Traditional Aboriginal People Costume
Every day, cultural difference is accepted as normal and unremarkable. Difference
is not a barrier but rather, it acts as a motive of bringing people together,
not always to create something as strong as friendship, but to enable the “recognition
of acknowledgement of otherness in situational specificity.” Therefore,
nurturing respect for cultural diversity is a goal of the Australian education
system.
The role of education is “building a democratic, equitable and just
society, a society that is prosperous, cohesive and culturally diverse and that
values of Australia’s Indigenous cultures are a key part of the nation’s history,
present and future.” However, the recent incident of the publication of a
photograph of university students dressed up to look like ‘traditional’
Aboriginal people at an annual college dinner in the Sydney Morning Herald has heated
up a number of indigenous Australians from around the country.
The photo depicted eight students with wild hair, holding sticks, and
limbs and faces painted brown. Their dress up was supposed to be giving a
tribute to indigenous Australians, however, as the picture made its way online
to social networking sites , their actions were interpreted as mockery and
demeaning, resulting the demand for rapid re-education programs.
The university’s students’ ignorant behaviour are described as ‘a young
person’s uneducated approximation of Aboriginal life.’ Because Australia denied
Aboriginality for so long, the understanding of the religious and cultural
significance of ceremony isn’t in the community, ultimately, this misunderstanding
incident showed a deep ignorance of Aboriginal culture and religion in
Australian society.
Like many culturally diversified societies, schools in Australia are
expected to deal with complex multiple identities, thus strengthening social
cohesion and cultural understandings have long been goals of Australian schooling.
The Australian history taught to students at school covers a fair amount of
Aboriginal content, but it is clear that although we are taught about
Indigenous mistreatments and reconciliation, their culture itself is not yet
emphasized.
The government has initiated Aboriginal Culture programmes programs for
educators appointed to teach in schools with a significant Aboriginal
population, however it should be considered to introduce these programmes to
all schools so a better understanding of the social, cultural, environment and
educational issues that exists in a diverse range of contexts in Aboriginal
communities.
References:
·
Ho, C. (2011). Respecting the presence of others:
School micropublics and everyday multiculturalism. Journal of the Intercultural Studies, 32(6), Pg. 603-619
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