Arguably the most important function the media served for the Aboriginal community was creating an ‘Indigenous public sphere.’ “The concept of the “Indigenous public sphere” described the highly mediated public “space” for evolving notions of Indigeneity. It was the civil society of a nation without formal borders, state institutions, or citizens.” (Hartley, 2004, Pg. 12) Hartley argues this environment for cultural discourse was essentially bought about through the evolving position of mediums such as TV to adapt to the personal preferences of viewers; creating a need for expansive amounts of differing programming. As Aboriginals’ were ever present members of society, dedicated networks were created for Australia. Hartley states, this recognition …show more content…
13) called this process ‘the marbling effect;’ black and white were intermingled, circulating around each other; challenging concepts of the nation-state. Hartley compares this process to European narratives of their indigenous population, labelling their “natives” peaceful and violent, conformable or not. Though this once described Australian opinion he observed Australia begun to indigenize its narrative sense of self as a whole. (2004, Pg. 13) Though the notion of an ‘Indigenous public sphere’ is reasonable, Hartley seems unaware of the media’s part in misrepresenting Aboriginals. To a certain extent, from its beginnings the media has played a part in solidifying public opinion on groups in society. In a 1990 Paper, David Trigger argued that news media, the major information source about Aboriginal people, offered a majority of representations of Aboriginals that were only negative in character, particularly focused on drunkenness and crime. (Sercombe, 1995, pg. 76) This portrayed image focussed heavily on ensuing conflict over cooperation. Though Hartley’s praise for the media’s “Aboriginal public sphere” is not unwarranted, the evolution of this medium must be kept at the …show more content…
This is a form of nationalism in the nation is defined in terms of ethnicity. Hartley observes that for many years issues of Indigeneity were understood as a matter of race. Though some saw it as a matter of nation hood, Aboriginals still exclusively held the ‘ethnic,’ and therefore in superior, label. As Hartley (2004, Pg. 14) points out; “The Australian nation was habitually conflated with the state, allowing no space for several nations in one state.” This was all down to the insufficiency of governmental policy. This is made evident by the example Hartley alludes to in Singapore’s long term success in socialize many nationalities’ to a small, racially neutral state. (Pg. 14) During this process, despite a large Chinese population, the choice of English as the national language gave all nationalities a neutral base at which dialogues could be started with one another. No group was given unequal circumstances in which they must conform to the lifestyle of another group. This was not the case for the Aboriginal community made to conform to Anglo-Saxon way of life. It was this environment that paved way for associations of Enthno-nationalism. For Hartley, this is a step in the right direction. With the developments in Indigenous nationalism becoming international, discourses were created among groups that are needed to ignite social change; areas of which he liked to
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
Indigenous People. In evaluating the Legal System’s response to Indigenous People and it’s achieving of justice, an outline of the history of Indigenous Australians - before and during settlement - as well as their status in Australian society today must be made. The dispossession of their land and culture has deprived Indigenous People of economic revenue that the land would have provided if not colonised, as well as their ... ... middle of paper ... ...
Of the 8 successful, the 1967 referendum which proposed the removal of the words in section 51 (xxvi) ‘… other than the aboriginal people in any State’ (National Archives of Australia ND), and the deletion of section 127, both, which were discriminative in their nature toward the Aboriginal race, recorded a 90.77% nationwide vote in favour of change (National Archives of Australia, 2014). As a result, the Constitution was altered; highlighting what was believed to be significant positive political change within Indigenous affairs at the time (National Archives of Australia, 2014). Approaching 50 years on, discussion has resurfa...
First I will define the definition of terms used in this paper. When I use the word Aboriginal, I understand this as a label given from the colonizers/ Europeans to identify Indigenous peoples. Canadian legislation defines Indigenous peoples as Aboriginal, I understand this as indifferent from the dominant ideology, therefore, the colonizers named Indigenous peoples as Aboriginal. According to teachings I have been exposed to it’s a legal term and it’s associated with discrimination and oppression. However, audiences I have written for prefer the use of Aboriginal. More premise to this reference is Aboriginal, Indigenous, First Nations, Indian and Native are used interchangeable, but it should be noted these names do represent distinct differences. Furthermore, I will use Indigenous to represent an empowering way to reference a unique general culture in Canada. Under the title of Indigenous peoples in Canada, for me represents: First Nations people, Metis people and Inuit peoples. These are the two titles I will use when I reference Indigenous people from an empowering perspective and Aboriginal from a colonizer perspective.
