Aboriginal people today and their struggle for survival E-Book

• Herausgeber: GRIN Verlag
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Beschreibung

Pre-University Paper from the year 2009 in the subject Didactics for the subject English - Applied Geography, grade: 14 Punkte, , language: English, abstract: Australia is one of the wealthiest countries in the world. It is well renowned for its beautiful cities, the splendid countryside and its thriving economy. In addition to that, it plays a significant role in world affairs and is highly regarded for its scientific, cultural and sporting achievements. Thousands of people travel there every year to enjoy the easy way of life and many even emigrate to start over in Australia, dreaming of opportunity, individual liberty and equality. The facade of abundance crumbles when taking a closer look at the dire living conditions of the Aboriginal Australians. In the midst of all this plenty indigenous Australians have to lead a life of privations. They suffer from extreme exploitation and struggle desperately to realise acceptance, a situation which is deeply shameful in a presumably civilised country where everybody should be granted equal chances to pursue happiness, regardless of ethnic affiliations. Aboriginal people have a special place in Australia´s identity. Their central role in the appealing idea of Australia is of paramount importance. The colourful and entrancing customs and traditions of Aboriginal Australians can easily be regarded as a part of the most popular heritage of the world, but at the same time they suffer from being one of the least respected. In most cases the people themselves are only perceived as alcohol addicts, derelicts and misfits1 - a blemish in the immaculate and `white´ appearance of the nation. [...] 1 see: Leitner, Gerhard: Die Aborigines Australiens. p. 7

Leseprobe

Table of Content

A Introduction

B Aboriginal people today and their struggle for survival

I. Where did things go wrong?

1. Historical background

2. Land rights

3. Stolen generations

II. Present situation

1. Housing

2. Education

3. Employment

4. Health

a) Health in general

b) Alcohol consumption

5. Oppression

a) Racism

b) Policing

6. The vicious circle closes up

Page 2

16III. Can the `fight´ really be won?

161. Are respective cultures reconcilable?

172. Struggle for equality by means of the case of Cathy Freeman17a) Olympic Games 200018b) Cartoon ”Why can´t you all be like Cathy Freeman?“

183. Learn to say „I´m sorry“

20IV. Forward looking

C Conclusion22

D Appendix23

23I. Bibliography

28II. List of figures

Page 3

A Introduction

Australia is one of the wealthiest countries in the world. It is well renowned for its beautiful cities, the splendid countryside and its thriving economy. In addition to that, it plays a significant role in world affairs and is highly regarded for its scientific, cultural and sporting achievements. Thousands of people travel there every year to enjoy the easy way of life and many even emigrate to start over in Australia, dreaming of opportunity, individual liberty and equality.

The facade of abundance crumbles when taking a closer look at the dire living conditions of the Aboriginal Australians. In the midst of all this plenty indigenous Australians have to lead a life of privations. They suffer from extreme exploitation and struggle desperately to realise acceptance, a situation which is deeply shameful in a presumably civilised country where everybody should be granted equal chances to pursue happiness, regardless of ethnic affiliations.

Aboriginal people have a special place in Australia´s identity. Their central role in the appealing idea of Australia is of paramount importance. The colourful and entrancing customs and traditions of Aboriginal Australians can easily be regarded as a part of the most popular heritage of the world, but at the same time they suffer from being one of the least respected. In most cases the people themselves are only perceived as alcohol addicts, derelicts and misfits1- a blemish in the immaculate and `white´ appearance of the nation.

In the recent decade the apparent trend was that working towards integration and equality for the Aboriginal people and the process of reconciliation with the rest of the Australian population were of special interest. But concerning these policies the question arises if improvement is actually realised or if these efforts are just exploited to sustain the illusion of a coherent society. It is to ask if integration is desirable at all as it may easily get connected with the loss of cultural identity. At this point it is questionable if the Aboriginal culture can exist next to the genuinely dominant western culture without getting absorbed.

A debate about the present deprivation and the solutions is essential for effective improvement to the situation of the Aboriginal people in futuretime. This study seeks to

1see: Leitner, Gerhard:Die Aborigines Australiens.p. 7