Reconciliation in the Community in Australia - Essay Example

Reconciliation in the Community Number Department Question What I need to do now (in the near future)to bed in the learning I have had this term and incorporate it into your practice framework are multipronged. First, there will be need for me to put to practice, the concepts that I have learnt. This is because these concepts, although encompassing technical aspects of community development (CD), yet are applicable to life’s dynamics, challenges and situation. For instance, the use of some of the fundamental principles (such as reconciliation and justice) of CD may help restore and subsequently nurture relationships that had been broken or strained, both at formal and informal levels. The need to continue sharpening the skills that have been acquired from the lecture halls also remains paramount. For instance, components of interpersonal skills such as active listening, the putting away of stereotyping and the attainment and use of cultural competence are some of the key components of CD, yet they are applicable and practical in day-to-day problem solving. The more these skills and components of CD are sharpened by engaging them, the more an individual stays equipped for any community development-related exercise. This is the point which severs a learner who has engaged CD concepts in the lecture halls as a mere pedantic exercise, from his fellow who has conceptualised the same concepts and has gone beyond the folly of merely keeping newly acquired concepts in the deep recesses of the mind, to incorporate them into forming frameworks for solving life’s challenges. Conversely, the need to apply the CD concepts gathered in CD as a particular field is of great importance. For now, engaging in volunteering programmes during school holidays may serve as a perfect platform for this. Question 2 The personal intent for incorporating what I have learnt about community development into my practice in the future is based on the need to make CD initiatives more powerful and more effective. This is because some of the concepts I have learnt about community development (CD) are: the nature of CD; the components of CD such as the assigning of culture care, reconciliation, justice, active listening (to the community), empowerment, the use of a holistic approach, redistribution and relocation, yet these concepts are the very components which must be adhered to, for any CD initiative to be successful and sustainable. Thus, it is in order to state that my decision to incorporate learnt concepts of CD into my practice is fundamentally based on my desire to make me a successful CD initiator or social worker (Gunstone, 2005, 90). Again, the need to incorporate newly acquired concepts into my CD practice is to help reinvigorate, reinvent and dynamise CD initiatives. This is for instance made a reality by giving CD a more holistic approach. Particularly, courtesy of my interaction with CD concepts, I have come to appreciate why some CD initiatives do not succeed. I have come to acknowledge the issuance of culture care without involving the community and seeking to transform the psyche of the community as burdensome. To this effect, I have come to acknowledge the need to incorporate newly acquired concepts into my CD practice as being important in setting up sustainable CD initiatives which are community-based, since community-based initiatives help take off financial burden from the government or the agency initiating the CD agenda. Question 3 Some of the instances I presently find discomforting when using the faith-based model as an approach to CD (and may still accost me in my future initiatives) are the non-inclusive nature of faith; and the spiritual aspect of faith, upon which the faith-based model is predicated. The non-inclusive nature of the faith-based model is underscored by the fact that not all in the target community can identify with the fundamentals of a given faith. Because of multiculturalism, it is common to find adherents of different faiths, agnostics and atheists. This makes the use of faith-based approach somewhat discomforting. Another discomfort which comes with the use of faith-based approach to community-development is based on the spiritual nature of its framework. Particularly, faith-based frameworks are based on principles of faith, yet these faiths are poignant of the supremacy of afterlife over earthly life. This means that most agencies which initiate CD projects and use faith-based initiatives are usually keen on proselytising. This makes me uncomfortable while using this faith-based model, since I get into CD initiatives, not to proselytise, but to initiate community-based development initiatives. Again, the inability of the faith-based approach to CD to directly address equitable distribution of socioeconomic values leaves with a lacuna, since I find it hard to draw a practical framework based on it. This leaves me feeling inadequate and therefore eats into my confidence. A faith-based model to CD projects is also susceptible to prejudice and prejudgment. For instance, trying to use a faith-based model which is based on Christian