Truth Flashcards
Indigenous worldviews (4):
- Continuous and not fixed in a time period.
- Explanation of creation.
- Provides basis for life.
- Provides a set of rules for living (incl. relationships, economics, culture, ceremonies).
Country in Aboriginal English
It is both a common and proper noun. It can be talked about in the same way you would speak about a person. You can feel sorry for country, sing to country, speak to country.
A challenge in studying Indigenous knowledge:
- So much knowledge is held in the minds of elders, which is then shared orally. Therefore accessing this information can be challenging.
Impacts of the colonial occupation (4):
- Disease.
- Violence (incl. massacres).
- Dispossession and displacement.
- Segregation and assimilation.
Two contemporary examples of dispossession/destruction of sacred Indigenous land:
- ‘Rio Tinto blasted ancient aboriginal caves for $135m of iron ore’.
- ‘Sacred 350-year-old Indigenous tree cut down for Victorian highway upgrade’.
Understanding dispossession (4):
- Belief that Indigenous people were less than human.
- Legal fiction of Terra Nullius.
- Emergence of the idea of ‘race’.
- European enlightenment: right/duty to share it.
Race as a classificatory concept (3):
- It is hierarchal; and difference is not neutral.
- It links physical characteristics to cognitive, cultural and moral one.
- Thus, race is not a negotiable condition but a destiny, one whose principal outward sign is the body.
Coloniality (2):
- It is a structure, not an event.
- Coloniality…refers to long-standing patterns of power that emerged as a result of
colonialism, but that define culture, labor, intersubjective relations, and knowledge production well beyond the strict limits of colonial administrations.
Indigenous massacres in Australia (3):
- Appin massacre (caused by an expansion of colony… Indigenous peoples were slaughtered after they retaliated. Heads were exchanged for money and rum).
- Myall Creek massacre (perpetrators were convicted and hanged, but some were unable to understand why white men should be put to death for killing Indigenous people).
- Coniston massacre (occurred in 1928. More than 60 Indigenous people were slaughtered over an alleged killing of a white man. No perpetrators were convicted as they claimed self-defence).
Aboriginal policy in Australia (2):
- Protection policy.
- Assimilation policy.
Protection policy (1860-1930) [3]:
- Acts within the policy allowed the regulation of an Aboriginal person’s life in all aspects (e.g. where they/their children could live; where they worked; allowance; who was Aboriginal).
- The settlements (i.e.- missions, reserves) created through this legislation were administered, rather than free, communities. The manager of the settlement had all the power of a Poor Law overseer or jail warden.
- Goal: eventually the Aboriginal population would die out.
Assimilation policy (1930-1970):
“The policy of assimilation means that all Aborigines and part-Aborigines (sic) are expected to attain the same manner of living as other Australians and to live as members of a single Australian community, enjoying the same rights and privileges, accepting the same customs and influenced by the same beliefs as other Australian”
See the example of ‘dog tags’.
Post-colonisation (2):
- ‘Postcolonailism’ is a critical analysis of imperialism the cultural legacy of colonisation.
- The oppressive effects of colonisation upon Aboriginal and Strait Islander people are enduring (e.g. structure; production of knowledge and ideas).
Neocolonialism (2):
- Imperial powers assert their control other nations through economic and political means, rather than direct control.
- Increasingly applied by/to cultural and minority populations within imperial nations.
Enduring consequences of colonisation (2):
- The stolen generation and the removal of Indigenous children from their families.
- The incarceration of Indigenous people.
