Economics of Remote Aboriginal Communities – Part 1 History
There has been much discussion lately about economic development, ever since the Howard Government turned its attention to the capitalist potential of Indigenous communities and Aboriginal lands. As a result, policy and funding affecting Indigenous peoples have had a decided…
Homelands
For some of you, the term “homeland”, may not make sense. We would like to offer some explanation, as homelands are so vital to empowering Yolngu across Arnhem Land, and where ever people live on Aboriginal lands.
Our hidden biases. Test your unconscious racial associations.
I have mentioned to some people that there is a test online that allows us to test our unconscious racial associations or prejudices. It is called an Implicit Association Test and it can be found at implicit.harvard.edu All of us…
Living Dead: A Yolngu Experience of Disempowerment
This is a short video that describes living as a Yolngu person in a remote community in Australia. It is a story that the rest of us rarely hear expressed so clearly. Dianne, the speaker in this video has…
Predatory systems maintaining Indigenous disadvantage: Some examples
As was discussed in the previous article, one of the limit conditions that create Indigenous “poverty” is that people must engage in strange cultural spaces, controlled by the Dominant Culture. But what are the systems that maintain peoples lack of control in these spaces. I put forward a range of possibilities, some more controversial than others.
Cultural Spaces (An example of the Limit Conditions the people face)
All cultures have spaces of ceremony and tradition, both sacred and part of everyday life. We often don’t see them within our own culture until we are taken out of our comfort zone and required to navigate them within another culture. We often don’t see the impact strange cultural spaces can have on our person. When we do it helps us to understand the world that Indigenous people face daily.
Dirty Assumptions
I was recently told a story about a black African visitor to an Australian Indigenous community. This man went to visit an important Elder in the community…
This is a story about sitting in the dirt, about the ‘cultural glasses’ that we wear and the assumptions we can make.
Understanding Indigenous “Poverty”- Making it History
In recent times the word “poverty” has been used broadly to refer to the situation in many remote Indigenous Communities in Australia. But for most people poverty conjures images of the poor from 3rd world slums. The Indigenous peoples of Australia face very different situations. I think it is worth stepping back and considering what Indigenous “poverty” has in common with the situation of the worlds poor. What can this tell us about how so called “Indigenous poverty” can be overcome.
Culture Shock 101
Having moved to a remote Indigenous community about 4 months ago, my wife and I have recently started to go through the struggles of culture shock. In this article I take you through some of the causes, the symptoms and how to manage Culture Shock. The essential basics of surviving what can be the most difficult part of working in an remote Aborignal or Torres Strait Islander community in the first year.
Site Update
You can now see the new design for the Cultural Worlds blog. It features white background for text, and a magazine style layout to help you see the range of articles we have available. We hope the result are more user friendly.…
When Indigenous Advocacy Does Damage
“The poverty experienced by many Aboriginal people is as morally reprehensible as torture and must be eradicated”, Amnesty International secretary-general Irene Khan says.
Strong words, but is such ‘advocacy’ helpful. I argue that moralistic bites such as this are in fact dangerous. While advocates feel that such statements point out government failures, they can actually be harmful to the people they are meant to protect. I consider why this is…
Recruiting, Training and Supporting Dominant Culture Personnel for Indigenous Communities
The following is a Presentation I made to a ‘Roundtable’ discussion with TEAR Australia, in August 2009, discussing the needs and possibilities for supporting government and non-government personnel working in Aboriginal communities across Australia to improve community development outcomes for…
