DOCSLIB.ORG

Differences Between Values of Australian Aboriginal and Non-Aboriginal Students

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Differences Between Values of Australian Aboriginal and Non-Aboriginal Students View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by University of Southern Queensland ePrints Differences Between Values of Australian Aboriginal and Non-Aboriginal Students Gerard J. Fogarty and Colin White, University of Southern Queensland Acknowledgements We wish to thank the students - particularly those from Kumbari/Ngurpai Lag - for participating in this study. We also wish to acknowledge the contribution of unknown reviewers who made very helpful suggestions after reading an earlier version of this paper. Full reference: Fogarty, G., & White, C. (1994). Difference between values of Australian Aboriginal and Non-Aboriginal students. Journal of Cross Cultural Psychology, 25 (3), 394-408 Values of Australian Aboriginal Students 2 Abstract In this study, the Values Questionnaire developed by Schwartz and Bilsky (1987, 1990) was used to examine differences in the values held by a group of Aboriginal university students (N=112) and a group of non-Aboriginal students (N=106) studying at an Australian university. Results indicated that the Aboriginal group placed greater emphasis on values associated with Tradition, Conformity and Security and significantly less emphasis on values associated with Achievement, Self-direction, Stimulation, Hedonism and Benevolence. These data, in conjunction with a separate analysis of the ten highest ranked values for each group, support the view that the main differences between the groups lie in values serving collective (Aboriginal) as opposed to individual (non-Aboriginal) interests. These findings are consistent with previous research (eg. Christie, 1987) on the world view of traditional Aboriginal people and suggest that even among younger, more "Westernised", representatives of this culture, collective values are likely to be strong determinants of behaviour. 2 Values of Australian Aboriginal Students 3 Differences Between Values Held by Australian Aboriginal and Non-Aboriginal Students The impact of Aboriginal students in Australian universities began to be felt in the mid to late 1980's as the Australian government took steps to increase the participation rates of Aborigines in higher education. During this period of expanded educational opportunity, however, little systematic attempt was made to understand the values of the culture from which these students came, or to determine the extent to which the students themselves held values which might be at odds with modern educational aims. The present study attempted to fill this gap in our understanding by firstly reviewing what is known about traditional Australian Aboriginal values and, secondly, by sampling the values of Aboriginal students participating in a Western-based higher education system and comparing these values with those held by a comparable group of non-Aboriginal students. Researchers in cross-cultural psychology have long stressed the role of cultural outlook in educational achievement. Levi-Strauss (1962/66), certainly a pioneer in cross-cultural studies of cognition, spoke of "magic" and "science" as two parallel ways of acquiring knowledge which are valued differently by different societies. Vernon (1976) proposed that a major part of cultural differences rests on differences in motivation. Goodnow (1976) reminded us that our definitions of what is "good" are based upon our own particular system of values, not necessarily shared by other cultures. Berry (1984) demonstrated that cultural groups differ on dimensions such as preference for holistic rather than analytic problem solving strategies and preference for collective discussion as opposed to individual reflection as the basis for decision making. Berry (1988) further drew our attention to the importance of these background factors when he argued that a special effort should be made to understand cultural values and goals for cognitive development before trying to assess competence in any non-Western community. By and large, this has not happened for the Australian Aborigines. As Christie (1985) has asserted, educating Aboriginal people through formal schooling has been largely a matter of imposing the Western world view upon the Aboriginal one. In examining traditional Aboriginal culture, the concept of world-view often emerges. Although different definitions exist, a world-view can be considered as the set of ideas and beliefs which a group of people hold about the world and the people and things in it (Christie, 1987). In examining differences between Aboriginal and White Australian society, researchers are often struck by the large differences and contrasts in world-view held by the two societies. Christie (1985) noted in particular the emphasis placed in Aboriginal culture upon qualities and personal relationships and responsiveness to the environment. Survival depends on cooperation and coexistence. Harris (1988) found evidence of five major differences between the cultures. These differences were in the following areas: a) Aborigines view knowledge as owned, or looked after, by particular people whereas in Western society knowledge is freely available to those who choose to seek it; b) the Aboriginal culture places a greater emphasis on the quality of personal relationships; c) Aborigines have a more passive view of the environment, preferring to adapt to it rather than manipulating it to suit themselves; d) the Aboriginal view of the world is essentially a religious one, as opposed to Western 'scientific' viewpoints; e) the Aboriginal world view holds that most of the major changes have already taken place and that a perfectly good social system already exists - this again is opposed to Western