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The effect of assimilation on indigenous people
The effect of assimilation on indigenous people
The effect of assimilation on indigenous people
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2. Compare and contrast the segregation and assimilation policies in relation to the impact they had on the Aboriginal family life. Aboriginal family life has been disrupted and forcibly changed over the last two hundred years, as a result of the many segregation and assimilation policies introduced by Australian governments. Often a combination of the two was employed. The policy of segregation has impacted upon Aboriginal family life, for through this policy, Aboriginals were restricted and prohibited to practice their traditional culture, hence, resulting in the loss of their Indigenous identity and limiting the cultural knowledge for future Aboriginal generations. The segregation policy also achieved in disfiguring the roles of family members, primarily the male's role within the family. The policy of assimilation, in comparison to the segregation policies, has also affected Aboriginal family life, because through the removal of children from their Aboriginal homes they to as a result were deprived of their Indigenous identity and cultural links. However, the policy of assimilation has had far greater an impact upon Aboriginal family life, for it has not only separated families and communities, but denied the parenting and nurturing of a generation of Aboriginal peoples and has also attributed to breakdowns in relationships between the non-Aboriginal and Aboriginal parent. As European domination began, the way in which the European’s chose to deal with the Aborigines was through the policy of segregation. This policy included the establishment of a reserve system. The government reserves were set up to take aboriginals out of their known habitat and culture, while in turn, encouraging them to adapt the European way of life. The Aboriginal Protection Act of 1909 established strict controls for aborigines living on the reserves . In exchange for food, shelter and a little education, aborigines were subjected to the discipline of police and reserve managers. They had to follow the rules of the reserve and tolerate searchers of their homes and themselves. Their children could be taken away at any time and ‘apprenticed” out as cheap labour for Europeans. “The old ways of the Aborigines were attacked by regimented efforts to make them European” . Their identities were threatened by giving them European names and clothes, and by removing them from their tra... ... middle of paper ... ...nt of impact upon Aboriginal family life in relation to lost cultural links and family members roles, there is evidence to suggest that the policy of assimilation, thus the removal of children had a far longer lasting affect. The assimilation policies not only contributed to the separation of families and whole communities, but also affected both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples and is the result of many inter-generational problems among Aboriginals, such as parenting, thus overall has had a greater impact on Aboriginal family life. Word Count:1457 Bibliography Bringing Them Home Report, (1997) http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/special/rsjproject/rsjlibrary/hreoc/stolen/ (August 2002). Broome, Richard. (2001) Aboriginal Australians: Black Response to White Dominance 1788- 1980, Sydney: Allen and Unwin. Harvey, Timothy. (1995) Australian History, Sydney:Hodder and Stoughton. Povinelli, Elizabeth A. (1993) Labor’s Lot: The Power, History & Culture of Aboriginal Action, Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Trigger, David S. (1992) Whitefella Comin’: Aboriginal responses to Colonialism in Northern Australia, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Black Economics In Black Economics William Raspberry offers a personal insight into the economics of the black American, but as he states Raspberry is “neither a businessman, an economist, nor a social scientist.” He presents his views without analysis and his solutions without a business outlook; instead Raspberry looks to the people for the cause and the answer. William Raspberry makes a bold effort by calling on his race, the African Americans, for both the cause and solution to their economic problems. Raspberry chooses to open up with two myths about race, helping to set the tone of the paper. The first myth he deals with is that “race is of overriding importance, that it is a determinant not just of opportunity but also of potential, a reliable basis for explaining political and economic realities . . . ” He explains that it is easy to see how race has assumed such importance in the mythology since slavery is the very reason blacks are present in America. Raspberry continues to elaborate on the topic of slavery to produce the central theme of the myth: the myth of white superiority. There are two things that flow from the “racism-is-all” myth that are used to account for the difficulties of blacks. The first, Raspberry states, is that it puts the solution to their difficulties outside their control, and second it causes blacks to think of their problems in terms of a failure of racial justice. With the second result Raspberry elaborates by calling on civil rights. Income gaps, education gaps, test-score gaps, infant-mortality gaps, employment gaps, business-participation gaps, as stated by Raspberry are all now talked about as “civil rights” issues. He points out that the gaps are real, but that describing them as “civil rights” issues steers us away from possible solutions, and that while doing this the problems grow worse. He offers a comparison to a group of poor whites that are in a similar economic standing as blacks and are granted their full civil rights. So how can the lack of civil rights be responsible for their economic conditions when other groups are just as bad off without the racism factor? So if the racism myth is not the cause of the blacks difficulties, then what does Raspberry offer as the reason? To him the operating myth of blacks accounts for their condition, leading them to focus on the misdistribution of opportunities.
