Some may argue that the health issues are genetic, but health means more than the absence of disease. A look at the history of colonization and the creation of the reservation system that forced removal of children to far away communities and institutions, relocation to unfamiliar lands and tortured relations caused suffering from inequality. This directly affected the health and well being of the Aboriginal communities.…
Many Indigenous Australians are experiencing poor health than other Australians. Frequently they are dying at much younger ages. A healthy, supportive environment gives a protection from physical and mental abuse and opportunities for personal development. As well as education and employment, as a result, these are all essential for a long happy life. The organisation I chose to do my report on is an Aboriginal Health Council of South Australia. This is an Aboriginal community controlled organisation in its own rights. This report provides the organisations History their aim and objectives. Also, it includes the services they provide to their members and their contact details. By choosing this organisation, it will provide…
Garvey, D. (2000). Torres Strait Islander people, history and health. In P. Dudgeon, D. Garvey &…
After the industrial revolution, imperialism became a common practice of European nations to take over weaker nations or regions and dominates its economic, political, and cultural life. Imperialism affected many countries in Asia such as China, India, Japan, and Africa. European expansion began in the 15th century however the process greatly accelerated in the 19th century.…
There is a clear relationship between the social disadvantages experienced by Indigenous people and their current health status [1]. These social disadvantages, directly related to dispossession and characterised by poverty and powerlessness, are reflected in measures of education, employment, and income. Before presenting the key indicators of Indigenous health status, it is important, therefore, to provide a brief summary of the context within which these indicators should be considered.…
According to sociologist Paula S. Rothenberg, “it is impossible to understand the world that we inhabit . . . without attending to the colonial past that has shaped it” (Rothenberg, pp.76). Beginning roughly in the late fifteenth century, European powers, such as Great Britain, France, Portugal, and Spain, gradually amassed global empires, with colonies and trading posts on multiple continents. Though some colonies were meant for European settlers, the majority were established for their access to natural resources and potential for crop cultivation. While the imperialist efforts of European empires allowed them to thrive politically and economically, this colonization, conversely, had significantly negative impacts on both the previously-colonized…
Colonialism driven by imperialistic forces led to the destruction of cultures and societies that existed before its intrusion. Once colonizers staked their claim on the inhabited lands, they systematically deconstructed the indigenous people's societies, and, in turn, replaced them with exploitative relationship led by the mother country through the enforcement of the ruling class.…
The first and probably the biggest point about inequality to Aboriginal people in Australia may be concerned with health and medical systems. First of all, a lot of Aboriginal people have been facing a serious lack of provision of water and sanitation, because most of them live in remote areas. Furthermore, this lack of provision of these services has resulted in many unnecessary deaths of indigenous people. In contrast to this, non-indigenous people do have certain provision of these services. Furthermore, in spite of the fact that many indigenous people have complained to Australian governments about this unfair situation, the responses have been made by ignoring them, or by ambiguously saying to solve…
Many reasons for the current appalling state of health and wellbeing of the Australian Aboriginal people can be explained by examining their recent history to the devastating impacts of colonisation, genocidal policy, loss of land and years of oppression. These several hundred years of cultural destruction, dispossession and social and political upheaval have resulted in generations of trauma and grief (Burke, 2006, para. 4). As reported by Forsyth (2007, p. 35-36), government policies enacted towards the indigenous population in the early 20th Century were concerned primarily with protection and segregation, as the prevailing attitude of the time was that the Indigenous people were largely inferior and were unable to care for themselves. Forsyth continues to explain of the injustice created by the New South Wales parliament with the Aborigines Protection Act of 1909, in which “every aspect of their lives was governed, regulated and controlled”…
The conquest and colonization of the peoples of America and their implications devastating for the aboriginal population of America were the immediate consequences of this momentous event. America had been isolated from the world for thousands of years, and the arrival of the Europeans took a radical turn to its history, with effects that feel up to the present time.…
Mathews, J., Weeramanthri, T., D ' Abbs, P., 1995, Aboriginal Health: The Past is all About Us and Within, Today ' s Life Science, vol. 7, no. 8, pp. 14-20.…
Mankind has come a long way since the beginning of time. People have evolved and made life easier for themselves. Different cultures have formed and different mindsets and ideas have been put forward. Often cultures cross and mix and new cultures are formed and if they don’t mix, conflicts break out. Different peoples come together for different reasons; whether it is a religion, similar ideas, or cultural activities. These occurrences are referred to, as crossroads, now crossroads can either be physical place, like a border or a port or a trading market or intersections reflected in practices of everyday life.…
“The status of Indigenous health in contemporary Australia is a result of historic factors as well as contemporary socio-economic issues” (Hampton & Toombs, 2013, p. 1).…
The Aboriginal people have been put at a disadvantage for years now dating back to the 1700s when the Europeans settled and repossessed their land through a loop hole in the Terra Nullius. In those days the Aboriginal people were not considered to be “people” by the European standards and were therefore treated as such. With no consideration to how their presence would affect the original Indigenous settlers of the country, the Europeans brought disease, infections, and other health issues that these people had never encountered before. Health has been a major issue for the Aboriginal people since this time and still has not been solved. Because of this, many Australian Indigenous people face shorter life expectancies, mental illnesses, pregnancy…
These actions give raise to the main questions behind the post-colonialism theory which is: who are the colonizers and who are the colonized? Once enabled to answer these questions, one may find the colonized asking: who are we? As we observe the world around us, the answers to these questions allows us to see how many different countries have influenced each other. By doing so, the postcolonial theory, not only focuses on the point of view of the colonized, but also how colonialism has effected certain ways of thinking. When things do not go as planned, another country jumps in and tries to control the situation by colonizing the people native to that land. This is the kind of thinking that is repetitive throughout our world…