Aspects of Power Interplay in the Media - Assignment Example

Media Report: A Small Town Welcome (Name) (University Affiliation) (Date) Introduction Caught up in a civil war in the Southern part of Sudan, a family of nine had to seek refuge as the environment back at home was wild due to the prevalence of civil war as well as hunger. Consequently, Martin and his family managed to seek refuge in Australia but settling down in Australia was not something easy for the this Southern Sudanese refugees as the country was reluctant to take in refugees possibly because of xenophobia. Fortunately, the Dorrigo community in New South Wales Australia thought otherwise and accepted to live with this Sudanese family. As such, this paper aims at highlighting the various aspects and challenges that the Dorrigo Community underwent as they tried to help the Sudanese family to settle down. The paper will use various theories linked to psychology and sociology in addressing these issues. Question1 The media report titled “Small Town Welcome” is a documentary that clearly depicts the challenges that the refugee groups, as well as the social workers, face in Australia as far as settling issues are concerned. The report vividly reflects the South Sudanese refugee groups as one of the freshly surfaced disadvantaged communities in Australia. Despite the a few social workers, kind families and church communities wanting to give help, the issues of these refugee groups are far from being solved. Most notably, the issue of resettlement of refugee comes along with various aspects such as historical, political, cultural and economic background difficulties. From the media reports, one gets to learn that the South Sudanese community is one of the numerous refugee communities that have been forced to flee their countries due to incessant civil wars, denial of basic human rights such as the social and economic rights, cultural oppression as well as drought and poverty. While settling in Australia, these refugee communities face enormous settlement challenges including cultural adaptation, housing, adaptation with the education system as well as employment issues. When settling in Australia, the refugee communities find it challenging to integrate into mainstream services and the new culture. This situation has also been discoursed in many studies. For instance, in his study, Atem (2010) observes that the South Sudanese communities, as well as other African refugees, are facing worse challenges compared to other migrants and refugees in Australia because of their staunch African cultural beliefs. In other words, the values, as well as practices being depicted in their new environment, are more often than not inconsistent with the African refugee’s traditional way of engaging community groups. An exquisite analogy in the documentary is seen when the Australian locals, who have embraced a South Sudanese family in their community, find it inappropriate for Ijur, a teenager, to do all the household chores while Martin the father does nothing to help. Martin is deeply conformed in his cultural beliefs which prohibit a man from entering the Kitchen. As such, a cultural conflict arises here, whereby the Australian locals who have accepted to help the South Sudanese family, are having a big challenge in changing refugee’s cultural practices that somewhat promote inequality. It is a scenario whereby the volunteering social workers are caught in an ethical dilemma. Whereas they are supposed to help the refugees and at the same time respect their cultural and religious beliefs and practices, they are supposed to promote equality and discourage any social vice such as inequality. As Pitt (2011) postulates, the social workers are ambassadors of peace and as such, should work towards promoting diversity in their practices in order to combat oppression. But then again, while embracing diversity, they must promote equality hence making it difficult for the social workers to balance the two aspects: equality and diversity. The discourse being depicted in the media report, “A Small Town Welcome,” is closely related to the social capital theory, whereby both the South Sudanese refugee communities the (receiving group) and the Local Australian communities (the giving group) are expected to facilitate their social relations. They need to share social capital resources such as norms, networks and trust for bothe the groups to live peacefully and co-exist. In the documentary, the local Australians hosting the Sudanese refugee family are striving towards building a good relationship with the new family but also conscious of the fact that some cultural values that undermine equality must go. Another aspect evident in the report is the fact that African refugees are settled in higher income nations such as Australia hence facing particular challenges including family breakdown, racism and discrimination as well as unemployment and parenting. Consequently, the high costs associated with the Australian housing market have brought about considerable consequences to the socially and economically disadvantaged South Sudanese Communities as well as other minority groups. Question 2 In the report, the issue of power is seen right from the refugee’s home country whereby the South Sudanese refugees are victims of a power struggle between Islamic forces and the Christian forces who are fighting for resources and dominance of the other. The concept of power in the documentary can be closely associated with the social work theory, which often begins with a conflict rather than an order perspective. Accordingly, from the documentary, we can see that the family of nine was caught up in between a civil war where opposing sides were fighting due to conflicting interests. The Southern Sudanese, which comprises of Christians, were fighting against the Northern Sudanese, who are affiliated to the Islamic faith. The Northern Sudanese were fighting to take control of the South Sudanese oil reserves as well as convert the Christians hence ruling them. During this civil war hundreds of thousands were displaced hence forced to seek refuge in other countries around the globe including Australia. As Atem, (2010) posits it is estimated that approximately 25,000 South Sudanese families are currently living in Australia and a majority of this population moved in Australia between 2002 and 2007 (Atem, 2010). In effect, this situation is clearly explained by the structural social work theory which argues that the society constitutes of a set of groups with conflicting interests who compete for power, resources as well as the imposition of their own ideological views of the world. In essence, social issues are often as a result of “defective rules,” which certainly pathologizes those marginalised individuals. According to Swartz (2012), the social problems that are often seen in the society are as a result of the consequence of institutional arrangement which are seen to maintain social hierarchies instead of addressing the faulty socialisation of individuals. In relation, to the media report, the South Sudanese refugee family of the Dinka origin has been stripped of their power to choose to live in their country harmoniously where they could seek for economic, social and political empowerment. They have been forced to be dependent upon other powers in a foreign land where they have to conform to the values and norms of the Dorrigo community. They have