concepts of progress, development, change and control. These descriptions of world view paint an interesting picture of traditional Aboriginal society but what do they tell us about the values of students, now somewhat removed from this context? Although writers such as Christie and Harris were careful to confine their 3 Values of Australian Aboriginal Students 4 observations in relation to world-views to the more traditional communities in which they worked, they also suggested that there are significant continuities within all Aboriginal groups in Australia (Christie, 1985, Harris, 1990). If this is the case, Aboriginal university students should exhibit value profiles which are compatible with the world views attributed to their traditional culture. Other lines of research suggest that this might be the case. Berry (1970) used the term "marginals" to describe Aborigines caught between cultures. He found that people in this situation tend to reaffirm or retain traditional values. Dawson (1969), in research with groups of semi-traditional, semi-modern, and modern Aborigines, reported that Aborigines in all groups showed a tendency to retain their traditional character and resist the adoption of Western values. These latter researchers were, of course, talking about "values" rather than "world views", but the two are not so different. In many ways the values framework is probably a more familiar setting for cross-cultural research on aspects of cognition. Kearney and Fitzpatrick (1976), in reviewing research on social change amongst Aboriginal Australians, observed that much of the literature emphasises the crucial role of a person's individual value system in shaping the direction of change -towards assimilation or towards ethnicity. Feather (1986) described a long-standing cross-cultural research programme based in Australia which has used Rokeach's Value Survey (RVS) as its main psychometric instrument. In more recent times, this programme has adopted the Values Questionnaire (Schwartz & Bilsky, 1987, 1990), a derivation of the (RVS), for its investigation of cross-cultural value differences (Feather, Volkmer, & McKee; 1992). This was also the instrument chosen for the present study and some comments on its derivation are warranted. Schwartz (1991) describes values as terms that point to the important human goals or motivations about which people communicate. In developing a theory of a universal psychological structure of human values, Schwartz and Bilsky (1987, 1990) proposed that there were three universal human requirements to which all individuals and societies must be responsive. These were (a) needs of individuals as biological organisms, (b) requisites of coordinated social interaction, and (c) survival and welfare needs of groups. They further contended that these requirements must be represented cognitively, taking the form of values and that through socialisation and developmental processes, individuals learn to represent the requirements as conscious goals and values and to attribute varying degrees of importance to them (Schwartz and Bilsky, (1990). Early research by Schwartz and Bilsky (1987, 1990) had identified eight distinct motivational values which could be derived from the three universal human requirements. Further research (Schwartz, 1991), utilising a newly developed 56 item questionnaire, yielded a number of additional motivational values resulting in ten, possibly eleven, distinct motivational categories. This revision was based on the analyses of interrelations among 56 values in 40 samples across 20 countries. In a more recent revision of the theory, Schwartz (1992) settled upon 11 dimensions. The motivational types and associated values of the revised theory are as follows: 1. Self-Direction (creativity, freedom, choosing own goals, curiosity, independence); 2. Stimulation (variety, excitement);
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Non-Indigenous/Aboriginal Relations in Australian Society
    2. Keeping Our Distance: Non-Indigenous/Aboriginal relations in Australian society Maggie Walter In February 2008, then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd made a national apology to members of the Stolen Generations. For Indigenous1 and non-Indigenous Australians alike this was a significant political and social moment. The intense media and public interest in, and scrutiny of, the apology demonstrate that the relationship between the original Australians and those who have arrived since colonisation remains salient, if not central, to who Australians are what Australians and Australia is in the twenty-first century. The terrain of this relationship is key to Australia’s self-concept, its identity as a nation and that of its peoples, old and new. Yet these relations are also highly contested. The image of Australia reflected here is a two-sided visage. One face—as manifested in the apology, the elevating of Professor Mick Dodson to 2009 Australian of the Year and the groundswell of public action in the March for Reconciliation in 2000—is openly encouraging of reconciliation and acknowledging of a historical legacy of entrenched marginalisation and poverty. The other face forestalls the prospect of formal rapprochement, casting as undeserved and unearned attempts at social, economic or political equity—a position manifested by the now long-stalled reconciliation process and the commonness of publicly expressed negative sentiment towards Indigenous peoples and culture (see, for example, Andrew Bolt’s 2008 blog in relation to the new Indigenous representative body). This distinctively Australian, but contradictory, picture suggests a country and a national identity ill at ease with the place of Indigeneity in its consciousness, one in which Indigeneity remains unreconciled with everyday concepts of Australian society and Australian identity.
