The national identity of Australians has been one of the controversial issues among the region. Fair go, mateship, equalitarianism, multiculturalism are some commonly accepted national identities among Australians. Nonetheless, since the British’s in1788, the Anglo-Saxon heritage had inevitably led to the developing of “Britishness” and “whiteness” as one of the core national identity of Australians. This essay will focus on how the Australian national identities of “whiteness” and other identities have been constructed by silencing and exploiting the ‘Other’ non-white histories as on political, economic and cultural aspects. Examples would be given as evidence to support the standpoint of this essay.
“Whiteness” is one of the core and crucial national identity of Australians. The construction of “whiteness” as an identity is apparently linked to Australian’s colonial history. Robinson (2004) suggested that “Whiteness is not a basic categorical object and being socially constructed. Instead the concept 'white' denotes nothing more than skin colour. It is the Indigenous 'other' who is the focus of racialisation and its effects.” (ppg 145) His statement implies that Aboriginals are the major community being silenced and discriminated in the Australian society. There is a prevailing belief among Australians that “White represents the norm, the natural order of things, or self while non- White represents the Other who may threaten, degrade, pollute or contaminate the White race” (Kamp, 2008,ppg.413). Those who are considered as “white” are mainly determined by sharing common interests and culture with the British colonizers.
The British invasion in Australia in 1788 has already symbolized a starting of non-white histories bei...
... middle of paper ...
...y, economically and culturally and Australian identities have developed on the basis on silencing the non-whites.
Works Cited
Cohen, J (2000), Sydney: The emergence of a world City, Oxford University Press, Oxford
Jones, G.W. (2003) Legacies of White Australia; Race, Culture and Nation, University of Western Australia Press, Crawley
Kamp, A., (2010), ‘Formative Geographies of Belonging in White Australia: Constructing the National Self and Other in Parliamentary Debate, 1901’, Geographical Research, Vol. 48(4)
Levey, G. B., (2008), Multiculturalism and Australian national identity, Berghahn Books, New York
Robinson, M. A., (2008), Whiteness matters: Australian studies and indigenous studies, University of Queensland Press, Queensland.
Waitt, G et al, (2000), Introducing Human Geography: Globalisation, Difference and Inequality, Longman, Sydney
Paul Keating’s “The Redfern Address” is a text that allows responders to explore and understand the possibilities of belonging. The text is specifically aimed at helping non-indigenous Australians explore and understand the possibility of not belonging. This is communicated through the constant use of personal pronouns, e.g. ‘us’ or ‘we’, to direct the entire text at non-indigenous Australians like Keating.
The idea that indigenous Australian communities are underprivileged and do not receive the same justice that the white community accrues is represented through Jay Swan and his interactions with the corrupt white police officers and the indigenous locals of the town. My empathetic response to the text as a whole was influenced directly by way the text constructs these ideas as well as my knowledge of the way indigenous Australians are represented in the mainstream media and the behaviour of the police force as an institution. These contextual factors and the way Sen has constructed ideas influenced me to empathise with the indigenous
Over the years Australia has had many different problems with racism and racism affecting peoples’ lives. Many racial groups have been affected, most significantly the Aboriginals. The end of world war two in 1945 marked a huge change in types of racism. Australia went from the ‘superior’ white Australians dominating over immigrants and aboriginals. To a relatively multicultural and accepting society that is present today.
Of course it is naïve to believe that Australians only developed an identity after the First World War, but it is true to say that it was changed forever. Before Australia became the Australia known today, it was a land of bush rangers, farmers and convicts; a penal colony that had ambitions of becoming a nation who self-governed and had unified defence and transport*. Before federation Australia had fought in Sudan and the Boer War to provide support to the mother country as it was thought to be a heroic endeavour that was a type of rite of passage (Australian War Memorial, n.d.) and there was a global perception of who and what Australians were. Upon federation the people were very consciously intent on building themselves into a great nation (Bean, 1993), but not to sever ties to Britain completely as mostly foreign policy relied on what the British government dictated (Rickard, 1992).
Many events during Charles Perkins life contributed to his values and beliefs encouraging him to embark on the fight for Aboriginal rights and thus helping to shape Australian society. Growing up he suffered racial vilification and was treated as a second-class citizen. Charles show...
