Religious Expression in Australia’s Multicultural & Multifaith Society Flashcards
What does it mean that aboriginal spirituality is animistic
Everything, including people, plants, animals and landforms are seen as interconnected.
What does it mean that aboriginal spirituality is metatemporal
It is unconstrained by any linear understanding of time; it incorporates the past, present and future.
What does it mean that aboriginal spirituality is esoteric
Aboriginal knowledge is esoteric; known to only a particular nation or group.
Define ‘DREAMING’
The living spirit of aboriginal/TSI beliefs + practices of Aboriginal and TSI people - It is the spirit of their creation and their history, identity, spirituality and culture.
Determines the roles, responsibilities, moral values and provides guidance on how to live their lives.
Structures many indigenous cultures, providing a framework for understanding and interpreting the world and the place of humans within it.
Define the ‘DREAMTIME’
The Dreamtime: The period in which life was created according to the Aboriginal Culture.
What are three things determined by the DREAMING
Kinship
Ceremonial Life
Obligations
Define ‘KINSHIP’
Kinship: refers to an Aboriginal person’s social group (e.g. family or mob) and a system of belonging and responsibilities within a clan.
Complex system that defines social relationships, roles, and obligations within communities, often based on lineage, totems.
This intricate web of relationships also governs land ownership and custodianship.
TRICK CARD - GO READ OVER THE WHOLE OF THIS SECTION
IM NOT JOKING HER
What is the link between kinship and the dreaming
Dreaming stories often explain the origins of kinship systems.
Kinship ties relate people to specific ancestral beings.
Both kinship and the Dreaming connect people to territories and sacred sites.
The Dreaming provides laws governing kinship relationships.
Totems from the Dreaming play a role in kinship structures.
Kinship determines roles in Dreaming-related ceremonies.
What are the three primary foundations of kinship:
Moieties
Totems
Skin Names
Define Moieties
According to moiety, everything is split in half, including you + your environment; each half of these entities mirror the other.
Define Totems
Represent ancestral spirits which link a person to the physical universe; to land, water, geographical features and animals.
Define Skin Names
‘Skin Names’ inform people how they are linked, indicating their bloodline and their obligations to one another.
What are the two major purposes of aboriginal ceremonies
They mark the relationship of Aboriginal peoples to the spirit world and the Ancestral Beings who made the cosmos.
They mark the stages in every Aboriginal person’s life.
How are ceremonies connected to the dreaming?
A ceremony can refer to Aboriginal stories, rituals, song, dance and art.
The Dreaming is the source of ceremonies and rituals - Rituals help maintain an Aboriginal person’s knowledge of the Dreaming.
During ceremonies, ancestral beings, which are taught in the dreaming, present themselves through people, objects, words, and movements.
The dreaming is maintained as a present reality through ceremony.
- Rituals held at sacred sites can re-enact events which occured during the dreaming - importance of ceremonial life to the dreaming.
What is a ‘Rites of passage and initiation’ ceremonies
Rituals or ceremonies to mark significant moments in a person’s life, such as birth, adolescence, marriage
What is the ‘Death and Burial’ ceremony
Ceremonies to honour and bury the dead. Belief in the continued life of the spirits and great care is taken with their possessions and speaking their name.
Describe a smoking ceremony
The Smoking Ceremony is an ancient custom among Aboriginal Australians that involves burning native plants to produce smoke, which is believed to have cleansing properties and the ability to ward off bad spirits. Purpose and significance:
Define ‘Obligations to Land + People’
For Aboriginal peoples, ownership of the land means that they have a responsibility to be stewards; care for it and nurture it.
Define ‘SACRED SIGHTS’ + example
Sacred Sites: Natural areas that hold spiritual importance - often connected to the Dreaming, ancestral beings, or important historical events.
Uluru (Ayers Rock)
For the Anangu people, the traditional owners, Uluru is central to their creation stories and law. It’s believed to have been created by ancestral beings during the Dreamtime and is seen as a place where the physical and spiritual worlds intersect.