    [Show full text]
  • The Boomerang Effect. the Aboriginal Arts of Australia 19 May - 7 January 2018 Preview 18 May 2017 at 6Pm
    MEG Musée d’ethnographie de Genève Press 4 may 2017 The Boomerang Effect. The Aboriginal Arts of Australia 19 May - 7 January 2018 Preview 18 May 2017 at 6pm White walls, neon writing, clean lines: the MEG’s new exhibition «The Boomerang Effect. The Aboriginal Arts of Australia» welcomes its visitors in a space evocative of a contemporary art gallery. Here the MEG unveils one of its finest collections and reveals the wealth of indigenous Australia's cultural heritage. Visiting this exhibition, we understand how attempts to suppress Aboriginal culture since the 18th century have ended up having the opposite of their desired effect. When James Cook landed in Australia, in 1770, he declared the country to be «no one’s land» (terra nullius), as he recognized no state authority there. This justified the island's colonization and the limitless spoliation of its inhabitants, a medley of peoples who had lived there for 60,000 years, societies which up until today have maintained a visible and invisible link with the land through a vision of the world known as the Dreaming or Dreamtime. These mythological tales recount the creation of the universe as well as the balanced and harmonious relation between all the beings inhabiting it. It is told that, in ancestral times, the Djan’kawu sisters peopled the land by naming the beings and places and then lying down near the roots of a pandanus tree to give birth to sacred objects. It is related that the Dätiwuy clan and its land was made by a shark called Mäna.
    [Show full text]
  • 3 Researchers and Coranderrk
    3 Researchers and Coranderrk Coranderrk was an important focus of research for anthropologists, archaeologists, naturalists, historians and others with an interest in Australian Aboriginal people. Lydon (2005: 170) describes researchers treating Coranderrk as ‘a kind of ethno- logical archive’. Cawte (1986: 36) has argued that there was a strand of colonial thought – which may be characterised as imperialist, self-congratulatory, and social Darwinist – that regarded Australia as an ‘evolutionary museum in which the primi- tive and civilised races could be studied side by side – at least while the remnants of the former survived’. This chapter considers contributions from six researchers – E.H. Giglioli, H.N. Moseley, C.J.D. Charnay, Rev. J. Mathew, L.W.G. Büchner, and Professor F.R. von Luschan – and a 1921 comment from a primary school teacher, named J.M. Provan, who was concerned about the impact the proposed closure of Coranderrk would have on the ability to conduct research into Aboriginal people. Ethel Shaw (1949: 29–30) has discussed the interaction of Aboriginal residents and researchers, explaining the need for a nuanced understanding of the research setting: The Aborigine does not tell everything; he has learnt to keep silent on some aspects of his life. There is not a tribe in Australia which does not know about the whites and their ideas on certain subjects. News passes quickly from one tribe to another, and they are quick to mislead the inquirer if it suits their purpose. Mr. Howitt, Mr. Matthews, and others, who made a study of the Aborigines, often visited Coranderrk, and were given much assistance by Mr.
