Kevin Gilbert-Australian Indigenous Author - Essay Example

?Kevin Gilbert-Australian Indigenous Artist Overview of the life and background of Kevin Gilbert Kevin Gilbert was an Australian artist born in Condobolin, New South Wales in 1933. He was born of the Kamilaroi and Wiradjuri peoples. Gilbert was born to an Irish father, his mother half-Aboriginal. He was the youngest child in a family of eight children and unfortunately, both his parents died when he was only seven years of age. From then on, Gilbert was brought up by his eldest sister. He managed to attend school but dropped out at age 14, just after completing his fifth grade. After this, he sought employment and managed to secure seasonal itinerant jobs (Williams 1998). Gilbert married a European girl at an early age. In 1957, he was sentenced by a court to life imprisonment following a domestic dispute in which he killed his wife. By this time, the couple had two children. Gilbert spent his life in some of the worst Australian jails. Despite the hardships, Gilbert strove to educate himself during the fourteen years he spent in jail. He sharpened his artistic talents and this made him become a prominent poet, printmaker, playwright and photographer. While still in prison, Gilbert wrote a play entitled The Cherry Pickers, a piece that sought to reveal the lives of aboriginal seasonal workers. This was in 1968 although his works were exhibited for the first time in 1970 in Sydney at the Arts Council Gallery. He became the first aboriginal printmaker to be recognized in Australia, and the first aboriginal playwright whose work/play was performed in Australia. In 1971, he was fortunate to receive a parole and was set free after 14 years of imprisonment. After his release, Gilbert had the chance to produce more volumes of books and poetic pieces. Beston (1977, 456) explains that the major themes that featured in Gilbert’s works were the relationship between whites and blacks, and the theme of mixture of black and white parentage. An example of such a piece is the poem entitled Inhabitant of the Third World. This poem highlighted the treatment of half-caste aboriginals. Evidently, such themes resulted from the fact that by blood, Gilbert was just a quarter aboriginal but while growing up, the whites always treated him as if he was pure aboriginal. This disregard of the extent of his aboriginal blood by the European Australians forced Gilbert to live in the aboriginal community located at the edge of town. At the same time, Gilbert was treated by a lot of skepticism by the aborigines and so he was trapped between two worlds of which neither acknowledged him as one of their own. Despite the difference in treatment, he was more acceptable to the aborigines compared to the European Australians. In 1972, Gilbert became instrumental in the building of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy. He also became the Chairperson of the Treaty '88 campaign, a protest against European Australians and the dispossession of aborigines as well as their land. The campaign fought very hard to ensure the establishment of a treaty enshrining (get alternative)/ acknowledging the rights of the Aborigines and their sovereignty. In this position, he planned the touring photography exhibition that led to the writing of Inside Black Australia. In 1988, he received the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission's Human Rights Award for Literature as appreciation for his anthology of aboriginal poetry. However, he returned it because the aborigines were still being denied human rights in their land (Williams, 1998). Gilbert died in 1993 after suffering from emphysema for a long time. His social and health impact on both Indigenous and Non Indigenous society. For a long time, there was cultural conflict between the aborigines and the whites. The aborigines were being treated like slaves by some whites (Bird and Davis 1999; Gilbert 1978). Gilbert volunteered to become a voice for the aborigines and their determination to get equal human rights. Through his works, especially poems, Gilbert blatantly voiced his concern for the social issues of the aborigines. Unlike other authors, he used a more daring approach to this issue and revealed the lot of bitterness embedded in the black Australians. The aborigines were slaves of a series of government policies and programs that determined their social and political lives. They experienced economic marginalization and were assembled in aboriginal reserves where many of them died of disease. Generally, state intervention and control of the lives of the aborigines was extreme. Apart from highlighting the relationship between the aborigines and the blacks, Gilbert also highlighted the fact that the whites recognized that the aborigines had rightful claims on Australian land. Through this, he stated clearly that by denying them this right, the government was in essence denying the aborigines, their history and culture (McMillan 1998). Through his themes, Gilbert fueled the social uprising among the aborigines who were struggling for justice. This forced the government and the whites to reconsider their treatment of the aboriginals. Castejon (2012) explains that in answer to their demands for freedom, political autonomy, and fair treatment, the government encouraged political integration. His consistent and daring writings of truth, anger and purpose led to the awareness of the social and health needs of the aborigines by the Australian government and invoked its involvement in aboriginal affairs. The government changed its attitude toward the aborigines and instead of making a general emphasis on human rights, the government narrowed its focus on indigenous rights, acknowledging that the aborigines had some rights that were not common to all Australians. To facilitate this, the government begun by addressing issues of land rights, facilitating self-determination, and prohibiting racial discrimination (Chesterman and Galligan 1997). Because of this, the whites began to respecting the aborigines which essentially marked the beginning of peaceful co-existence between natives and the whites. Indigenous health statistics The social determinants of health are social conditions, economic and physical conditions of the people. It also extends to social networks, racism, employment, education, housing among others. The change in government attitude towards the aborigines and its commitment to aboriginal rights led to an improvement of these factors among the aborigines and this directly led to an improvement of their health status. The government began setting aside money for aboriginal health. Through