The Idea of Nation and Indigenous History - Assignment Example

Running Head: Mini Essay Mini Essay Name Course Lecturer Date Week 1 1. Racism Normally, the word racism is interchangeably used with the words discrimination, stereotyping and prejudice but actually all these term are different. Racism is defined as the belief that there are human beings or groups of individual with a certain characteristic that make them inferior to others. In a deeper definition, racism is defined as the actions, views as well as practices that largely reflect the belief that humanity is widely divided into different distinct biological groupings called races and that individuals in a certain race share some attributes which make that group of members as whole inferior and less desirable. I believe that racial discrimination or what is simply known as racism is normally used to describe discrimination emanating from either an ethnic or cultural basis. Across the world, racism has widely been fueled by the whites towards the blacks. Various organizations such as the United Nations have and continue to condemn both ideologies and practices of racism especially with their signing of the Declaration of Human Rights. Some of the practices linked to racism are, discriminatory behaviors’ based on religion, genders, cultural beliefs and one ethical background. Racism causes some form of fear towards those experiencing it whereby it destroys their confidence and judgment. 2. Indigenous issues and people representation Media representation on aboriginal issue remains a key concern in addressing various issues affecting these communities. The capacity of aborigines to greatly represent their interests and concern continues to be compromised due to minimal access by media. Clearly, while aborigines control their media thus providing a means to communicate their issues, their reach on the different kind of media resources is limited. Today, media display colonial features on who speaks for aborigines and which voices will readily be heard. Research indicate that there have been numerous distortion as well as limitation of various indigenous issues whereby there is a limited representation by the media on racial minorities in overseas as well as Australia (Peters-Little, 2003). There is an under representation of the minorities by media in Australia with key focus on aborigines. It is important to understand that media attention as well as visibility remains highly problematic in capacity of the indigenous people and thus there is need to address this issue. The prevailing issues amongst the indigenous communities need to be address and this can only be achieved by effectively covering of these issues by the media (Walker, 2001). Indigenous community can provide information which can be mainstreamed so as to ensure that their concerns and interests are heard at a national level. Week 2 3. Paintings From Western Imagination, the article to some extent gives the whole story about the paintings. Indeed, one is able to see that in the ‘Slave Market’, the male (buyer) examines an objectified naked female figure while the other male stare in pleasure. As such it clearly states immoral and sexual statements (Stephen, 2002). The ‘Moorish Bath’ on the other depicts racial references as the colors of the two women are clearly shown. Indeed, the paint also brings out sexuality too. However, it is important to note that other critiques may have a different perception from the one in the article (Bohrer, 2003). 4. Orientalist stereotype In “Massage, Scene from a Turkish Bath” by Edouard Debat-Ponsan,a paint of a nude woman being massaged by a black woman. The verticality of the black woman and the striking whiteness of the horizontal woman are outstanding (Sturken & Cartwright, 2001). Indeed, the painting may be said to depict gender stereotype as women in this case may be viewed as erotic object. This is attributed to the fact that the painting is a female centered one. The whiteness of the lady is seen to be a visual delight from a man’s perspective. The blackness of the other woman depicts an untamed active sexuality (Didem, 2010). Week 3 5. Representation of the Aborigines by John Fraser (The Maitland & Hunter River General Advertiser NSW; 1843-1893) Saturday 10 December 1881) In this article, the aborigines are represented as slaves, stubborn and primitive (Mann, 2001). The article represents the Aborigines as primitive when it talks of the nakedness nature. When Pheeny disappeared to the native tribes after fleeing from the severe punishment of the Crown, he joined the black. He stayed naked as them for seven years. The fact that they had no clothes depicted their primitive nature (Fraiser, 1881). The Aborigines were indeed slaves. Pheeny enjoyed the services of three wives who carried his luggage from one place to another. In addition, the troopers packed them as slaves as they taking them to Bingera; a rope from one fellow’s neck to the other and handcuffed. The author also had slaves as he says that the troopers also fastened the handcuffs on the legs of his black servant (Fraiser, 1881). Their stubbornness id depicted by the fact that one of the slaves was drowning in the river and still refused to obey the master. In fact the article clearly states that the slave was pulling the master into the river. Clearly, the Aborigines are generally seen as people who are to be treated as beasts (Mann, 2001). 