    [Show full text]
  • Australian Aboriginal Verse 179 Viii Black Words White Page
    Australia’s Fourth World Literature i BLACK WORDS WHITE PAGE ABORIGINAL LITERATURE 1929–1988 Australia’s Fourth World Literature iii BLACK WORDS WHITE PAGE ABORIGINAL LITERATURE 1929–1988 Adam Shoemaker THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY E PRESS iv Black Words White Page E PRESS Published by ANU E Press The Australian National University Canberra ACT 0200, Australia Email: [email protected] Web: http://epress.anu.edu.au Previously published by University of Queensland Press Box 42, St Lucia, Queensland 4067, Australia National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Black Words White Page Shoemaker, Adam, 1957- . Black words white page: Aboriginal literature 1929–1988. New ed. Bibliography. Includes index. ISBN 0 9751229 5 9 ISBN 0 9751229 6 7 (Online) 1. Australian literature – Aboriginal authors – History and criticism. 2. Australian literature – 20th century – History and criticism. I. Title. A820.989915 All rights reserved. You may download, display, print and reproduce this material in unaltered form only (retaining this notice) for your personal, non-commercial use or use within your organization. All electronic versions prepared by UIN, Melbourne Cover design by Brendon McKinley with an illustration by William Sandy, Emu Dreaming at Kanpi, 1989, acrylic on canvas, 122 x 117 cm. The Australian National University Art Collection First edition © 1989 Adam Shoemaker Second edition © 1992 Adam Shoemaker This edition © 2004 Adam Shoemaker Australia’s Fourth World Literature v To Johanna Dykgraaf, for her time and care
    [Show full text]
  • Walata Tyamateetj a Guide to Government Records About Aboriginal People in Victoria
    walata tyamateetj A guide to government records about Aboriginal people in Victoria Public Record Office Victoria and National Archives of Australia With an historical overview by Richard Broome walata tyamateetj means ‘carry knowledge’ in the Gunditjmara language of western Victoria. Published by Public Record Office Victoria and National Archives of Australia PO Box 2100, North Melbourne, Victoria 3051, Australia. © State of Victoria and Commonwealth of Australia 2014 This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced by any process without prior written permission from the National Archives of Australia and Public Record Office Victoria. Requests and inquiries concerning reproduction and rights should be directed to the Publishing Manager, National Archives of Australia, PO Box 7425, Canberra Business Centre ACT 2610, Australia, and the Manager, Community Archives, Public Record Office Victoria, PO Box 2100, North Melbourne Vic 3051, Australia. National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry: Victoria. Public Record Office, author. walata tyamateetj: a guide to government records about Aboriginal people in Victoria / Public Record Office Victoria and National Archives of Australia; with an historical overview by Richard Broome. ISBN 9780987283702 (paperback) ISBN 9780987283719 (ebook) Victoria. Public Record Office.–Catalogs. National Archives of Australia. Melbourne Office.–Catalogs. Aboriginal Australians–Victoria–Archives. Aboriginal Australians–Victoria–Bibliography–Catalogs. Public records–Victoria–Bibliography–Catalogs. Archives–Victoria–Catalogs. Victoria–Archival resources. National Archives of Australia. Melbourne Office, author. Broome, Richard, 1948–. 016.99450049915 Public Record Office Victoria contributors: Tsari Anderson, Charlie Farrugia, Sebastian Gurciullo, Andrew Henderson and Kasia Zygmuntowicz. National Archives of Australia contributors: Grace Baliviera, Mark Brennan, Angela McAdam, Hilary Rowell and Margaret Ruhfus.
    [Show full text]
  • Raising Awareness of Australian Aboriginal Peoples Reality: Embedding Aboriginal Knowledge in Social Work Education Through the Use of Field Experiences
    The International Education Journal: Comparative Perspectives, 2013, 12(1), 197–212 iSSN 1443-1475 © 2013 www.iejcomparative.org Raising awareness of Australian Aboriginal peoples reality: Embedding Aboriginal knowledge in social work education through the use of field experiences Deb Duthie Queensland University of Technology, Australia Julie King Queensland University of Technology, Australia Jenni Mays Queensland University of Technology, Australia Effective social work practice with Aboriginal peoples and communities requires knowledge of operational communication skills and practice methods. In addition, there is also a need for practitioners to be aware of the history surrounding white engagement with Aboriginal communities and their cultures. Indeed, the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW) acknowledges the importance of social workers practising cultural safety. Engendering knowledge of cultural safety for social work students is the opportunity to listen and talk with Aboriginal people who have experienced the destructive impacts of colonisation and the subsequent disruption to family and community. This article discusses the use of field experiences within a Masters of Social Work (Qualifying) Program (MSW) as an educational method aimed at increasing student awareness of contemporary Aboriginal issues and how to practice effectively and within a culturally safe manner. KeyWords: Aboriginal Australia, social work education, cultural safety, field experiences, blended learning. Australia was colonised by Great Britain in the late 18th Century. From the outset, the impact on Aboriginal peoples was detrimental on many levels. As has been well documented, this impact has taken many forms, from semi-official extermination (Lake & Reynolds, 2008; Richards, 2008) through to social engineering policies of less 197 Raising awareness of Australian Aboriginal peoples reality obvious brutality.
