out for mine and pulled my body upright. The didgeridoo broke the silence. I wiped my face on my torn shirt and reached for my two buttons lying dismantled on the floor. I headed for the fresh air, the crowd opened, making a path for me to pass.
This again shows the traumatic effects of residential schools and of cultural, psychological, and emotional upheaval caused by the intolerance and mistreatment of Aboriginals in Canada. Settlers not only displaced Aboriginal people from their land and their homes, but they also experienced emotional trauma and cultural displacement.
Adjusting to another culture is a difficult concept, especially for children in their school classrooms. In Sherman Alexie’s, “Indian Education,” he discusses the different stages of a Native Americans childhood compared to his white counterparts. He is describing the schooling of a child, Victor, in an American Indian reservation, grade by grade. He uses a few different examples of satire and irony, in which could be viewed in completely different ways, expressing different feelings to the reader. Racism and bullying are both present throughout this essay between Indians and Americans. The Indian Americans have the stereotype of being unsuccessful and always being those that are left behind. Through Alexie’s negativity and humor in his essay, it is evident that he faces many issues and is very frustrated growing up as an American Indian. Growing up, Alexie faces discrimination from white people, who he portrays as evil in every way, to show that his childhood was filled with anger, fear, and sorrow.
According to conservative conflict theory, society is a struggle for dominance among competing social groups defined by class, race, and gender. Conflict occurs when groups compete over power and resources. (Tepperman, Albanese & Curtis 2012. pg. 167) The dominant group will exploit the minority by creating rules for success in their society, while denying the minority opportunities for such success, thereby ensuring that they continue to monopolize power and privilege. (Crossman.n.d) This paradigm was well presented throughout the film. The European settlers in Canada viewed the natives as obstacles in their quest of expansion by conquering resources and land. They feared that the aboriginal practices and beliefs will disrupt the cohesion of their own society. The Canadian government adopted the method of residential schools for aboriginal children for in an attempt to assimilate the future generations. The children were stripped of their native culture,...
At these boarding schools, Native American children were able to leave their Indian reservations to attend schools that were often run by wealthy white males. These individuals often did not create these schools with the purest of intentions for they often believed that land occupied by Native American Tribes should be taken from them and put to use; it is this belief that brought about the purpose of the boarding schools which was to attempt to bring the Native American community into mainstream society (Bloom, 1996). These boarding schools are described to have been similar to a military institution or a private religious school. The students were to wear uniforms and obey strict rules that included not speaking one’s native tongue but rather only speaking English. Punishments for not obeying such rules often included doing laborious chores or being physically reprimanded (Bloom, 1996). Even with hars...
Since the time of federation the Aboriginal people have been fighting for their rights through protests, strikes and the notorious ‘day of mourning’. However, over the last century the Australian federal government has generated policies which manage and restrained that of the Aboriginal people’s rights, citizenships and general protection. The Australian government policy that has had the most significant impact on indigenous Australians is the assimilation policy. The reasons behind this include the influences that the stolen generation has had on the indigenous Australians, their relegated rights and their entitlement to vote and the impact that the policy has had on the indigenous people of Australia.
Created in 1876, the Indian Act reveals the complete opposite of a valued cultural mosaic, and exposes the initial desire of the Canadian government to overtly oppress the Aboriginals through cultural imperialism (Brown & Hannis, 2012). With the attempted “domination of one culture over another by a deliberate policy” the Aboriginal people suffered through many years of legalized racism, within many secondary structures of society; to this day many individuals still brand the Aboriginal community as “the Indian problem”, a defamatory statement originated from Duncan Campbell Scott (n.a., n.d.). As a deputy superintendent of the Department of Indian Affairs, Scott, publicly denouncing an entire race, consequently and drastically impacted the lives of generations of Aboriginal people. The implementation of residential schools “ripped [children] from their families and sent [them off] to boarding schools, where many were abused as part of official government policy to "kill...