Kids were scattered across the country and family ties were obliterated forcing families to grieve their lost relatives This was devastating because in the First Nations culture, children are valued very highly, and those without children are viewed as being disadvantaged. The removal of children introduced problems of alcoholism, emotional stress and low self-esteem in Aboriginal communities. The events that played out “weakened the traditional family structure, and in doing so, weakened Aboriginal society as a whole”. An entire generation was not taught about their Aboriginal culture , traditions, customs or values, and this played a major role in the shaping of their
Another issue which commonly affects the Aboriginal population, inhibiting the experience of good health, is culture clash which consistently lead to social exclusion and societal assimilation. Urquhart (2009) identifies social exclusion as the fourth of ten social determinants of health and is often a result of culture clash. It is very important to recognise that culture clash is a cultural issue which gives rise to certain discrepancies that highly influence Aboriginal health. These discrepancies are complex and interspersed factors such as ethnocentrism, segregation and oppression, which all result in the social exclusion and societal assimilation of Aboriginals. Ethnocentrism is described as the tendency to view one’s own culture as superior to all other cultures (Cooper, 2012). Crisp and Taylor (2008) endow that “All people are inclined towards ethnocentrism” and this was reiterated by the Storti (2012) who stated that “Not only is judging natural, it is essential to function effectively in society”. Although, whilst it is a common issue, ethnocentrism becomes a problem when it is exhibited by people whom hold a position of power and who also have the ability to overrule those with lesser power (Crisp & Taylor, 2008). Ethnocentrism is an important factor because it has the potential to develop into such social exclusions as segregation and oppression, especially when it is exhibited by people who hold such positions of power as community or Government leaders. Such was the case when the Aboriginal population began to raise at the beginning of the 20th century (Crisp & Taylor, 2008). The Government powers, influenced by ethnocentrism, developed the policy of segregation which ultimately impacted on many facets of Aborigina...
Reynolds, H. (1976). The Other Side of The Frontier: Aboriginal resistance to the European invasion of Australia. Queensland, Australia: James Cook University
To begin with, once the policy of assimilation came into effect, Aboriginals were subject to a new environment, resulting in the loss of their culture. It is due to this, that the rates of suicide for First Na...
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 ...
It is known that people have the right to self-defense, but what are the lengths some people would go to, to claim it? Lately there has been a controversy over the “Stand Your Ground” law that governs in some states. With this law people ...
The issue of racial income inequality is seen in James Surowiecki’s “The Widening Racial Wealth Divide”, Barbara Ehrenreich’s Nickel and Dimed, and in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. First off, Surowiecki explains that the wealth divide between Caucasians and African Americans is growing at a rapid pace. Specifically, he elucidates, “White households own, on average, seven times as much wealth as African-American households” (Surowiecki). The writer suggests that this is due to the tremendously high unemployment rates and the low salaries that African Americans experience compared to those of white Americans. However, if an individual successfully completes tasks at his or her job, race should not be a factor in how much money he or
The assimilation policy in the mid-20th century had given equal citizenship for both aboriginals and white Australians. The policy began during the 1940s. The policy didn’t allow the Aboriginals to live there traditional ways of life and also as the policy didn’t take into account the Aboriginal culture ways of life. It was rather to make the Aboriginals become white Australian and they were expected to leave their old ways of life.
Stand your ground is a subject that has been plastered in many community’s backyards across the nation, a subject that has left many senseless killings. Self-defense has two laws that represent and explains the two perspectives of views. The Castle Doctrine laws strengthen the right to self-defense by eliminating the duty to retreat from a threat in one’s own home or on one’s own property, so when one build on that concept they come up with stand your ground laws which extends the Castle Doctrine, any place where a person has the right
These policies have impacted Aboriginal people and their communities in countless ways and has left a permanent mark on them. I believe that the manner in which this assimilation was attempted was horrendous and caused unimaginable harm. One of the key players in the establishment of the Indian Act, John A McDonald himself said that the goal was to integrate Aboriginals into the European life style "…as speedily as they are fit to change." This quote in itself illustrates the carelessness and inconsideration there was to how this transformation may impact the Aboriginals and their communities. The sole objective was to strip their culture as quickly as possible and replace it with what was deemed acceptable by the government. Families' were
One of the most recent, debatable topics in the United States today has become the Stand Your Ground Law. Although it is sometimes misunderstood, the basic definition of the law allows for the use of deadly force when being attacked without first having to retreat. When it comes to public opinion, middle ground does not exist between the advocates for the law, or the critics against it. The drastically different opinions of staunch critics and fervent advocates of the Stand Your Ground Law have made this a very controversial and divisive topic.
Generations of clans, houses, and families that had established long lasting social networks and systems were forced to split up and were joined with other families and houses. Aboriginal women, who had the role of caring for and nurturing children now had to get a job to afford to live and to not let their children go hungry; yet, finding a job was extremely difficult because of marginalization and competition from immigrants who were working for cheaper wage. (Harris, Cole. 2002) They felt that they were suddenly unable to support and sustain themselves and their families. But, leaving the reserve meant they would face discrimination for abandoning their home, their Indian rights would be stripped and they would lose or jeopardize connection to their family and land ever
“Stand your ground” laws are different from the Castle Doctrine, which has its roots in