6. Watkin & Massacres Both in the Watkin Tench book and the Massacres at the Bathurst have different representation of indigenous people with key focus on noble and ignoble savage. In these two texts indigenous people are treated in a very inhumane way whereby they are disregarded and disrespected (Flannery, 1996). Despite them being described to be a race that comprises of a race of individual who have comeliness and beauty they continue to be despite and neglected. The two texts indicate that indigenous communities are noble and in character they are considered to be human. Civility towards them ensured respect from them even when they were not in the wrong (Suttor, 1938). Indigenous people always accessed falsely even when their masters know that they are innocent. The blacks and the whites continue to hate on one another whereby they have been involved in fighting due to the different races they have and where one of the race feel superior over the other. Week 4 7. Radiance Radiance is a film that emotional embraces the audience through the characters. It is a screen that is adapted from the Louis Nowra. The movie is about three daughters who finally reunite after several years of separation to bury their mother. The oldest one-Trisha Morton Evans had earlier returned to look after the ailing mother. As such, she is bitter as in a way she felt that her sisters had forsaken their mother in time of need. The middle sister-Cressy Rachel Maza has had a success international career as an opera singer. Indeed, in this movie, the Aborigine people are represented. With absence of major male characters, Louis Nowra, clearly portray the social life of Aboriginal women (Norwa, 1998). However, one may argue out that their writer, Louis, a “whitefella”, painted a wanting picture about the people. The fact that he is white may explain why he represented the Aborigine people as weak people compared to the white. This is attributed as a result of different facts that may be picked from the movie. Firstly, the family is depicted as low class; the fact that the daughters had different fathers shows that the mother was promiscuous and may have slept with different men in order to gain money and pleasure. As such she was disliked by many people. Due to her state two of her daughters were taken from her and raised in an institution while the other daughter was raised by a different family. In addition, each of the sisters had weakness that may be associated with the poor people. Cressy, the opera daughter had to fight her to way to the top. Her handwork and struggle clearly depicts the life of a low class person, Aborigine person, has to work for something before achieving (Zubic & Philips, 1998). At that moment, it is noted that were not many successful Aboriginal artists, and therefore, had to compete with the white people. Of important to note is the fact that the movie portrays that the Aboriginal people cannot make it without the help of the white people. Still, for children to make it in life, they have to be removed from the care of the parents. The fact that both daughters to be successful in their career (nurse and an opera singer) they had to be removed from their mother and placed under nuns. 8. Aborigine policy The Australian government is embedding Torres Strait islander and aboriginals in schools. The government has realized the Torres Strait and Aboriginal culture as well as identity play an important role in their national identity. The program outlines why school context need to change so as to accommodate the aboriginals (Big Head, 2011). The program was intended to ensure that the needs of indigenous children are improve so as to enhance their participation in their workplaces. Additionally, Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal were embedded in this program so as to enhance their educational experiences which would turn play an important role in enriching the Australian culture and history. The program plays an important role in enabling people to respect as well as acknowledge the different perspectives. Research indicate that this program describe a perfect way of creating a cultural space which is shared and rich within the history of the indigenous people. In my view although this program can be seen to have some aspect of racism, the program is to ensure the good of the aborigines (Assembly of First Nations, 2010). 9. Racism Racism is largely considered to be a word with various pejorative connotations considered to be more instrumental as opposed to being descriptive. Racism across the globe is a term used to describe the actions as well as the views of one group of individuals towards another based on the fact that these two groups are distinguishing by race (Krysan, 1997). The belief of racism is that superiority is usually followed by exclusion of the other group in the society. Racism can be due to various behaviors which largely lie on a definable continuum from disliking some because of his race. This continuum cal lies either in verbal and written incitement and abuse of others. Racism can emanate from an individual or an organization and is mainly linked to people physical traits, culture and personalities. Some of the practices linked to racism are, discriminatory behaviors’ based on religion, genders, cultural beliefs and one ethical background. Racism causes some form of fear towards those experiencing it whereby it destroys their confidence and judgment (Bobo, 2000). Research indicates that the idea of racism is greatly anchored in a social myth in which all human beings belong to a certain species. 10. National Museum of Australia 'frame Indigenous culture' Australian museums have been playing a leadership position in ensuring that the richness of the aborigines’ culture is recognized. Recently, there have been various changes in both temporary and semi-permanent indigenous exhibitions in the national museum of Australia. Due to this, it is quite clear that the museum has adopted various indigenous people exhibition whereby their interpretations are becoming accepted. The Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT) has been in the forefront of maintaining traditional indigenous art and thus promoting the aborigines identity (Michael Pickering and Phil Gordon, 2011). The various national organizations have constantly expanded their commitment to aboriginal culture across the globe. The National Gallery of Australia has been involved in displaying indigenous contemporary art thus promoting their culture that is considered to be rich. The restructuring of the different museums and arts galleries have played a significant role in building the relationship between communities’ origin and the museums (Gordon, 2003). 