    [Show full text]
  • Restoring Identity
    restoring identity Final report of the Moving forward consultation project Amanda Cornwall Public Interest Advocacy Centre 2009 Copyright © Public Interest Advocacy Centre Ltd (PIAC), June 2009 This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced by any process without prior permission. First published 2002 by PIAC Revised edition June 2009 by PIAC ISBN 978 0 9757934 5 9 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) would like to thank all of the people who participated in focus group meetings and made submissions as part of the project. We appreciate that for many people it is difficult to talk about the past and how it affects their lives today. We thank the members of the reference group for their support and hard work during the original project: Elizabeth Evatt, PIAC’s Chairperson; Audrey Kinnear, Co-Person of the National Sorry Day Committee; Brian Butler, ATSIC Social Justice Commission; Harold Furber, Northern Territory stolen generations groups; and Dr William Jonas, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, HREOC. PIAC would like to thank Darren Dick, Chris Cunneen, Reg Graycar and Jennifer Clarke who provided comments on the draft report in 2002 and Tom Poulton, Bianca Locsin and Chris Govey, of Allens Arthur Robinson, who provided pro bono assistance in drafting the Stolen Generations Reparations Bill that appears as Appendix 4 of this revised edition. Cover Image: National Painting of the Stolen Generation by Joy Haynes Editor: Catherine Page Design: Gadfly Media Enquiries to: Public Interest Advocacy Centre Ltd ABN 77 002 773 524 Level 9, 299 Elizabeth Street Sydney NSW 2000 AUSTRALIA Telephone: (02) 8898 6500 Facsimile: (02) 8898 6555 E-mail: [email protected] www.piac.asn.au Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are warned that this publication may contain references to deceased persons.
    [Show full text]
  • Working with the Stolen Generations: Understanding Trauma
    Working with the Stolen Generations: understanding trauma Providing effective GP services to Stolen Generations survivors This fact sheet provides information for GPs to improve services for Stolen Generations survivors. There is enormous diversity among Stolen Generations survivors, and this fact sheet should be viewed as a starting point only. History 11% Between 1910 and the 1970s approximately one in ten Aboriginal of Aboriginal and Torres children were forcibly removed from their families, communities and Strait Islander people born culture and placed in institutions or adopted by non-Indigenous families, under government policies of the day. Many of their stories were before 1972 were removed documented in the Bringing them Home report of the National Inquiry from their families into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families in 1997. Western Australia 24% On top of the grief and suffering caused by their removal, stolen children South Australia 16% were often subjected to harsh and degrading treatment including abuse, Other jurisdictions 11-13% exploitation and racism. Many were also denied education. The trauma of these experiences continues to affect Stolen Generations survivors, their descendants and communities today. Current reality There are more than 17,000 Stolen Generations survivors in Australia today and many Aboriginal people have experienced lifelong physical, mental and economic disadvantage as a result of the Stolen Generations policies. This trauma has often been unintentionally passed on to children and grandchildren, affecting multiple generations. For trauma survivors things that happen in their daily lives can trigger distressing memories or reactions. Triggers are very personal, can occur at any time and even trauma survivors often don’t know what will trigger them.
    [Show full text]
  • A Typology of the Traditional Games of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples
    A Typology of the Traditional Games of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples Ken Edwards Author Ken Edwards has studied health and physical education, environmental science and sports history. He has taught health and physical education at both primary and secondary school level and has been a Head of Health and Physical Education at various schools. Ken completed a Ph.D. through UQ and has been an academic at QUT and Bond University and is now an Associate Professor in Sport, Health and Physical Education at USQ (Springfield Campus). Ken has had involvement in many sports as a player, coach and administrator. Wener ganbony tilletkerrin? What shall we play (at) first (Language of the Western people of Victoria) A Typology of the Traditional Games of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples Ken Edwards Artwork by Aboriginal artist Maxine Zealey (of the Gureng Gureng people in Queensland). Copyright © 2012 by Ken Edwards. All rights are reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the written permission of the Copyright owner. ISBN 978-0-9872359-0-9 Paper size: 16.5cms X 23 cms Page printing for ebook: Scale to fit A4 Acknowledgements Great excitement existed amongst the players in this game, which was begun in this manner: each player had one of these toys in his hands, standing at a mark on the ground some 30 yards or 40 yards from the disc. The thrower standing on the mark would measure the distance with his eye, and turning round would walk some few yards to the rear, and suddenly turning to the front would run back to the mark, discharging his weitweit with great force at the disc.
