Developing Identity As a Light-Skinned Aboriginal Person with Little Or No
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Developing identity as a light-skinned Aboriginal person with little or no community and/or kinship ties. Bindi Bennett Bachelor Social Work Faculty of Health Sciences Australian Catholic University A thesis submitted to the ACU in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy 2015 1 Originality statement This thesis contains no material published elsewhere (except as detailed below) or extracted in whole or part from a thesis by which I have qualified for or been awarded another degree or diploma. No parts of this thesis have been submitted towards the award of any other degree or diploma in any other tertiary institution. No other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgment in the main text of the thesis. All research procedures reported in the thesis received the approval of the relevant Ethics Committees. This thesis was edited by Bruderlin MacLean Publishing Services. Chapter 2 was published during candidature as Chapter 1 of the following book Our voices : Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social work / edited by Bindi Bennett, Sue Green, Stephanie Gilbert, Dawn Bessarab.South Yarra, Vic. : Palgrave Macmillan 2013. Some material from chapter 8 was published during candidature as the following article Bennett, B.2014. How do light skinned Aboriginal Australians experience racism? Implications for Social Work. Alternative. V10 (2). 2 Contents Contents ..................................................................................................................................................... 3 List of illustrations and diagrams ............................................................................................................... 8 Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................................... 9 Abstract ....................................................................................................................................................11 Chapter 1: Setting the scene ............................................................................................................. 14 Thesis problem .........................................................................................................................................14 Personal introductions .............................................................................................................................15 The current issues ....................................................................................................................................16 Light skin/lack of ‘traditional’ features ....................................................................................................17 Multi-racial identity ..................................................................................................................................21 Thesis question .........................................................................................................................................22 Why is this research important? ..............................................................................................................23 Benefits to social work .............................................................................................................................24 The thesis structure ..................................................................................................................................25 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................28 Chapter 2: Historical contexts ........................................................................................................... 29 Chapter introduction ................................................................................................................................29 Aboriginality definition .........................................................................................................................30 Aboriginal people pre-European contact .............................................................................................30 Dispossession and colonisation ............................................................................................................32 Early resistance to colonisation............................................................................................................34 The eugenics movement ......................................................................................................................35 Past policies that impacted on Aboriginal people....................................................................................36 Protectionism .......................................................................................................................................37 3 Assimilation ..........................................................................................................................................40 Cultural genocide .....................................................................................................................................42 Positive changes and developments ........................................................................................................45 Northern Territory Emergency Response ............................................................................................46 Aboriginal responses: Pan-Aboriginality ..................................................................................................49 Trans-generational trauma and the impact on Aboriginal identity .....................................................51 Lateral violence as a response to colonisation: and implications for identity .....................................53 Whiteness and the relevance to Aboriginal identity ............................................................................56 Privilege and light-skinned Aboriginal people ......................................................................................60 Chapter conclusion ...................................................................................................................................61 Chapter 3: Key concepts .................................................................................................................... 63 Chapter introduction ................................................................................................................................63 Identity formation ....................................................................................................................................63 Identity and links to wellbeing .................................................................................................................67 Identity formulation and adults ...........................................................................................................69 Culture ......................................................................................................................................................70 Cultural/ethnic/racial identity formation.............................................................................................73 Racial/ethnic/minority identity development models .........................................................................78 Acculturation ........................................................................................................................................83 Aboriginal cultural identity ...................................................................................................................87 International Indigenous identity studies ............................................................................................89 Chapter conclusion ...................................................................................................................................93 Chapter 4: The research design ......................................................................................................... 94 Chapter introduction ................................................................................................................................94 What is an Indigenous research paradigm? .............................................................................................94 Aboriginal knowing, being and doing .......................................................................................................98 4 Decolonisation ....................................................................................................................................104 Acculturation theory ..........................................................................................................................108 Methodology ..........................................................................................................................................108 Qualitative research ...........................................................................................................................108 An Indigenous narrative approach .....................................................................................................109 Insider/outsider research ...................................................................................................................111 Ethical issues ......................................................................................................................................114