Through an analysis of the impacts of colonization and the concomitant Australian government policies of genocide and assimilation, this paper will argue that the social inequality experienced by Indigenous Australians, in the forms of higher rates of ill-health and mortality, are a direct result of structural violence which has incubated intergenerational trauma and effectively gotten under the skin of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The colonial expansion, of the British empire, was regulated by the British House of Commons, and the 1834 royal commission report on the Poor to the House of Commons highlighted the general mistreatment of Aboriginal people and the need for a more effective regulation of labour in pastoral areas
There are significant health disparities that exist between Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Australians. Being an Indigenous Australian means the person is and identifies as an Indigenous Australian, acknowledges their Indigenous heritage and is accepted as such in the community they live in (Daly, Speedy, & Jackson, 2010). Compared with Non-Indigenous Australians, Aboriginal people die at much younger ages, have more disability and experience a reduced quality of life because of ill health. This difference in health status is why Indigenous Australians health is often described as “Third World health in a First World nation” (Carson, Dunbar, Chenhall, & Bailie, 2007, p.xxi). Aboriginal health care in the present and future should encompass a holistic approach which includes social, emotional, spiritual and cultural wellbeing in order to be culturally suitable to improve Indigenous Health. There are three dimensions of health- physical, social and mental- that all interrelate to determine an individual’s overall health. If one of these dimensions is compromised, it affects how the other two dimensions function, and overall affects an individual’s health status. The social determinants of health are conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age which includes education, economics, social gradient, stress, early life, social inclusion, employment, transport, food, and social supports (Gruis, 2014). The social determinants that are specifically negatively impacting on Indigenous Australians health include poverty, social class, racism, education, employment, country/land and housing (Isaacs, 2014). If these social determinants inequalities are remedied, Indigenous Australians will have the same opportunities as Non-Ind...
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders have some of the worst health outcomes in comparison to any other indigenous community in the world (AIHW, 2011). According to United Nations official Anand Grover, Aboriginal health conditions are even worse than some Third World countries (Arup & Sharp, 2009), which is astonishing, considering Australia is one of the worlds wealthiest countries. Thoroughly identifying the causes and analysing every aspect behind poor health of indigenous Australians, and Australian health in general, is near impossible due to the complexity and abundant layers of this issue. Even within the category of social determinants, it is hard to distinguish just one factor, due to so many which interrelate and correspond with each other. The aim of this essay is to firstly identify and analyse components of the social determinants of health that impact the wellbeing of Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders, and demonstrate how they overlap with each other. By analysing the inequalities in health of Aboriginal and non-indigenous Australians, positive health interventions will then be addressed. Racism and the consequences it has on Indigenous health and wellbeing will be discussed, followed by an analysis of how and why social class and status is considered a determining factor when studying the health of the Aboriginal population. The issue relating ...
The authors begin by outlining the historical problems which white settler society construct presented. First, they point out that as white settlement began in earnest, the confiscation of the Aboriginals land was justified in terms of their failure to qualify as a ‘civilized’ community (98). As Stasiulus and Jhappan outline, the violence that went into colonizing the Aboriginal community, is therefore seen as justifiable because the Aboriginal communities’ different world-views, cultures, notion of property and ‘pagan’ beliefs are presented as evidence for their unfit ownership to the land.
Since colonialism after the invasion, Australia indigenous peoples have experienced a great deal of loss of identity, loss, disempowerment, cultural alienation, grief. Many indigenous people's mental and physical health impaired. Suicide, family violence, drug abuse and unemployment rates is higher than the Australian average(Berry et al. 2012). That is complicated to contributing to develop and support sustainable mental health and social wellbeing for Australian aboriginals staying in rural areas ,related to much diversity involved in and between individuals and communities (Guerin & Guerin 2012).
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have a well diverse culture with a rich and meaningful background. The impact of the British colonisation in 1788, legislation and ‘stolen generation’ created a range of significant hardships for these individuals to face. These issues continue to cause problems and impact these individuals and their mental health. The issues that the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people face include but are not limited to Grief and loss in the Aboriginal Community, Living in Continual Poverty, loss of identity, loss of culture, incarceration, premature death, poor education outcomes, substance abuse, sexual abuse, murder and alcoholism (Design)
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 ...
