Journal of Indigenous Wellbeing
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Daring to speak the truth: de-constructing and re-constructing reconciliation
Get PDFReconciliation has been on the political agenda in Australia since the early 1990s and is now planted firmly in the public conscience. Australia celebrates reconciliation every year; political leaders talk often about reconciliation; schools teach reconciliation. Yet, if you take as performance indicators the gap in life expectancy, or the increasingly disproportionate numbers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in prison, one has to question whether Australia is walking further away from the work that is needed to heal and achieve true reconciliation. In this paper we will draw on our experiences of working within church and education contexts and critically engage with the challenges and limitations of reconciliation as we have encountered them. We suggest that it is necessary to talk about reconciliation in terms of a human rights agenda and make explicit the connections between reconciliation and policy and practices. As Lowitja O’Donoghue has said, “we must accept the truth of our history – it is the truth that will set us free”. But how do we dare to speak the truth when the dominant political discourse focuses on the perceived success of reconciliation?
Finding pathways for bite prevention and decreasing dog populations: The process of animal control for indigenous communities in Canada
Get PDFIn Canada, an average of 1-2 fatal dog attacks in indigenous communities occur per year. The majority of these deaths have involved free-roaming or semi-restricted dogs. In many indigenous communities in Canada, especially those in northern or remote locations, increasing dog numbers are considered to be a dangerous and emotionally charged issue. Dealing with the issues that these animals create in communities requires having a population management plan and dog bite prevention program in place. However, developing a community supported comprehensive intervention can be complicated. Research focused on three separate communities in which the communities themselves worked to create successful solutions for their own perceived issues. This article is the result of work within the three communities to highlight certain issues they noted on their road to creating sustainable programs for dog control.Community A shares the progress of working towards a sustainable program, which focused on building support in the community for new community designed legislation. Community B shares the process of developing effective bylaws. And Community C shares the experience of enforcing the bylaws. Developing enforceable and appealing legislation in Canadian First Nations communities can often be fraught with difficulties due to the multilevel approval process involved. In addition, finding common ground for all community members requires substantial diplomacy, engagement and knowledge of all impacted community partners over an extended period of time. We discuss the steps and stumbles taken in developing and enforcing such legislation, and provide recommendations for communities looking to determine their desired goals, create their own ‘dog bylaw’ or begin the process of managing dogs within their own boundaries
Lateral violence within the Aboriginal community in Adelaide: “It affects our identity and wellbeing”
Get PDFThe term “lateral violence” describes how members of an oppressed group direct their dissatisfaction inward. This paper reports on qualitative interviews with 30 local Aboriginal participants in Adelaide, South Australia. The purpose was to explore understandings, awareness, experiences, and effects of lateral violence. Most participants completed two questionnaires (the Kessler-5 and negative life events scales) in order to gain further insight into their wellbeing and its association with experiences of lateral violence. Overall, four major interpretative themes emerged from interviews: the predominantly covert and insidious nature of lateral violence; the relationship between racism and lateral violence; challenges to identity as acts of lateral violence; and the destructive effects of lateral violence on wellbeing. The wellbeing scales indicated overall that participants’ psychological distress was in the moderate range, with 29% scoring in the high/very high psychological distress range. Many of the participants with high distress levels relayed traumatic narratives of lateral violence and were exposed to a number of negative life events. It is hoped that by increasing awareness of lateral violence and its effects, this will assist in preventing lateral violence incidences within Indigenous communities
Tuia Te Ao Mārama: Lessons for transformative indigenous mental health services
Get PDFTuia Te Ao Mārama is an oral history project shaped in the recordings of Māori mental health nurses who practised from 1950 to 1990 in Aotearoa (New Zealand). Fifteen Māori mental health nursesfrom various iwi (tribes) in Aotearoa were video interviewed by a team of Māori mental health nurses from Te Ao Māramatanga, New Zealand College of Mental Health Nurses. Qualitative semi-structured oral interviews were completed with a range of participants. The data was abstracted, transcribed and analysed, utilising a kaupapa Māori methodology.In this article we present five narratives from Tuia Te Ao Mārama, a snapshot of experiences of Māori mental health nurses. From these stories we identify cultural themes of importance to Māori mental health nurses relevant to improving Māori mental health outcomes. These are taonga tuku iho (the treasures and teachings passed down from their ancestors), pūkengatanga (expertise), te reo me ona tikanga (Māori language and customary practise), rangatiratanga (leadership), and kaitiakitanga (preservation). We conclude with the key messages in these selected narratives, and consider the potential lessons for the transformation of mental health services that more aptly and effectively meet the needs of Māori.This article is based on a presentation given at the Seventh Gathering: Healing Our Spirit Worldwide, Hamilton New Zealand, 2015.
Transforming the normalisation and intergenerational whānau (family) violence
Get PDFWhānau (extended family networks) are the fabric of any indigenous community and society. For many whānau violence has become a normalised way of functioning, and persists as a way for its members interacting generation after generation. Māori (indigenous peoples of Aotearoa [New Zealand]), similar to other colonised indigenous peoples, are challenged by the widespread and corrosive nature of violence within their whānau and wider community. Mokopuna (indigenous children) growing up in homes with abuse and violence maintains the intergenerational transmission of violence as an acceptable way of functioning because they are often without opportunities to learn alternative non-violent modes of interacting. Living with violence heightens their risk of becoming victims, perpetrators or both (Burnette & Cannon, 2014; Smith, Ireland, Park, Elwyn, & Thornberry, 2011). Strengthening and restoring whānau cultural identities and traditional values is crucial to halting family violence normalisation and intergenerational transmission. In this paper, opportunities to disrupt violence will be discussed briefly drawing on lessons embedded in our cultural traditions, and insights and experiences of participating in the New Zealand Family Violence Death Review Committee and The People’s Report
Reclaiming tradition and re-affirming cultural identity through creating Kangaroo Skin Cloaks and Possum Skin Cloaks
Get PDFWiradjuri people traditionally made Kangaroo Skin Cloaks and Possum Skin Cloaks to wear for warmth and protection. They were highly valued items used for trade as well as marriage gifts or peace offerings. The cloaks were also used for ceremonial purposes, where the underside of the pelt is incised with various designs to indicate the person’s Moiety and Totemic connection as well as their journey through life and that person’s status within Nations and across Clan groups. As Aboriginal people were colonised and cultural transmission was criminalised, government blankets replaced the Kangaroo and Possum Skin Cloaks and cloak making skills were not allowed.In this paper I talk about the Kangaroo and Possum Skin Cloaks created. Through the process of creating the cloaks I utilise and share knowledge from my Elders and I am re-learning Wiradjuri symbols.While my cloaks have been exhibited in museums and art galleries, they are also a personal gift for whom they are made and include: family histories, bloodlines telling their story using designs which are symbolic of that person. Traditionally the cloak would be worn by the person it was designed for in all ceremonies, initiations and be an extension of that person