Define ‘DISPOSSESSION’
Dispossession = Refers to the eviction, deprivation or expulsion of a person or person’s possession of land or property.
Dispossession was enforced through assimilation policies and protection policies… DEFINE ‘ASSIMILATION POLICIES’
19th century idea that Aboriginal people should be ‘improved’ by being ‘civilised’ and Christianised. Policies took Aboriginal people, particularly “half caste” and placed them into the white community to forget their culture. It also led to separation of Aboriginal children from families - the ‘Stolen Generation’. These people often faced abuse, discrimination and disadvantage.
Dispossession was enforced through assimilation policies and protection policies… DEFINE ‘PROTECTION POLICIES’
aimed to preserve/protect Aboriginal peoples by moving them into missions (based on an European idea of what was best for them). Intent was to isolate Aboriginal people from the rest of the community until their culture died out.
Go read policies of protection and relocation pg 4
DO IT
The continuing effects of dispossession of Aboriginal Spiritualities in relation to: Separation from Land
Provide Examples
This amounts to an enormous loss of identity as the land is inextricably linked to the land and the Dreaming.
By driving them people off their ‘Country’, the European settlers deprived them of their independence, culture + spiritual world.
The relocation of Aboriginal people away from traditional areas resulted in the destruction of families and cultural ties, and sometimes led to animosity between the various traditional groups struggling to survive.
Customary law + authority and a close relationship with the land were also undermined - land was lost to the more powerful settlers.
There is a loss and disruption to one’s purpose, totemic responsibilities, and heritage; cultural erosion.
Cultural practices and ceremonies associated with the land and sacred sites could not be carried out.
People were unable to effectively draw on the spiritual power of the Dreaming and ancestral spirits.
The continuing effects of dispossession of Aboriginal Spiritualities in relation to: Separation from Kinship
Provide Examples
Oral tradition, as inspired by kinship relationships, was fragmented and destroyed due to the separation of families.
Totemic responsibilities, originating from the land, were disrupted.
The role of tribal Elders was undermined
The continuing effects of dispossession of Aboriginal Spiritualities in relation to: Stolen generation
Provide Examples
The ‘forced separation’ or ‘taking away’ of children of Aboriginal mothers and European fathers from their families occurred in every part of Australia from the late 1800s; from the 1950s and 1970s, this was government policy.
During this time, as many as 100,000 children were separated from their families, known as the Stolen Generation; they suffered humiliation, maltreatment, sometimes violence and physical abuse.
The separation took three forms;
Putting Indigenous children into government or church-run institutions.
Adopting children into ‘white’ families.
Fostering children into ‘white’ families.
The ultimate goal was to absorb ‘half-castes’ into the European community.
The children who were taken away lost their identity, culture, language and spirituality, and their self-esteem.
The legacy of separation extends to the dislocation of communities and a spirit of solidarity.
Provide some impacts of dispossesstion
Lower life-expectancy
72 (M) and 76 (F) compared to 81(white M) 85(white F)
Poorer socioeconomic outcomes & discrimination.
2018-19, 24% have diagnosed mental health/behavioural condition
31% of adults reported high levels of psychological distress.
Less formal educational, employment and health opportunities.
High incidences of poor mental health, suicide + substance abuse.
2018-19, 34% of the health gap
Higher rates of incarceration
Define ‘LAND RIGHTS’
Refer to claims by the Aboriginal and TSI people to repossess and/or seek compensation for the use of their traditional lands
What are the ‘three major judicial milestones in rectifying this injustice.’
1992 Mabo decision - recognition of a form of native title to land.
1993 Native Title Act - claims process for native title and regulated future government acts affecting native title land.
1996 Wik decision or The Wik Peoples v Queensland - coexistence of pastoral leases and native title
What is the MABO decision?
1992 High Court judgement in Mabo v. Queensland, that the Indigenous peoples of Australia finally won a case regarding their ownership of land.