values to reach the Aborigines or the Torres Strait Islanders may fail since these groups are likely to associate the socioeconomic injustices and marginalisation with Christianity. I try to solve this problem by avoiding the use of the faith-based model altogether, when possible, or by totally freeing the model of religious elements, whenever the use of the model becomes inevitable. Question 4 Of all the approaches presented during the term, dialogical community development (DCD) resonates with me the most. This is because, the dialogical approach to CD aims at, and factors greatly, the conception of the self and consciousness in turn emphasises communication as a fundamental feature of the human self and of the sacrosanct and potential nature of dialogue (active listening, talking and creating meaning) to heal. The importance of this nature DCD to aim at the human self and consciousness is necessitated by the fact that individual self and consciousness are a component of CD. This above is to the effect that the most powerful or successful CD drive is one that has transformed the mind of an individual. Community-based development cannot be successful outside the provisions of the transformation of the mind of the individual. In another wavelength, the place of reconciliation as a pillar of CD is acknowledged in the DCD model. Again, not only is reconciliation a key ingredient in CD, but the same also heavily relies on the potential nature of dialogue, as encompassing active listening, talking and creating meaning. DCD acknowledges this fact. The sacrosanct nature of reconciliation in the community has its undercurrents in the fact that it brings about healing (Wheaton and Paul, 2010, 44). The ingredients spelt above are fundamentally important to CD initiatives since there cannot be sustainable CD projects without healing, reconciliation, communication, transformation of individuals’ attitude and the individual realising his place in the society. Without these factors being included in CD initiatives, however much may be expended in extending culture care, social workers labour in vain. Question 5 It is obvious that there are characteristics that are to define a social worker, going by the learning module which I have interacted with. This means that there are some characteristics which have had to be learnt, and others, unlearnt. One of the mannerisms which I have had to let go of, is my penchant to judge. Initially, I had been an ardent believer in the strength of human will and as such, I held the view that people are where they are, because of choice. It is when I came face to face with concepts of CD that I realised that reconciliation has to be followed up with socioeconomic justice. In the quest to learn about the interrelationship between socioeconomic justice and CD, I came to appreciate the role historical injustices play in fostering unequal distribution of socioeconomic values, the yawning chasm between the rich and the poor and receding cultures. It is against this backdrop that I came to appreciate the manner in which constitutionally enshrined laws (such as the land ordinances which rendered Australian land terra nullius) structured the environment to the disadvantage of the Aborigines and their cultural and socioeconomic development (MacNamara and Crawford, 2013, 307). In a closely related wavelength, I came to appreciate the need to make a total dereliction on stereotyping. This is because, I learnt that stereotyping untruthfully generalises, encourages blanket condemnation, gnaws into individuality and fosters conformity and may therefore not auger well with a socioeconomically oppressed community when used. Since reconciliation and healing on one hand, and stereotyping on the other are mutually exclusive, dropping the use of stereotypes became inevitable. Being resolute about this supported me to this cause (Rudd, 2008, 1). Question 6 To sustain myself in social work, particularly in CD initiatives over a long haul, a few things took place. One of these things was that I came to love CD and social work, so that instead of engaging in CD or any other form of social work for pay or out of the compulsion of duty, I interacted with it, out of passion. This development did not come through a sleight of hand: it developed in me, imperceptibly and gradually, as I engaged with the pedagogic and curriculum in social work. By the time I had got in the middle of my curriculum, the passion for CD had already consumed me so that it was impossible to imagine another occupation parallel to social work, particularly, community development. Although this value above cannot be externally induced, yet it is key to ensuring consistency not just in social work, but also in any other field. Again, the need to grasp the concepts of social work also remains critical. This is because concepts of social work greatly help an individual appreciate technicalities that define social work, and help in designing successful frameworks. Likewise, a strong grasp of these concepts helps a social practitioner acquire relevant skills that drive sustainable and effective CD initiatives onwards (Veracini, 2013, 