Grief and loss Flashcards
What are the three policies that the Australian government used for genocide of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders (Indigenous)?
Control
Assimilation
Merging and absorption
From the three policies that you have listed above, pick one and describe the policy. What is the policy? How did it affect Indigenous people?
Control
It was the development of laws to control Indigenous people by the colonial authorities
It restricted Indigenous people from movement e.g. marriage, rights to hunting
It allowed colonial authorities and white people to take land from Indigenous people for their own use and displace Indigenous people from their ceremonial and hunting grounds
It also segregated Indigenous people in public areas e.g. swimming pools, public transports, hotels and meeting rooms
Merging and Absorption
By the end of the 19th century, the Indigenous population of full descent was declining but the population of mixed descent was increasing and was seen to be draining the government of resources.
The Australian government forced Indigenous people of “mixed descent” to join the workforce as cheap labour in highly regulated government settlements and missions. The government theorized that by removing and sending away Indigenous children to work for non-Indigenous people, the mixed descent population would decrease and ‘merge’ with non-Indigenous populations.
The government also forced Indigenous people of mixed descent away from their families and communities into non-Indigenous societies by changing the definition of ‘Aboriginality”. This meant that people with proportionally higher European ‘blood’ were disqualified from living on reserves with their families or receiving rations. This was done to ‘disperse’ Indigenous people.
Assimilation
When Indigenous affairs were first discussed at a national level and all states and territories except Tasmania agreed to ‘absorb’ Indigenous people into the white society. The assimilation policy was a policy of absorbing Aboriginal people into white society through the process of removing children from their families. The ultimate intent of this policy was the destruction of Aboriginal society.
Whilst ‘merging’ was seen as a more passive process of pushing Indigenous people nto the non-Indigenous community and denying them assistance, ‘assimilation’ was a highly intensive process because it meant that the government had to survey people’s lives and judge them according to non-Indigenous standards.
“Assimilation means, in practical terms, that, in the course of time, it is expected that all persons of aboriginal blood or mixed blood in Australia will live like other white Australians do (Hasluck 1953 page 16).”
This was when a Indigenous children were removed from their home and received an education that would allow them to take their place in society.
How have the above policies resulted in trauma and ill-health in Indigenous people?
Widespread grief and loss
Stolen children
Loss of identity and culture
Discrimination and racism
- Affects mental health
Few economic opportunities
Culturally inappropriate treatment
- Assessment of an Indigenous person with non-Indigenous criteria (Indigenous people have different risk factors)
- Culturally insensitive environments
What is intergenerational grief?
This occurs when grief is ongoing because of ‘unfinished business’ of the Stolen generations. When grief remains unresolved, it can be passed on through generations of a family.
Why is the trauma and grief that Indigenous people experiencing not in the past?
1973 is modern history
Currently more Aboriginal children are taken from their families than ever before
In NSW there is a forced adoption system where a child can be forcibly adopted if he/she has been in the system for 2 years and over
Australia ignores the UN Declaration of the Child which (a child removed from their cultural background should be placed in a family with the same culture)
What are some protective factors that help Indigenous people through grief and loss?
An environment that allows for social connectedness and a sense of belonging
Connection to land, culture, spirituality and ancestry
Living on or near traditional lands
Self-determination
Strong community governance
Passing on of cultural practices