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 human race is the only species that can and does think it's self into anger and violence.” (pup.org.uk) In prison camps, Prisoners were forced to do hard physical labor. Torture and death within concentration camps were common and frequent. (dosomething.org) during that time; 2.11 million people were killed during the holocaust, 1.1 million which were children. (dosomething.org) Some people argue that the Holocaust was not an act of genocide because they feel like there is nothing wrong with it but they don't know all the facts behind it. The Holocaust should be considered an example of genocide based on the United Nations definition, the stages of genocide, in the specific evidence provided in the memoir night.
The Allotment and Assimilation Era of the 1880’s to the 1930’s had a widespread and devastating impact on the Native American population in the United States. These two policies were attempts by the U.S. Federal Government to separate tribes, and indoctrinate the Native American youth to further assimilate the Native American population into the western body of culture. These policies were allotment, which broke apart the tribal land of the Native American people, and boarding schools, which attempted to teach the Native American youth about western culture and ways.
Ever since the foundations of modern Australia were laid; there has been a disparity between the health status of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and rest of the Australian community (Australian human rights commission, n.d.). This essay will discuss how this gap can be traced back to the discriminatory policies enacted by governments towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander’s throughout history. Their existing impacts will be examined by considering the social determinants of health. These are the contemporary psycho-social factors which indirectly influence health (Kingsley, Aldous, Townsend, Phillips & Henderson-Wilson, 2009). It will be evaluated how the historic maltreatment of Aboriginal people leads to their existing predicament concerning health.
Between 2001-2010 the suicide rates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were twice that of non-Indigenous people.1 These high rates are attributed to social, economic and historic determinants that impact on the emotional and social wellbeing and mental health of Indigenous people.2 Suicide is a tragic endpoint, not only affecting the individual but also the whole extended family and ongoing repercussions of the Indigenous community.3 Culturally appropriate interventions can be achieved by acknowledging the implications of colonialisation and the ongoing impacts of intergenerational trauma on Australia’s Indigenous population.4 It is important from a public health perspective to develop
Problems have and will continue to exsist all over the world. Throughout history, global problems have posed major challenges for nations and regions. There are many causes to the global problems expirenced in the world just as there are many effects. Both genocide and environmental pollution have posed major challenges for nations and regions of the world.
According to numerous British observers, aboriginal ranked “far behind other savages,” “the lowest link in the connection of the human races,” “the lowest of the nations in the order of civilization.” (p.108) http://www.murschhauser.net/documents/australien/Banner_Landrecht.pdf) This speaks volumes to the disgust the British felt towards the aboriginals and human beings, and would allow them to not even consider them human beings. These feelings originated from numerous aspects of the aboriginal culture and lifestyle, including their looks, how and what they ate, and how they behaved. In comparison to the well clothed British, the aborigines were nearly naked in comparison. Arthur Phillip noted they had “not even to have made an attempt towards clothing themselves” (107http://www.murschhauser.net/documents/australien/Banner_Landrecht.pdf) This combined with their supposed “hideous” appearance, aided in the belief that these savages were the lowest link in the connection of the human races. There are numerous accounts of British colonies describing their distaste for the aboriginal looks and behavior, and although these are individual accounts, the mass of negative opinions and descriptions of these people began to
There is a high chance that I would have been continually subjected to the abovementioned inequalities that exist in the Australian society; theoretically defined by Marx and Weber’s traditions of class structures. Plummer, in his work, demonstrated examples of how repeated social inequalities are characteristic of the structured divisions and hierarchies existent within all human societies (2010, pp.153-154). The racial segregation that has existed within the Australian population has forced the Indigenous cultures to the bottom of the hierarchical scale and they have consequently, endured the classifications of barbaric and primitive second class citizens. For this reason, I am placed at birth, into the lower bounds of society and have felt firsthand the “deprivations, degradations and defilements” that occur due to conscious awareness of social belonging within the confines of the lower class (Plummer 2010, p.162). This would have been highlighted if I had endured racial taunts throughout school, or experienced a childhood constituting deprivation and poverty. My family may be victims of racist unemployment, homelessness or alcohol abuse. All of which are prevalent within the Indigenous population, and affectively reflect the perceived class structures in
Although to the general population the word genocide what probably comes to mind is probably Hitler and his efforts to eradicate every Jew off the face of this earth there. But there has been more genocides that has occurred in their lifetime either that they are absent minded and do not know or either pay attention to world events and possibly even under their noses. The definition of genocide is the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation . We know the definition, but do we know the true causes of genocide?