11. Experience from the tour of the Gallery The tour of the gallery was a very most experiencing thing that I have ever had. The gallery had a lot of art work and exhibition that gave a great sense of the indigenous culture. The gallery had a lot of indigenous culture, cultural heritage and history that enhances this community identity. One of the most interesting concerns in the gallery is the potential conflict that exists between philosophies of rights in heritage, non and indigenous policies. The gallery recognizes that right in cultural heritage exists in an independent way that is encompassed in the knowledge of cultural heritage. The gallery allows its users to have the first experience on the different aborigine cultures. This is very important as the users are able to get new experiences on these communities background. This indeed has provided me with insights not only on the various opportunities but also the challenges faced by these indigenous communities. 12. Insight into Indigenous culture and history Clearly, my experience in the National Museum of Australia gave me the same insight into indigenous culture and history as it relates to the Australia history. For instance, there has been a vigorous role that indigenous communities have played especially in the field of anthropology. The indigenous community continues to have a unique national identity. Indigenous art greatly impacts on the Australian art since it displays an engagement and presentation that give the Australia nation some identity and richness (Bobo, 2000). The gallery recognizes that right in cultural heritage exists in an independent way that is encompassed in the knowledge of cultural heritage. Central to the rise of the indigenous art is the effort in which both present and historical ethnographic and anthropologists continue to explore. Both the present and history stories regarding the indigenous culture have the same comprehensive insights that are adaptive and very rich. 13. ‘Nation’ and ‘indigenous history’ I do not believe that the idea of nation and indigenous history cannot compatible due to the fact that most of indigenous issues continue to be underrepresented. Most of indigenous continue to be discriminated based. Research indicate that though Australia has saw a lot of changes in the 60s, the indigenous community since feel they continue to be left out within the national identity. The demand for equality and justice by the Australian indigenous community has been a long struggle (Bobo, 2000). Today there have been various activist groups that are calling for the unity of the indigenous community so that they can have their own structured and established sense of identity. These activists groups have been in the forefront of fighting to ensure that the lives of the aboriginal community are improved significantly so that the Australian national identity can be complete and rich. References Big Head, R. (2011). Community Responses to Creating a School or Model with an Aboriginal Focus. Indigenous Education Institute of Canada. Assembly of First Nations. (2010). First Nations Control of First Nations Education. Ottawa: Assembly of First Nations. Bobo, L. (2000). Race in American politics: Framing the debates. In D. O. Sears, J. Sidanius, & L. Bobo (Eds.), Racialized politics: The debate about Krysan, M. (1997). Racial attitudes in America: Trends and interpretations. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Berry, R. & Hudson, J. (1997) Making the Jump. A resource book for Teachers of Aboriginal Students, Catholic Education Office, Kimberley Region: Broome, Western Australia. Bohrer, N. (2003). Orientalism and Visual culture : Imagining Mesopotamia in Nineteenth century Europe. New York: Cambridge University Press Didem, E. (2010). Orientalsm, inferiorized fantasy screen: discourses of gender and power in orinetalist art. http://www.academia.edu/2559995/Orientalism_Inferiorized_Fantasy_Screen_Discourses_of_Gender_and_Power_in_Orientalist_Art Education Queensland (2008) Curriculum Guidelines for English as a Second Language (ESL) learners: www.education.qld.gov.au/ curriculum/framework/p-12/esl-learners.html Flannery, T. (1996) (ed.), 1788 Watkin Tench, The Text Publishing Co. Fraiser, J. (1881, December 10). The Aborigines. The Maitland Mercury & Hunter River General Advertiser , p. 1. Gordon, P. (2003). ‘Museums and Indigenous People in Australia: a review of Previous Possessions, New Obligations’, Curator: The Museums Journal, Vol. 46, No. 2, 2003, pp. 208–227. Hollinsworth, D. (2005). My Island home: Riot and resistance in media representations of aboriginality. Social alternative 24(1) 1-6 Mann, R. (2001). "In Denial: the stolen generations and the Right". Sidney: Black Inc Meadows, M. and J. Ewart. 2001. ‘More than skin-deep: Australia’s indigenous heritage.’ In Journalism theory in practice eds. S.Tapsall and C. Varley. Melbourne: Oxford University Press:115-130. Michael Pickering and Phil Gordon, (2011). 'Repatriation: the end of the beginning', in Des Griffin and Leon Paroissien (eds), Understanding Museums: Australian Museums and Museology, National Museum of Australia, published online at nma.gov.au/research/understandingmuseums/ MPickering_PGordon_2011. Nowra, L. (1998). Radiance. Sydney: Currency Press Peters-Little, F. (2003). Nobles and Savages' on the Television. Aboriginal History 27: 16–38 Stephen, F (2002). Nineteenth Century Art: A Critical History. London: Thames & Hudson Suttor M. (1938, June 1). The massacre at Bathurst. The Australian Abo Call, p. 3. Sturken, M & Cartwright, L. (2001). Practises of Looking. New York: Oxford University Press Walker, I. (2001). Changes in prejudice against Aboriginal Australians. In M. Augoustinos & K. J. Reynolds (Eds.), Understanding prejudice, racism and social conflict (pp. 24–42). London: Sage Zubic, M & Philips, R. (1998, August 11). Unhelpful praise for an imperfect movie. World Socialist Web Site, p. 1. Read More