Struggles by Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people for recognition of their rights and interests have been long and arduous (Choo & Hollobach: 2003:5). The ‘watershed’ decision made by the High Court of Australia in 1992 (Mabo v Queensland) paved the way for Indigenous Australians to obtain what was ‘stolen’ from them in 1788 when the British ‘invaded’ (ATSIC:1988). The focus o...
Reynolds, H. (2005). Nowhere People: How international race thinking shaped Australia’s identity. Australia: Penguin Group
...rial covered in the unit Aboriginal People that I have been studying at the University of Notre Dame Fremantle, Aboriginal people have had a long history of being subjected to dispossession and discriminatory acts that has been keep quite for too long. By standing together we are far more likely to achieve long lasting positive outcomes and a better future for all Australians.
Major settlements occurred after the nineteenth century. The British had quickly out-numbered the Aboriginal community, leaving them powerless to the changes or the invasion. The belief systems of the Europeans overpowered the aboriginal’s way of life, pressuring them to conform to the...
...tely acknowledging missing/murdered Aboriginal women. For example, the infamous Pickton murders emphasize the extremity taken by local police forces to mask the violence and exclusion that Aboriginal women have faced. In this case, the perpetrator was the notorious Robert Pickton who became a global figure in mass media as the most atrocious serial killer in Canadian history. Jiwani and Young (2006) identify that when the bodies were discovered on the Pickton farm, many of Aboriginal descent, newspapers and journals were empathetic and seized the chance to illustrate the atrocity and horror of the crime. Yet, altogether the media failed to take advantage of any “opportunities for re-inscribing Aboriginality and relating these women’s experiences of alienation and abuse to systemic issues such as intergenerational trauma and residential schools” (Jiwani & Young 910).
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.
The poem “We’re not trucking around” by Samuel Wagan Watson presents an Aboriginal perspective on Australian National identity, showing the audience that Australians still mistreat Indigenous people, expressing his perspective through the ideas that white men still mistreat Aboriginals and the marginalization of Aboriginal culture. Watson reinforces his idea through poetic and language
Summary of Text: ‘The Redfern Address’ is a speech that was given to a crowd made up of mainly indigenous Australians at the official opening of the United Nations International Year of the World’s Indigenous Peoples in Redfern Park, New South Wales. This text deals with many of the challenges that have been faced by Indigenous Australians over time, while prompting the audience to ask themselves, ‘How would I feel?’ Throughout the text, Keating challenges the views of history over time, outlines some of the outrageous crimes committed against the Indigenous community, and praises the indigenous people on their contribution to our nation, despite the way they have been treated.
Australia’s Indigenous people are thought to have reached the continent between 60 000 and 80 000 years ago. Over the thousands of years since then, a complex customary legal system have developed, strongly linked to the notion of kinship and based on oral tradition. The indigenous people were not seen as have a political culture or system for law. They were denied the access to basic human right e.g., the right to land ownership. Their cultural values of indigenous people became lost. They lost their traditional lifestyle and became disconnected socially. This means that they were unable to pass down their heritage and also were disconnected from the new occupants of the land.
Instead, multiculturalism places a wide range of claims of accommodation such as religion, ethnicity, language, race and nationality (Song, 2010). In the case of Australia, the acceptance of multiculturalism based on such far-flung claims has essentially resulted in the advent of politics of recognition among the minority groups seeking accommodation or integration in Australia. This is shown by Song (2010) who states that key among the claims fronted by Australia’s minority groups is self-government or at least some sort of recognition that affords such communities a form of autonomy. One key comparison is the aboriginal communities of Australia and those of Canada, whereby claims for recognition based on the uniqueness of ethnicity have left a bad taste in the mouth of white
Multiculturalism has enabled the Australian society to underline the importance of higher values in life and idealism. It is caused by desire for a perfect social existence of the multicultural society in Australia.