Religion and Belief Systems in Australia post-1945 Flashcards
The Dreaming
A European term that refers to the essence of truth in Aboriginal religious belief which is passed down through generations of Aboriginality
Expressed through the land and people, totems, values and kinship systems
Kinship
A feature of Aboriginal social organisation and family relationships that determines how people relate to each other and their roles, responsibilities and obligations in relation to one another, ceremonial business and land.
In order to function within an Aboriginal society, an individual must have a position within it.
The importance centres on an individual’s position and the role played within the community.
For this reason, it is difficult for Aboriginal people to interact with others outside their communities as there is a lack of order which governs social behaviours
All relationships interlink and overlap and every person is bound to every other person
Ceremonial Life
A Western term which indicates an Aboriginal ceremony, usually in the form of dance.
Ceremonies often centre on retellings of Dreaming stories through singing, dancing, music and mime.
Often an actor is decorated to represent the spirit he or she is portraying.
Initiation Ceremonies (Bora) Held to mark a person’s development and new role in the group E.g. Rite of Passage: A member of the tribe is initiated into adulthood
Obligation to the land and people
The reciprocal relationship between people and the land underpins all aspects in life for Aboriginal people.
This relationship remains fundamental to the identity and way of life of many indigenous people.
Rather than owning the land, each person belongs to a specific piece of land which they are related to through the kinship system
Laws of kinship encourage the growth and maintenance of a complex network by dependence and support that extends beyond family groups.
Dreaming stories also connect each Aboriginal group to the land which they inhabit (custodians)
The protection and custodianship of that land
Dispossession Definition
Refers to the forceful removal of Aboriginal people by European settlers from their land.
Terra Nullius Definition
meaning ‘Land belonging to no one.’: The doctrine that Australia was owned by no one and thus open to European settlement.
Term designed to enable European settlement without compensation for the dispossession of Aboriginal people → Led to an attempted extermination of Aboriginal people (cultural genocide)
Colonization
The establishment of British colonies within Australia.
Removed Aboriginal people from their traditional lands, destroyed their sacred sites and essential resources, disrupted hunting and gathering and killed their means of sustenance
Also introduced foreign diseased such as tuberculosis, measles etc
Colonization institutionalized the systematic exploitation of Aboriginal people
Missionisation
the policy of compelling Aboriginal peoples to reject their own religion and accept Christianity.
Aboriginal children were forcibly taken from their mothers and fathers
These families were split up and placed in distant institutions (destroyed kinship + fundamental links to elders who held the knowledge of their spirituality)
Created the Stolen Generations which destroyed the fabric of Aboriginal family and cultural life.
Policies
Assimilation
Self Determination
Assimilation
A policy of absorbing Aboriginal people into white society through the removal of Aboriginal children from their families with the ultimate goal of destroying Aboriginal society.
Policy theoretically worked towards the goal of ‘one nation’
Self Determination
A trend which enabled Aboriginal Australians to determine and control their own businesses.
Led to the development of several government agencies for Aboriginal self - determination including National Aboriginal Council, departments and state offices of Aboriginal affairs.
Government programs for Aboriginals including the Training for Aboriginals Program have been developed.
Self-determination is dictated to Aboriginal people by Australian government policy and practice
Began era of commonwealth control of Aboriginal interests
Separation from the Land
The deliberate act of physically setting Aboriginals apart from white settlement
A deliberate attempt to destroy Aboriginal spirituality and their religious links to the land.
Over time, the connectedness between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and the land was broken
The land had an economic value to white settlers which led the government to reclaim reserve land and establish control over the people already living on the reserve
The protectorate system in Australia became a mechanism to physically remove Aboriginal pests from their own land.
Traumatic impact of being separated from the land
Not able to access food on the land
Cultural practices and ceremonies associated with the land could not be carried out
Unable to draw effectively on spiritual power of the Dreaming and the Ancestral Spirits
Restricted in their access to sacred sites
Much tribal lore and law was lost
All aspects of Aboriginal spirituality are intertwined and cannot exist without the other:
Separation from kinship groups
Government policies such as assimilation forcibly removed Aboriginal people from their Kinship groups causing a loss of identity and belonging, not only to their land, but to each other
Policy of self determination created a sense of abandonment which outcast Aboriginal people from their culture but also Western cultures
Health problems such as kidney disease, loss of eyesight, higher suicide rates and rates of incarceration
Stolen Generations
The term applied to Aboriginal children in Australia who were taken from their families and raised to be assimilated into the white community in institutions or through foster care with white families.
PERCEPTION: To protect them from the perceived abuses of the Indigenous communities, to ensure they were given a good education, and to help them assimilate into Western society.