320). Among these skills generally referred to above are interpersonal skills and the ability to work in a team. These two are key to successful social work and CD initiatives since active listening, talking and creating meaning depend on interpersonal skills. Workshop and reconciliatory drives cannot be realised without these skills, just as there cannot be community-based development without intercommunal healing, reconciliation and individual transformation and involvement. Final Summary 1. Meaningful Insights That Have Emerged from Your Learning This Term I have acquired several gems from this term’s curriculum. One of the things that I have learnt is that all communities are equal and possess the same ability to develop: there is no community which is lazy or naturally predisposed to poverty. On the contrary, there should be legislation which acknowledges all communities. There should also be the structuring of institutions in a manner that supports equitable distribution of socioeconomic values. I have also come to learn about the interconnectedness that exists between equitable distribution of socioeconomic values and cultural dominance. Communities which are socioeconomically marginalised have their cultures being recessive. 2. How These Insights Compare and Contrast with Previously Held Beliefs, Values or Skills Prior to Acquiring Them These insights stand in stark contrast to the ideas I had initially upheld. Initially, I had thought that some communities were just luckier than others, and that this explained the inordinate distribution of members of different communities in political and socioeconomic circles. Secondly, I had wrongfully surmised that a community’s total way of life (culture) was somewhat disassociated from legislation and the distribution of socioeconomic values. This is because I had not known that culture owes its staying power to political and economic strength. After my acquaintance with this curriculum, I came to understand why English is the world’s most expansive language and has a strong anglicising force. 3. How These Insights Will Be Transferred into Future Practice These insights will be transferred into future practice by providing the frameworks that are to be used to lay the ground for social work and CD initiatives. For instance, the acknowledgement of principles of CD such as individual participation, transformation of an individual’s attitude, communication, reconciliation, healing and justice are going to compel me to ensure that my DC efforts incorporate them and are more holistic. The emphasis that the curriculum has placed on CD initiatives as being totally reliant upon communication has also compelled me to sharpen my interpersonal skills and team spirit. This is because I intend to use interpersonal skills and team spirit to get communities involved in community-based development projects, so as to make the same projects more sustainable, perceptible to the grassroots, and effective. 4. How Future Practice May Have Looked Had You Not Acquired These Insights Had I not acquired the aforementioned insights, my future practice would have been punctuated with spates of failure. This is because I would not have appreciated the developments which underpin underdevelopment, stagnated development and socio-cultural recession. Just as Shapiro (2005, 84) contends, the gravity behind this development is that not only would this state of affairs have made me amenable to stereotyping, but also wrongly informed with social atavism. The failure to be informed about the principles of CD would have also left my CD initiatives bereft of proper frameworks and thus, vulnerable to failure. This fate would have been sealed with the failure to acknowledge interpersonal skills and communication as powerful tools of CD initiatives. 5. Summary of Learning Needs So far, this term’s curriculum which I have been subjected to is comprehensive enough to radically impact and endear any learner to the cause of CD. Lessons on diverse and applicable topics such as reconciliation of the community, the issuance of culture care, community-based development and cultural competence are thus powerful tools for equipping an individual for CD initiatives. Nevertheless, the need to inject the learning curriculum with more practical exercises in different cultural contexts must be reinvented, so as to grace the learning experience with dynamism and practical knowhow. References Gunstone, A. (2005), The formal Australian reconciliation process: 1991-2000, Melbourne, Australia: Monash University. MacNamara, J & Crawford, R (2013), “The construction of Australia Day: a study of public relations as new cultural intermediaries,” Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies, 27 (2), 294-310 Rudd, K. (2008), “Apology to Australia's Indigenous peoples.” Available at: . [Accessed 2013, July 04]. Shapiro, Hillary. 2005. Stereotyping, Prejudice and Communal Wellbeing. Oxford: OUP. Veracini, L 2013, “Setter colonialism: career of concept,” Journal of imperial and Commonwealth History, 41 (2), 313-333 Wheaton, P. & Paul, K. 2010. Culture Care: An Incentive to Reconciliation. OUP, Oxford. Read More