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Dispossession, Social Suffering, and Survival

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Dispossession, Social Suffering, and Survival Running head: DISPOSSESSION, SOCIAL SUFFERING, AND SURVIVAL Narrating Oppression, Psychosocial Suffering and Survival through the Bush Babies Project Amy Quayle BPsych (Hons) MAppPsych College of Health and Biomedicine Psychology Discipline Victoria University Melbourne, Australia Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (July, 2017) DISPOSSESSION, SOCIAL SUFFERING, AND SURVIVAL Abstract Aboriginal people in Australia continue to fare worse across the broad range of social, economic, and health indicators. One response to fostering Aboriginal empowerment has been through community arts and cultural development–a creative and participatory methodology for working in and with communities. The current research examined the stories shared by Aboriginal Elders as part of the Bush Babies project, and in conversational interviews with four Aboriginal Elders who participated in the project. Aboriginal storytelling through the project and in the context of the research was conceptualised as a site to examine and challenge power as part of a transformative psychosocial praxis (Sonn, Stevens, & Duncan, 2013). Informed by contextualist constructionist epistemology and critical theory, the current research adopted narrative inquiry to examine the stories shared by Aboriginal Elders in explaining the past, present, and possibilities for the future and in constructing what it means to be Aboriginal/Noongar in the present. Rappaport’s (2000) model for conceptualising personal stories, community narratives, and dominant cultural narratives, and writing on counter-stories/storytelling informed analysis of the stories. Three broad community narratives were identified in the Bush Baby storytelling. Drawing from both historical memory and the living memory of the Elders, the stories highlighted the circuits of dispossession in the lives of Aboriginal people. Elders not only narrated historical forms of violence and injustice, but also the continuity of structural and cultural forms of violence, and the ongoing disregard for Aboriginal people. The Elders’ stories also showed the destructive and cumulative psychosocial impacts of social suffering for individual subjectivities, communities, and across generations. Importantly however, the stories also pointed to the various ways Noongar/Aboriginal people have resisted oppression and the resources that have been central to cultural continuity and survival. Told from positions of alterity, the Elders’ stories provide insights into the oppression, resistance and change. Through these ii DISPOSSESSION, SOCIAL SUFFERING, AND SURVIVAL stories, we are called upon to bear witness to social injustices, past and present, but also to the stories of strength and survival, which counter the common depictions of dysfunction and despair, and play an important role in affirming identity and ensuring cultural continuity. These stories are thus important both with and beyond Aboriginal communities. Community psychologists can play an important role in supporting Aboriginal communities to tell their stories. Yet working at the cultural interface requires ongoing vigilance. iii DISPOSSESSION, SOCIAL SUFFERING, AND SURVIVAL Student Declaration “I, Amy Quayle, declare that the PhD thesis entitled ‘Narrating Oppression, Psychosocial Suffering and Survival through the Bush Babies Project’ is no more than 100,000 words in length including quotes and exclusive of tables, figures, appendices, bibliography, references and footnotes. This thesis contains no material that has been submitted previously, in whole or in part, for the award of any other academic degree or diploma. Except where otherwise indicated, this thesis is my own work”. Signature: Date: 18/07/17 iv DISPOSSESSION, SOCIAL SUFFERING, AND SURVIVAL Published Articles The following articles have been published based on, or including aspects of, this research: Quayle, A., Sonn, C., & Kasat, P. (2016). Community arts as public pedagogy: Disruptions into public memory through Aboriginal counter-storytelling. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 20(3), 261-277. doi: 10.1080/13603116.2015.1047662 Quayle, A., Sonn, C.C., & van den Eynde, J. (2016). Narrating the accumulation of dispossession: Stories of Aboriginal Elders. Community Psychology in Global Perspective, 2(2), 79-96. Sonn, C., Rua, M. & Quayle, A. (In press). Culture, Indigeneity and coloniality: A contribution to decolonizing applied social psychology. In Hodgetts, D. G., & O’Doherty, K. (Eds.). Sage handbook of applied social psychology. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. v DISPOSSESSION, SOCIAL SUFFERING, AND SURVIVAL Dedication This thesis is dedicated to all the Bush Babies and their descendants. It is my sincere hope that we are not having the same conversations in 20 years. vi DISPOSSESSION, SOCIAL SUFFERING, AND SURVIVAL Acknowledgements I would first like to acknowledge my Principal Supervisor Christopher Sonn for his guidance and support over the many years I have had the privilege of working with him. Thanks for the many invaluable opportunities you have created for me throughout my research journey. I feel incredibly lucky to have been able to work with someone whose work I so admire. Thanks for always pushing me to think more critically, your prompt feedback, your belief in me, and your humour. Thanks also to my associate supervisor, Julie van den Eynde. Your critical eye, insights, and personal reflections were extremely valuable, and you always seemed to know when I needed to hear some positive words. I would like to acknowledge all those who participated in this research. In particular, the four Elders who volunteered their team to speak with me about their lives, and all the Bush Babies who shared their stories as part of CANs Rekindling strategy. I feel extremely privileged to have heard these stories, and it has been such an honour to be involved in putting these important stories into the public record. With the recent loss of some of the Bush Baby Elders’ the importance of this work to rekindle stories on country, has been reaffirmed. Thanks to the artists, facilitators and others involved in the Bush Babies project, including Ross Storey, Ned Crossley, Karen Keeley, Graham Smith, and Jan Smith, who also contributed to this research in one way or another. This research would not have been possible without the invitation by Community Arts Network to conduct the research alongside their Rekindling Stories on Country projects, and in particular, the former Managing Director Pilar Kasat who has been central to the collaborative relationship with VU and the development of the Rekindling strategy. Thanks Pilar for entrusting me to carry out this research, and for your generosity in my trips to Perth. Thanks also to Project Manager, Michelle White for taking me to and from Perth to Narrogin, for your enthusiasm and passion for the Bush Babies project, and for the many open and insightful informal conversations along the way: I learnt so much in those trips between Perth and Narrogin. Thanks also to CAN vii DISPOSSESSION, SOCIAL SUFFERING, AND SURVIVAL staff based at the Narrogin office, Geri Hayden and Marcelle Reilley who played a central role throughout the research process. Thanks for generously sharing your insights and personal stories. It was invaluable to spend time with you both at the CAN office. Without your support, this research would not have been possible. Thanks to all the other CAN staff and project facilitators I met along the way. It was great to be part of the great work you do across the Wheatbelt. I feel very lucky to have been able to undertake my PhD alongside a group of wonderful and supportive fellow PhD students. Thanks to Linda Chiodo, Monica Madyaningrum, Kirsten Meyer, Dicky Pelupessy, Mema Motusaga, Wawan Mas’udi, Leila Rahimi, who all played a role in my PhD experience. It has certainly not been the isolating and lonely experience I was warned about. Thanks to the support from VU staff and particularly Chris and the Community, Identity and Displacement Research Network, in creating a supportive, collaborative, and encouraging environment for post-graduate students. The post-graduate discussion group was extremely valuable part of my learning. Thanks also to Lutfiye Ali, Alison Baker, and Romana Morda for their support, encouragement, and inspiration along the way. Thanks to David McCallum for his generous and constructive feedback, Garth Stevens for his insights into the research, and Karen Jackson for her support and kindness. Thanks to my friends and family, and especially Tim for your patience, support, and encouragement throughout this long and arduous journey. I am looking forward to a post-PhD life with you. Finally, I will be forever grateful to Romana and Chris for the day they came for coffee/cakes at the cafe where I was working and encouraged me to come back and do my honours in psychology. Who would have thought I would eventually go on to complete my PhD. Thankyou! viii DISPOSSESSION, SOCIAL SUFFERING, AND SURVIVAL Table of Contents Abstract .......................................................................................................................... ii Student Declaration ....................................................................................................... iv Published Articles .......................................................................................................... v Acknowledgements .....................................................................................................
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