    [Show full text]
  • The Stolen Generations and Genocide: Robert Manne’S in Denial: the Stolen Generations and the Right
    The Stolen Generations and genocide: Robert Manne’s In denial: the Stolen Generations and the Right Bain Attwood In recent years many Australians have been troubled over two words or terms, the Sto- len Generations and genocide, and no more so than when they have appeared in tandem, as they did in the report of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Com- mission’s inquiry into the separation of Aboriginal children, Bringing Them Home,1 and the inquiry that gave rise to it.2 Subsequently many conservatives have increased their attacks upon so-called black armband history and particularly the Stolen Generations narrative.3 This assault gathered momentum during 1999 and 2000, eventually provok- ing the political commentator and historian Robert Manne to pen In denial: the Stolen Generations and the Right, an essay in which, to quote the publicists for this new venture in Australian publishing, the Australian Quarterly Essay, he sets out to ‘demolish’ these critics and their ‘demolition’ of the history presented by Bringing Them Home.4 Manne, as he makes abundantly clear throughout In denial, is not only convinced there is ‘a growing atmosphere of right-wing and populist resistance to discussion of historical injustice and the Aborigines’ in Australia today; he also believes there has been ‘an orchestrated campaign’ by a ‘small right-wing intelligentsia’ to ‘change the moral and political balance … with regard to the Aboriginal question as a whole’ and ‘the issue of the Stolen Generations’ in particular. Manne also fears this has been effec- tive, creating ‘scepticism and outright disbelief’ among ‘a highly receptive audience’.5 1.
    [Show full text]
  • Astronomical Symbolism in Australian Aboriginal Rock Art
    Rock Art Research 2011 - Voillme 28, Number 1, pp. 99-106. R. P. NORRIS and D. W. HAMACHER 99 KEYWORDS: Aboriginal - Rock art - Archaeoastronomy - Ethnoastronomy - Australia ASTRONOMICAL SYMBOLISM IN AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINAL ROCK ART Ray P. Norris and Duane W. Hamacher Abstract. Traditional Aboriginal Australian cultures include a significant astronomical component, perpetuated through oral tradition and ceremony. This knowledge has practical navigational and calendrical functions, and in some cases extends to a deep understanding of the motion of objects in the sky. Here we explore whether this astronomical tradition is reflected in the rock art of Aboriginal Australians. We find several plaUSible examples of depictions of astronomical figures and symbols, and also evidence that astronomical observations were used to set out stone arrangements. With these exceptions, astronomical themes do not seem to appear as often in rock art as in oral tradition, although it is possible that we are failing to recognise astronomical elements in rock art. Future research will attempt to address this. Introduction about these constellations. This may indicate either The dark night skies of Australia are an important cultural convergent evolution, reflecting the subjective part of the landscape, and would have been very obvious masculine and feminine appearance of Orion and the to Aboriginal people living a traditional lifestyle. So it Pleiades respectively, or else suggest a much earlier is unsurprising to find that stories of the Sun, Moon, story common to both cultural roots. planets and constellations occupy a significant place in In addition to these narratives, the skies had the oral traditions of Aboriginal Australians. This was practical applications for navigation and time keeping first described by Stanbridge (1857), and since noted (e.g.
    [Show full text]
  • RAHC Cultural Orientation Handbook Is the First Part of the Training and Orientation Program You Will Undertake
    Cultural Orientation Handbook Funded by the Australian Government Photographs used in this handbook were taken in the Northern Territory communities of Ampilatwatja, Ti Tree, Imanpa and Galiwin’ku. Permission was sought from these communities and from all individuals or guardians of individuals, before photography commenced. All photographs are copyright of the Remote Area Health Corps. © Copyright - Remote Area Health Corps, RAHC, 2013 Contents Welcome ..........................................4 Working within the Dying, death and kinship network ...........................27 sorry business .............................. 35 Introduction to this handbook ........................................5 The kinship network Dying Roles and responsibilities Death Your first days .................................7 Avoidance and Poison relationships Sorry business Permits Where do you fit in? Other cultural considerations Forbidden areas and sacred sites When offered a skin name relating to treatment ................ 39 Alcohol Working with the right members Blame and payback Introductions of the kinship network Curses Adjusting to your role Reciprocity — sharing Traditional healers Working with Elders Working within the Use of ochre Aboriginal community ..............11 Birth and childhood .................. 33 Treatment arising from The Aboriginal community Birth ceremonial activity Factionalism and politics Childhood Hair and clothing Engaging with the community Men’s and Women’s business Personal presentation Treatment compliance ............
    [Show full text]