1. Religion and Beliefs Systems in Australia post-1945 Flashcards
What are the three ways which Aboriginal Spirituality is determined by the Dreaming? (Syllabus)
- Kinship
- Ceremonial Life
- Obligations to land and people
Define: kinship
System of relationships (between people and the environment) including rights and obligations which define individual role in the community. Reciprocal network of giving and receiving.
Define: Skin Names
3rd level of kinship: method to prevent incest and shows person’s relations.
Define: Totem
2nd level of kinship: links person with the universe and gives them a sense of identity. Four levels of totem: 1)Nation, 2)Clan, 3)Family Group, 4)Individual (given by the elders).
Define: Moiety
1st level of kinship: division of tribe into two halves, with the aim of creating balance. Can only marry someone outside your moiety.
Identify two different ceremonies in Aboriginal life and describe their ritual practices.
- Initiation ceremony: transition form child to adulthood. Allows children to actively participate in the community. Female: begins after first period with a ritual bathings and is taught new responsibilities. Male: circumscision as symbol of death and rebirth.
- Funerals: songs and ceremony to ensure spirit is carried to specific Ancestral Beings. Smoking of the coffin, family bring flowers.
Explain how Indigenous Australians have obligations to land and people.
Aboriginal’s sense of ownership for the land means that they have a sense of responsibility to care for it.
Land is a repository of sacred activities.
Aboriginals have a responsibility to care for ritual estates, totems and others in kinship groups, as determined by the Dreaming.
Define: Dreaming
A complex concept of fundamental importance to Aboriginal culture, embracing:
The creative era when the Spiritual Beings and Ancestral Beings roamed and instituted Aboriginal society
An eternal, timeless cycles of metaphysical and supernatural existence. It is an ever-present view of creation which can be engaged with through rituals and practices.
What are the three continuing effects of dispossession on Aboriginal Spirituality?
Separation from the land
Separation from kinship groups
The Stolen Generation
What was the British opinion of Aboriginals and what was the subsequent impact?
Believed that aboriginals were the inferior race and thus aboriginal attitudes towards the land were not considered.
What was the impact of Christian missions on aboriginal culture?
Christian mission sort to evangelised to aboriginals which lead to a breakdown of aboriginal language and culture.
Explain the impacts of a separation from land on aboriginal spirituality
The land and people have a deeply inextricable and symbolic relationship (due to belief in Dreaming) which is severed as Aboriginals are not able to conduct religious practices. They were restricted access to sacred sites and unable to draw from the spiritual power of the Dreaming.
Describe the impacts of a separation from kinship group on Aboriginal Spirituality
Dispossession disturbed religious and cultural beliefs as practices involving kinship groups were not enacted. Severed kinship relationships caused Aboriginals to lose their sense of identity and belonging to the land and people.
Europeans did not understand the significance of the land to Aboriginal people.
Briefly describe the era of the Stolen Generation
1901-1969: 100,000 mixed-race Indigenous children were forcibly removed from their families as part of an assimilation policy enforced by the Aboriginal Protection Board.
1990s: Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission started the ‘Bringing Them Home’ Report.
1997: “BTHR” was published and Howard refused to apologise.
2007: Rudd makes public apology
Describe the impact of the Stolen Generation, both then and now, on affected individuals.
Children were forced to abandon their Aboriginal heritage, resulting in a loss of identity, disconnection from family and heritage.
Presently, victims continue to experience a loss of culture, resulting in depression and a lower mortality rate.
Identify the three Land Rights movements
Native Title (1993-1994, 1998)
Mabo (1992)
Wik (1996)
Describe the importance of the Land Rights movements
Mabo (1992): found that Aboriginals existed in 1788 and thus identifying fiction of ‘Terra Nullius’. This meant that under common law, Australia recognised ongoing existence of customs.
Native Title (1993): enforced in 1994, gave Aboriginals right to negotiate access to land, whilst giving security to freehold title and business.
Wik (1996): claimed national title over Cape York Peninsula. Decision found that native title could coexist with other land rights.
Analyse the importance of the Dreaming for the Land Rights Movement
The Dreaming identifies and defines Aboriginal life, identity and spirit. It is through the land that Aboriginals are able to engage with the Dreaming and find fulfilment.
It is believed that Ancestor Spirits rest within the land (immanent).
Land Rights Movement grants Aboriginals opportunity to regain some of the lost culture and interact with ancestors and the Dreaming
Identify 4 reasons for the changes in the religious landscape of Australia.
- White Australia Policy (1901)
- Post WWII: European immigration
- 1977: formation of Uniting Church
- Increased patterns of disbelief and secularism
- Denominational switching
- Charismatic movement: Pentecostalism
Identify the change in census data of responders reporting ‘No Religion’
0.3% in 1947 - 30.1% in 2016
Identify the changing statistics of responders that adhere to Christian denominations
Decrease Catholicism: 27% in 2011 - 22.6% in 2016
Decrease Anglicans: 21% in 2011 - 13.3% in 2016
Increase Pentecostals: 1% in 2011 - 1.1% in 2016 (20,000)
Identify statistic of Islamic adherents in 2016
2.6%
Identify statistics Jewish adherent in 2016
0.4%
Identify the 5 major reason for the present religious landscape in Australia
- Christianity as the major religious tradition
- Immigration
- Denominational switching
- Rise of New Age Religions
- Secularism
