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Cross-cultural Skills & Awareness
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Our hidden biases. Test your unconscious racial associations.
18 May 2011 10:45 PM | 1 Comment
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Predatory systems maintaining Indigenous disadvantage: Some examples
01 July 2010 6:21 PM | 5 CommentsAs was discussed in the previous article, one of the limit conditions that create Indigenous "poverty" is that people must engage in strange cultural spaces, controlled by the Dominant Culture. But what are the systems that maintain peoples lack of control in these spaces. I put forward a range of possibilities, some more controversial than others.
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Latest Headlines
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An Indigenous voice – How is Yolngu law separate from the Governments Law
Posted on January 12, 2009 | No CommentsHere is a YouTube video that is worth watching because it contains the genuine voice of an Indigenous a significant person from one the remote communities most effected by recent Government polices. She speaks of why she sees her people's Law and the Mainstream Law of Australia of the 'Balanda' (the Europeans/non-indigenous) as separate from each other. -
An example of disempowerment- Why dont you talk to us first?
Posted on December 21, 2008 | 1 CommentThe Elder speaking was quite irate about decisions that had been made by Goverment and organisations that had not been discussed with local leaders. "Why don't you Balanda explain to us what are your plans?... You don't talk to us... You just change things." ... -
How do Indigenous Languages help Learning outcomes?
Posted on December 8, 2008 | No CommentsTo some we may be beginning to sound like a broken record, always talking about the importance of using Indigneous languages. But the reason I continue to talk about this is because many Australia personnel and agencies have so much trouble really absorbing the importance of starting with local languages. So lets say it as simply as possible. If a hearer does not understand well the language being used then ZERO meaning or information may be being conveyed. How can this be? Let's break it down... -
Four hours in English – An Indigenous bilingual teacher’s experience.
Posted on November 28, 2008 | No CommentsA growing group called ‘Friends of Bilingual Learning’ (FOBL) sprang up a few months ago and its members are actively involved in the debate over Marion Scrymgour’s decision to relegate the use of local Indigenous languages to only 1hour a day at all bilingual schools. ... -
Four hours in English – The NT Government’s Indigenous ed. plan built on misinformation.
Posted on October 17, 2008 | 7 CommentsThe NT Minister for education argues that Indigenous languages have no place in teaching literacy and numeracy in remote indigenous schools and has announced that the first 4 hour of every school day must be in English. Support for the Government's position seems to be based on a few misunderstanding about way learning actually operates on remote indigenous communities. Let's briefly explore the reality in the bilingual community schools this will effect. -
Are we closing the gap? – Discussion paper
Posted on October 7, 2008 | No CommentsHas the Governement's approach over the last 2 years had any positive effect on Aborignal and Torrse Strait Islander communities? The present Labour Federal Government along with the Northern Territory Government have a policy approach called "Closing the Gap." But is their approach working? Richard Trudgen the author of "Why Warriors Lie down and Die" has written a discussion paper on this topic called "Are We heading in the right direction? 'Closing the Gap' or making it bigger?" -
Loss of Indigenous Languages – symptom or underlying cause?
Posted on September 1, 2008 | 1 CommentLanguage is mastery, who ever controls language controls information and those who lack information are marginalised. When we talk of equal rights for indigenous peoples, the right to hear and be heard using their native languages should be at the top of the list, because it give people mastery over their own lives. -
Punishing Parents – forcing attendence using welfare
Posted on August 30, 2008 | No CommentsThe latest issue before us is a policy presented by Kevin Rudd and Jenny Macklin to suspend the welfare payments of parents whose children do not attend school. Even if this policy is implemented nationally it hugely discriminates against Indigenous parents, because many Indigenous people in Australia live in situation that are wholly different to other Australian. Yet indigenous parents in North East Arnhem have adopted a wide range of strategies to try to improve their children's prospects. We look at some examples... -
Closing the Gap Part 2 – A Yolŋu petition and an Ivory tower.
Posted on August 24, 2008 | 1 CommentIn Yirrkala on the 23rd July 2008, the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and his cabinet were presented with a petition by a dozen key Yolŋu Indigenous leaders. The petition requested that the Federal Government begin the process of negotiation with Aboriginal people in order to recognise and protect Aboriginal rights in the constitution. How did Mr Rudd respond?... -
The socially awkward, and the extrovert in other cultures
Posted on August 16, 2008 | 1 CommentHave you ever noticed how it seems that other people just seems to know what they are doing when it come to relating to other people? I believe that no one really does know what to do, how we act and what we say in...