moved to a country where Martin, the head of the house is forced by the society to help in household chores, which is against his cultural beliefs. Here, we see a new force or power that seeks to change the cultural ways of Martin’s family. Moreover, as refugees, Martins family has to depend on the social workers for money and food since he is still in school hence yet to secure an employment opportunity. As such, the dependency indicates that Martin does not have economic power. QUESTION 3 As Flap and Völker, (2010) hypothesize, the central principle of social capital accentuates not just warm feelings and empathy, but a broad range of relatively specific benefits that come from the reciprocity, trust cooperation as well as cooperation linked to social networks. In other words, social capital brings about value for the people who are connected. It incorporates the links, shared values as well as the understandings in the community, which gives people as well as groups the opportunity to trust each other hence working in harmony (Leenders & Gabbay, 2013). In relation to the media report, “A Small Town Welcome,” the Dorrigo community in Australia has ensured that the new Sudanese family, which was set to join them, finds a conducive environment to call home. The community had to ensure that Martin’s family is covered well in all aspects of their lives including their economic, social as well as political welfares. In order to take care of their large family, which is comprised of nine members, the Dorrigo community looked for a three-bedroomed house that the Sudanese family would call home. This was big step in establishing trust between the new family and the community. Through this arrangement the family felt cared for and as such felt at home once again, though in a foreign land. Furthermore, for the children and the father to understand English, in order to have an easy time to communicate with the locals, the community enrolled them in a local school. Another significant action performed by the community, which can be linked with the development of social capital is the will to help the new family with a different cultural background to adjust to the Australian way of life. For instance, some members of the community helped the new family how to pack sandwiches for lunch at school as well as how to prepare the Australian dishes. The new family was also shown how to use money. In a certain scene, Martin is seen socialising with the second-generation dairy farmers hence getting various perspectives of both the social and economic benefits. Evidently, all these actions help in developing social capital as the new South Sudanese family is able to bond with a set of foreigners who are supposed to be their neighbours for rest of their lives. The actions are also significant in lowering the social ladder that is often evidenced in the society (Brian, 2007). The Dinka Family does not feel as second class citizens. Moreover, they do not feel as if they are from the lower class because of the help and embracement they get from the Dorrigo community. Question 4 To begin with, from the media report, I have gathered that even though everyone is bound to accept help, the service providers must anticipate ethical dilemma along the way. As much as a social worker will always have an open mind that accepts and understands people’s different way of thinking as well as engaging in their cultural practices, he or she must always stand up for equality. Evidently, some cultural aspects somewhat undermine the rights of others and if directly confronted, the receiving group can get hostile and even refuse to be helped due to the difference in worldviews. In relation this, I have observed that respect for diversity is vital for any social worker as it is a well-established tenet associated with the social work profession or practices. This principle is strongly buttressed by Pitt (2011), who believes that the respect for different values, cultures as well diversity should be the number one rule for any social worker or service provider. Social workers must be ready to understand the multi-dimensional landscape associated with diversity. The multi-dimensional aspect here relates to the difference in races, religion, as well as disability to age. Social workers must be able to put or understand the challenges that come along with alienation, marginalization as well as oppression. I now understand that putting the aspect of diversity into practice can often be difficult because of the expected subtle nuances caused by the “receiving groups.” As such, peer learning among the social workers can be of great significance. Looking at the documentary, there was a point where some of the concerned Dorrigo locals had to assemble and strategize on how they could change Martin’s strong held cultural beliefs that undermined the rights of her daughter. According to the local community members, the twelve-year-old girl was being overworked with the household chores based on her gender. But the problem was how the community could approach Martin without creating any conflict or tension on the already positive relationship they had established. Therefore, peer learning is an important aspect that should be implemented. One intervention that I would seek to implement is associated with the introduction of counseling sessions for individuals who are receiving help in order to prepare them psychologically as they enter a new environment. For instance, from the media report, one would realize that the refugee family was welcomed and accepted into a new environment with new norms and way of living without being offered counseling sessions. This is the reason they were experiencing culture shock. The other important intervention would be to open communication avenues for the victims receiving help hence addressing various issues that could be bothering the victims’ mind. The aspect of communication is often significant in any program of work as it helps individuals to know what is happening Conclusion In summation the paper has successfully delineated the discourse that is depicted in the media reported form the reporter’s perspective. Further, the paper has identified the various aspects of power interplay in the media report as well as the community’s actions towards the development of social capital. Ultimately, the paper has indicated the possible interventions that can be implemented to address the challenges depicted in the media report. References Atem, P. (2010). An investigation of the challenges facing African refugee communities in the Australian workforce: findings from a qualitative study of Sudanese and Liberian refugees in South Australia (Doctoral dissertation, Macquarie University). Flap, H., & Völker, B. (2010). Creation and returns of social capital: a new research program. Leenders, R. T. A., & Gabbay, S. M. (Eds.). (2013). Corporate social capital and liability. Springer Science & Business Media. Pitt, V. (2011). Promoting diversity in social work practice to combat oppression – Communit Care. Community Care. Retrieved 29 March 2016, from http://www.communitycare.co.uk/2011/02/25/promoting-diversity-in-social-work practice-to-combat-oppression/ Swartz, D. (2012). Culture and power: The sociology of Pierre Bourdieu. University of Chicago Press. Brian, K. (2007). OECD Insights Human Capital How what you know shapes your life: How what you know shapes your life. OECD Publishing. Read More