why are debates about aboriginal identity important

Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1998. use_feature = 1; As we learn about Indigenous culture, we can begin to relate to each other better, recognise the cultural history of this land and value the ongoing, rich cultural legacy of this place we call home. We respect and honour Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders past, present and future. In this case, trying to identify your culture may be challenging at first because it’s so natural and normal that it’s virtually invisible to us. For non-Aboriginal students, discussions of the issues affecting Aboriginal people are often understood as taking place “in the past” and events are at a great “distance.”  Aboriginal students, however, may have experienced these events or lived their consequences in their families and social realities and do not necessarily conceptualize their family and community histories in this way. On the other hand, if a man with Indian status married a non-status woman, his wife would gain status even if she did not have Aboriginal heritage, and their children would be entitled to Indian status. To date few individuals appear to have recognized the depth of the problem that the Indian Act represents – its overarching nature as a discourse of classification and regulation, which has produced the subjects it purports to control, and which has therefore indelibly ordered how Native people think of things “Indian.”(Lawrence, 25).

Genuinely seeking to understand Indigenous culture can help dispel stereotypes and myths about Indigenous people that result from a misunderstanding which serves to perpetuate disadvantage and discrimination. No just society and no society with even pretensions to being just can long tolerate such a piece of legislation, but we would rather continue to live in bondage under the inequitable Indian Act than surrender our sacred rights. The Indian Act…is much more than a body of laws that for over a century has controlled every aspect of status Indian life. Retzlaff, Steffi. https://www.commonground.org.au/learn/diverse-aboriginal-identity 105-119, and our sections on the Indian Act and the residential school system. It isn’t. For example, how the holidays you celebrate, the types of food you eat, the clothing you wear and the way you approach events such as births, deaths and marriages are similar to or different from another culture. In addition to those who do not qualify for Indian status after the “two generation cutoff,” the Indian Act has also historically excluded particular Indigenous groups and individuals, such as the Métis and the Inuit, and so these groups were not entitled to Indian status.3  Indian status has also been patrilineal until relatively recently, and the ways in which Indian status could be conferred or inherited depended on men’s status.

In fact, while those people writing their life stories and their family histories are often interested to acknowledge non-Aboriginal ancestors, they do not identify with them. For many Aboriginal people, however, the loss of Indian status from intermarriage and forced enfranchisement has meant that they do not come from a reserve or other Aboriginal community and so cannot claim these community relations as a way of understanding their identities. Questions about the right of people of mixed-race to identify as Aboriginal are often raised by the settler colonial society. canvas_default_zoom = 1; Category: News and Politics permalink; Michael Taylor https://theaimn.com; In yet another display of pandering to sensationalism, Pauline Hanson wants a debate on Aboriginal identity, lamenting to an enthusiastically agreeable Andrew Bolt that there … All too often the matter of Australian Aboriginal identity is decided superficially – by looking at a person’s face and general appearance. “What’s in a Name? Another aspect to consider is that tensions do not solely arise between non-Aboriginal and Aboriginal students; these tensions are also often internal to groups. Understanding the history of the Aboriginal family provides us with a better way to approach the complex issue of Aboriginal identity.

For those familiar with this history, you may want to go directly to the analysis of classroom situations; these analyses will link to historical materials in the rest of the section where relevant. For these students, history is lived every day, and very personally. As Darren Curnoe, evolution specialist has asserted, the idea of “race” was never scientific to begin with. canvas_width = 200; When we meet each other, in whatever circumstance, we talk genealogies, relationships and connectedness.

University of Sydney provides funding as a member of The Conversation AU. Anonymous postcard submitted to Post Secret. Those with Indian status are entitled to have access to resources set aside by the Canadian federal government in “compensation” for removal from traditional territories, including health care, education, and the legal right to reside on reserve lands. Communities located on reserves are important to maintaining family structures and cultural practices and for those that come from these communities, these relations are at the core of their identities. Meaningful and relevant approaches to addressing these situations will flow from understandings of the issues and of the ways that students and others interpret and position themselves in relation to them. In this section, we go over the various ways in which Aboriginal peoples in Canada self-identify and are defined by the state—and the ways in which these two systems of definition, one based in law and legislation, the other in family tradition and community prac… ARC Indigenous Research Fellow, University of Sydney. Real Indians and Others: Mixed-blood Urban Native Peoples and Indigenous Nationhood. canvas_translatex = 0; It is, in effect, a state-constructed racial category that is imposed on those Aboriginal peoples it recognizes in order to make it possible for the state to administer policy and legislation directed at Aboriginal peoples. Lawrence, Bonita. Warning: To read this paper in full, please visit the What I Learned in Class Today website at: www.issuesintheclass.com. People of South Asian, Middle Eastern and African descent, among others, have done so from the early 19th century to the present.

The Indian Act and by extension Indian status is “virtually the only concrete indicator of the special relationship that exists between Aboriginal peoples and the Canadian government” (222) and the dominant legal framework through which the terms of this relationship, in specific Aboriginal rights and title, can be articulated and negotiated. — It is critical that an understanding of the historical and social contexts be accompanied by an awareness of how individuals interpret this information and position themselves in relation to it. As it exists today the Indian Act sets out two categories of Indian status that a person may possess:  6(1), which means “full status,” and 6(2), which is “half-status.” Those with 6(2) have “half status” because one of their parents does not have status. It also formally separated “Indian status” from “band membership”:  Indian status remained in the control of the federal government while band membership was given to individual First Nations, making it possible for First Nations to develop band membership rules that “reflect their unique cultures and customs” (Lawrence, 68) and so have some degree of autonomy over the configuration of their communities’ identities. For those unfamiliar with this history, we suggest reviewing this material, as it may assist you in developing ways to reframe problematic positions or arguments you may encounter in classrooms. node_default_colour = "#dd3333";

As a result the classroom discussion can become highly charged, leaving Aboriginal students angry and alienated and non-Aboriginal students anxious, perplexed and defensive. It is discriminatory from start to finish. https://australianstogether.org.au/discover/indigenous-culture/culture-identity First Nations, which are usually comprised of status Indians, have been entitled to access monies to bring Aboriginal right and title cases to Canadian courts. Essentially, culture refers to a people’s way of life - their ideas, values, customs and social behaviour.

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