As I opened the doors to Lynn Gross Discovery School P.S. 17Q. I felt the butterflies in my stomach. It was the first day of school in America for me and had a bad feeling. My mom, my dad, my sister, Monica and I step inside the school. I looked inside the enormous hallway and the walls covered with artwork and pictures. My dad commanded my sister, Monica and I “I have to go to the office and do something. You two sit down on the benches and wait with your mom.” Monica and I agreed and said, “Okay.’’ I felt the clock ticking by and I wished for the world to stop turning. I waited and waited and waited. Finally, I decided to ask my mom something. “Mom, do you know how to say I don’t know how to speak English in English?” I asked her in Russian. She told me how and I tried to remember. I repeated the words over and over again like a singer trying to memorize the lyrics to a song, until my dad finally came out the office. My dad told us “You are now officially students of P.S.157. Now it time to go to your classrooms” in Russian.
The short-story "The Drover's Wife" is written by Henry Lawson, Australia's most famous short-story writer and poet. "The Drover's Wife" is probably Lawson's best-known work, and was first published in the collection entitled "While the Billy Boils" in 1892. Lawson was deeply interested in the effects of the harsh Australian outback on people's lives, having himself spent 18 months in the bush. This was expressed in a number of so-called "bush ballads" and stories, "The Drover's Wife" being one of them.
According to Keefe (1992:53) “Aboriginality is a complex social reality, only artificially explained by the abstract divisions of resistance and persistence’ and modern history demonstrates the connections between official education policies (or attitudes used by the dominant group) and key events in Aboriginal Australian history.
Aboriginal Education of the early 1800’s was typified by an ineffective range of institutions like the Native Institution in Parramatta, that provided informal training echoing the needs of white colonists rather than the needs of the Aboriginal students. It was the first of many to take children forcefully.’ (Lipmann 1994:10)
Aboriginals are “artistic, there is always an urge to express their doctrines, myths, desires and experiences, when painting their body in design” (Ballard 2007 pg 6) Educators, as part of the curriculum in-corporate art especially dot painting of stories from the
If the teacher were to say “we live in a world where equality is tested daily; that a black man will face significant challenges throughout his [or her] life” (Hamilton), the students’ reaction may to automatically start placing blame on the white students. While the challenges African Americans face today are still significant, it does not help matters to phrase it in a way that encourages the students to feel that they need to continue the hatred or create a need to pity them. According to Gary Hamilton, he had a teacher who said “we live in a world where equality is tested daily; that a black man will face significant challenges throughout his [or her] life” without further explaining why the teacher thought the way he did. Hamilton’s resulting confusion caused by the statement was what lead to fight between him and his friend, Michael: “a minor disagreement brought out a rage I had never known in my 6th grade body. I pulled Michael’s hair because it was blond. I hit whatever part of his body wasn 't covered. I aimed for his face as much as I could.” This section describes a white male 's features emphasizing the reason the attack occurred.
Australian humour is very unique to Australia, and many other cultures find it quite unusual. It can be described as dry, anti-authoritarian, self-mocking, very ironic and as to stretch the boundaries of what is acceptable. Our humour is seen through our use of slang, print cartoons, radio sketches, comedy series’ on television, films, everyday life and in Australian literature. According to the Collins Dictionary and Thesaurus , humour means, “The quality of being funny; the ability to appreciate or express that which is humorous; situations, speech or writings that are humorous”. Due to its unique qualities, it will become apparent that Australian humour is quiet different to that of America and England and other nations. To highlight the importance of humour through the development of Australian identity, five main elements have been identified. These are, the part Australian humour plays in Australian identity, its unique qualities, its integral part in the Australian identity, the role of humour in times of great hardship and other nation’s perceptions of Australian humour. It is through these elements that it will become evident that humour is an important part of the development of the Australian identity.
Multiculturalism is the ethnic and cultural diversity that exists within a certain area. Different countries display various forms of multiculturalism. The most common form of multiculturalism is whereby a citizen of a certain country is born overseas, or of the parents of the individual is born overseas. English speaking countries have a lot of multiculturalism in them. Just like the United Kingdom, Australia has adopted multiculturalism as a national identity. My essay explores how Australia appreciates and accepts many different ethnicities and cultures.
There are different views in concern to the subject of Australia’s culture and the relations to the government and history. Many claim that Australia’s blend of global influences-the cross-fertilisation of cultures by the dominant political powers of Great Britain, the United States, and emerging neighbours in Asia.