The Mabo Decision was the first successful land rights case to overthrow the legal fiction of terra nullius.
The High Court ruling found that a native title to land existed in 1788.
The judgement, made in 1992, is usually referred to as Mabo.
Because the Mer tribes were never taken off Murray Island, Mabo’s lawyers could easily prove “continuing ties to the ancestral land” which further strengthened Mabo’s case.
In the 1992 Mabo decision, the High Court declared that:
Native title exists where the indigenous people have maintained their connection to the land.
What is the Native Title act?
The ownership of land and waters that have always belonged to Aboriginal people according to their traditions, laws and customs.
Form of land title which recognises Aboriginal people as rightful owners of the land.
The Native Title Act 1993 came into force on the 1st January 1994 and recognised the existence of Aboriginal native title in Australian federal law and the native title rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. ALLOWS FOR NATIVE TITLE CLAIMS.
It set up a claims process for native title rights, and regulated future government acts affecting native title land.
Native title is only available to indigenous people who are able to prove a continuous link with the land.
They can only fully claim vacant crown land. They cannot claim “free hold” land.
What was the wik decision?
One year after Mabo, in June 1993, the Wik people claimed native title over some traditional lands on the Cape York Peninsula in Queensland.
The Wik Decision, handed down by the High Court in December 1996 determined that native title could coexist with other rights on land held under a pastoral lease.
Crown land did not need to be vacant to be claimed by Indigenous peoples, but co-existence was not permitted under various circumstances; e.g. Corporate Land, Areas of National Interest, Public Areas etc.
Define ‘RECONCILLIATION’
Reconciliation: ongoing method to resolve social issues between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians. It refers to the ways people/organisations have addressed past injustices, present inequalities and future hopes.
What does reconciliation involve?
Resolving social issues by confronting ongoing injustices and inequalities.
Closing ‘the gap’ to enable Indigenous peoples full participation in society.
Overcoming racism by embracing differences and the beauty of Indigenous culture.
Acknowledging mistakes the trauma inflicted on Indigenous peoples in the past to pave the way for the nation’s healing.
Recognising Indigenous people’s humanity and equal rights in the Constitution to promote a shared history.
Why is reconciliation important?
Recognizes the importance of Aboriginal culture
Recognizes past injustices done to Aboriginal people and their culture
Tries to address ongoing injustices e.g. economic disadvantage
Teaches us the history of injustice so we can learn from this (and not repeat it)
Promotes a harmonious society
What is the The uluru statement of the heart
In 2017, over 250 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander delegates came together to reach consensus on the Uluru Statement, calling for three elements;
A Voice to Parliament enshrined in the Constitution.
A Makarrata Commission to supervise treaty processes and truth-telling.
A Truth-telling Commission.
On the 26th May 2017, this statement was delivered; on the 26th oct, the Australian government rejected the proposal.
In November of 2017, 2500 churches and agencies signed a statement, prepared in consultation with First Nations peoples, expressing disappointment at the government’s rejection; the rejection galvanised the voices of those accepting the ‘gift to the Australian people’ and accelerated the process of reconciliation through the Reconciliation Action Plan ( RAP ) program and interfaith dialogue.
What is one christian example of reconciliation
E.g. Notably in 2022, the National Council of Churches in Australia (NCCA) including the Catholic, Anglican, and Uniting churches, has expressed support for the Uluru Statement from the Heart, which calls for constitutional recognition and a voice for Indigenous peoples in Parliament.
What is one jewish example of reconciliation
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) has publicly endorsed reconciliation principles, participated in National Reconciliation Week, and also expressed support for the Uluru Statement, reflecting a commitment to fostering dialogue and collaboration with Indigenous communities.
What is one Muslim example of reconciliation?
Dr Erian, past president of the Islamic Society of Australia stated; “The Muslim community in Australia is most supportive of Aboriginal reconciliation on moral, humanitarian and prudential pragmatic grounds.”