narratives that mix rituals, traditional creation myths, humor and political diatribes, Gilbert addressed the issues of violence, alcoholism and cultural issues rampant among the aborigines and which partly contributed to their social and health issues. Health statistics for the Australian society indicates that the aboriginal health status is lower than for rest of the Australian community. Generally, the aborigines have a higher mortality rate across all ages compared to the non-indigenous. This is three times higher than the national average. The aboriginal infant mortality rate is 2-3 times higher than that of the non-indigenous Australian population and it is thrice higher than the national infant mortality average (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2009). This gives a figure of over 14 deaths per 1000 aboriginal births compared to 5 deaths per 1000 non-aboriginal births. About 80% of these deaths occur among children less than one year old. Other health concerns for children include a high probability of being born underweight. Children are also prone to chest problems because 9 out of 10 of them aged five years and below are constantly exposed to smoke from cigarettes at home (Thomson et al 2010). Middle ear infection is also a common disease and this highly contributes to the generally high cases of hearing problems among the aborigines compared to other Australian population. The rate at which the aboriginals are hospitalized is higher than that of other Australians. The main reasons for the hospitalization of aboriginals aged 15 years and below include injuries from accidents, chest and throat problems, and middle ear infections. Hospitalization among adult men is mainly a result of diseases of the digestive system, chest and heart diseases, injuries from accidents and substance abuse. Aboriginal women are likely to be hospitalized as a result of injuries from accidents, pregnancy and birth complications and, diseases of the reproductive and urinary system. Contagious diseases spread faster among the aboriginals and so they have a higher rates of sickness resulting from diseases which are contagious and life threatening like Gonorrhoea, HIV/AIDS, syphilis, tuberculosis, meningitis, salmonellosis and Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib). The common causes of death among aboriginal populations include injuries, diseases of the respiratory system, diseases of the circulatory system, cancer diabetes and other diseases affecting the endocrine system. Diabetes is about 3.5 times more prevalent among the aborigines than other Australians as shown in figure 1. Gonorrhea is 36 times more prevalent among the aborigines compared to other communities while Chlamydia is 6 times more prevalent. Close to 8.3% of aborigines suffer from chronic hepatitis B and C while the statistic for non-aborigines is only 1.8 (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2008). Kidney disease is affecting a significant percentage of the aboriginal community. According Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2008) End-Stage renal disease (ESRD) is more common among the aborigines than the non-indigenous comminutes as indicated in figure 2. All these health issues make the aborigines to have a life expectancy that is shorter by 18-19 years compared to that of the non-indigenous population. The average lifespan for the aboriginal males is 57 years and that of females is 62 years. These statistics are an indication that the Australian government has failed to adequately address the health needs of its aboriginal people. Although the health and social statuses of the aborigines is far from good, it must be noted that there is a significant improvement in these respects compared to the pre-70s. Currently, aborigines are less discriminated against and face less violence than in the past as noted by Chesterman and Galligan (1997). Yet again, they are treated more humanly and their rights as humans respected to a greater extent than in the past. Furthermore, their representation in Australia’s public offices has significantly increased compared to the latter times (Chesterman and Galligan 1997). The level of violence among the aborigines themselves and with the whites has significantly decreased going by new reports. All these improvements are celebrated courtesy of Gilbert’s enduring efforts to bring sanity to the system. The Australian society in general is coming to appreciate the dangers of excessive drinking and the health and social benefits of remaining sober. In conclusion, Kevin Gilbert’s experiences helped shape his destiny and the destiny of his people. Although condemned for his misdeeds, he strove to change the Australian society for the good by advocating for the rights of the people, condemning violence, and highlighting social issues such as alcoholism. Going by current records, Gilbert deserves to be celebrated more as a hero than a villain for the benefits many Australian, Aborigines, especially, are today enjoying. Appendices Figure 1. Diabetes: proportions of people reporting diabetes as a long-term health condition by Indigenous status, 2004-2005 Figure 2. End-stage renal disease: age-specific notification rates (per million), by Indigenous status, Australia, 2004-2007 Reference List Australian Bureau of Statistics (2009) Deaths, Australia, 2008. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2010) Australian hospital statistics 2008-09. Canberra: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Beston, J. (1977). ‘The Aboriginal Poets in English: Kath Walker, Jack Davis, and Kevin Gilbert’, Meanjin, vol. 36, no. 4, December, 1977, p. 458. Bird Rose D & Davis R (1999), Dislocating the frontier: Essaying the mystique of the outback Australian National University Castejon, V. (2012). Aboriginal Affairs: Monologue or Dialogue? Accessed 8th March, 2012. http://www.api-network.com/main/index.php?apply=scholars&webpage=default&flexedit=&flex_password=&menu_label=&menuID=44&menubox=&scholar=111 Chesterman, J., & Galligan, B. (1997). Citizens without rights: Aborigines and Australian citizenship. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Gilbert, K (1978). Living Black: Blacks Talk to Kevin Gilbert. London: Penguin Books McMillan, P. (1997). Kevin Gilbert and Living Black. Viewed 8th March, 2012. http://www.kooriweb.org/foley/resources/pdfs/181.pdf Thomson N, MacRae A, Burns J, Catto M, Debuyst O, Krom I, Midford R, Potter C, Ride K, Stumpers S, Urquhart B (2010) Summary of Australian Indigenous health, 2010. Williams, E. (1998). Kevin Gilbert. Accessed 8th March, 2012. http://nga.gov.au/retake/artists/00000004.htm Read More