In Jasper Jones, racial power has been reflected through the representation of certain groups and individuals of the 1960s and the conflicts that occurred. At the time in which the text was set being the 1960s, racial prejudice was evident in Australia, especially in rural areas that maintained a parochial and xenophobic society. Aboriginal people were not recognised as citizens of Australia and in some cases, not even as people. They were mistreated and typically seen as uneducated drunkards and criminals. Offspring of white colonists and Aboriginal people were regarded as ‘half-caste’ and were also not acknowledged as Australians. In the same context, there was a growing hatred and resentment towards Vietnamese immigrants due to the impac...
After the release of Rabbit Proof Fence, many `politically right' white Australians tried to promote that the film was based on myth and misunderstanding but in facet is not as the film itself promotes the openness of racism. Racism was not only a problem is Australia but throughout the world and is continuing to stay a problem, even in our own backyard. The racism between the white Australians and the Aborigines is quite similar to the racism shown in schools and even in parliament here in New Zealand between the Maori and Europeans, or once again between the `white' and the `black'.
Reynolds, H. (2005). Nowhere People: How international race thinking shaped Australia’s identity. Australia: Penguin Group
Gard, S. (2000). A history of Australia. The Colony of New South Wales. South Yarra: MacMillan Education Australia Pty Ltd.
http://www.humanrights.gov.au/racial_discrimination/consultations/consultations.html. Martin, B (1981) A sociology of contemporary cultural change, Basil Blackwell Publishers, Oxford, England. McGuire T, Houston S, Rohwedder E, Montague G. (1998) Identifying Aboriginal person care in hospitals and Medicare documentation, Health Department of Western Australia, Perth.
The assimilation policy was a policy that existed between the 1940’s and the 1970’s, and replaced that of protectionism. Its purpose was to have all persons of aboriginal blood and mixed blood living like ‘white’ Australians, this established practice of removing Aboriginal children (generally half-bloods) from their homes was to bring them up without their culture, and they were encouraged to forget their aboriginal heritage. Children were placed in institutions where they could be 'trained' to take their place in white society. During the time of assimilation Aboriginal people were to be educated for full citizenship, and have access to public education, housing and services. However, most commonly aboriginal people did not receive equal rights and opportunities, for example, their wages were usually less than that paid to the white workers and they often did not receive recognition for the roles they played in the defence of Australia and their contribution to the cattle industry. It wasn’t until the early 1960’s that expendi...
Within Australia, beginning from approximately the time of European settlement to late 1969, the Aboriginal population of Australia experienced the detrimental effects of the stolen generation. A majority of the abducted children were ’half-castes’, in which they had one white parent and the other of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent. Following the government policies, the European police and government continued the assimilation of Aboriginal children into ‘white’ society. Oblivious to the destruction and devastation they were causing, the British had believed that they were doing this for “their [Aborigines] own good”, that they were “protecting” them as their families and culture were deemed unfit to raise them. These beliefs caused ...
Key events in Aboriginal Australian history stem from the time Australia was first discovered in 1788. For instance, when Federation came into existence in 1901, there was a prevailing belief held by non Aboriginal Australians that the Aborigines were a dying race (Nichol, 2005:259) which resulted in the Indigenous people being excluded from the constitution except for two mentions – Section 127 excluded Aborigines from the census and Section 51, part 26, which gave power over Aborigines to the States rather than to the Federal Government. Aboriginal people were officially excluded from the vote, public service, the Armed Forces and pensions. The White Australia mentality/policy Australia as “White” and unfortunately this policy was not abolished until 1972. REFERENCE
The history of Australia has been altered through multiculturalism. As Carter explains, “Histories of different ethnic groups – the Chinese, Germans, Scandinavians and so forth – have appeared with increasing regularity in recent decades” (348). Australia no longer has the same relationship to a British heritage (Carter 347). More information uncovers the interracial mixing of Indigenous and Asian, European and non-European, etc. Multiculturalism, furthermore, is allowing Australia to break away from its racist and isolationist history (Carter 348). While this is positive, multiculturalism may be a form of ‘nationalist triumphalism. Ien Ang
Thus, this creates connotations to patriotism and pride towards the country the reader lives in. Coupled with the large image of Australia filled with smaller images of people of all ages, and race, sporting the Australian flag, influences the reader to enter the article with a positive attitude towards Australia Day, as it seems to put this day in high esteem, which consequently convinces the audience, before even commencing to read, that the day is about ‘unity’ and not division. The smaller images of a non-traditional and traditional stereotypical Australian prove that race play no part in this celebratory day, creating the sense of Australia being an accepting