Contemporary Racism in Australia

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Contemporary Racism in Australia

Australia is a country that cannot be considered as having racism. However, recent research has exposed this shameful act. Racism in this country is not predominantly based on skin color, but on cultural, religious, and indigenous grounds. This is evident as the indigenous Aboriginal communities continue to experience dispossession and colonization. After the British settlement in the beautiful island, the Aborigines have been marginalized and very little is known about their existence. This is despite the fact that they are the indigenous inhabitants of pre-modern Australia. These people have been in Australia for an estimated 50,000 to 200,000 years (Dudgeon, Michael, Yin, Darren & Iain 11).

By the time the British arrived in Australia, there were around 300,000 Aboriginal people living there. After the British settled in Australia in 1788 up until the 1920s there had been a continued massacre against the aboriginal people. This was done by the Britons so that they could acquire the land of the natives. Others were evicted from their traditional land and moved to the reserves to live with people from other Aboriginal nations. The children were not spared either, as they were taken away from their families. This led to the term ‘the stolen generation’ to describe these children. This traumatic experience caused the Aboriginal community social and emotional distress from having their children taken away. Many families were destabilized as parents and their children never had the chance to see each other again. This has had a lasting negative impact that is still felt today.

In the paper Contemporary racism in Australia: the experience of Aborigines, David Mellor notes that up to date, many people of the Aboriginal descent still are trying to retrace their family background. They lost a grip on their culture because of the emotional separation from their parents. The Aboriginal people have suffered severe consequences from the effects of non-Aboriginal experts thinking that they knew what was good for them. This included racism and discrimination from the non-Aboriginal people in schools, government offices, the health and judicial system as well as the police. This had a long-term effect of suspicion and mistrust by the Aboriginal community towards the non-Aboriginal people (Mellor 477).

The research was also aimed at appreciating and explaining the behavioral characteristics of the Aborigines, as well as looking at the historical injustices that the community was subjected to since the settlement of the British in Australia. The perception of deceit, disparity and conflict is at the center of Aboriginal’s relationship with non-Aboriginal (Gorringe, Joe & Cressida 6). To identify the reason why this is so, emphasis has been placed on the effects related to their experiences at the time they were massacred and their children taken away. These actions are the only link towards the establishment of why things are as they are between the Aborigines and the non-Aborigines. The focus was to establish how, resulting from the constant barrage by the British for the Aborigines to think that they were inferior, the emotions triggered negative perception towards the settlers (Australian Human Rights Commission 4).

This research attempts to point out the cultural disparities between the British and the indigenous Australians. This is in reference to their historical and cultural background in relation to their current contemporary life. Their origin and cultural beliefs are pointed out and it is evident they believed in a supernatural being through whom all creation was made. There were clear-cut disparities in many other aspects especially in the ownership of land. As opposed to the British system, land in the Aborigines was never owned by individuals but rather individuals were owned by the land. Demarcations were set through spiritual aspects and each person had to belong to a particular spiritual territory. Roles of a person were determined in respect to gender and age where men were responsible for hunting while the women would prepare food and get involved in early childhood responsibilities. Kinship structures were put in place in a way that every person was placed in relation to the other. These structures set the mode of behavior from one individual towards the other.

In the paper, Mellor predominantly carries out a qualitative research. This method has been widely used historical research as well as in natural sciences where measurement and statistics are not involved. In this type of research, the results are of a descriptive nature as opposed to a predictive one (Mellor 480). This is to mean that the research is objective rather than judgmental. The objectives of this research were to bring to people’s attention the existence of racist behaviors and the marginalization of the indigenous Aboriginal community. Racism in a postmodern Australia would easily escape people’s suspicion and hence this would further cause major harm to the minority community within the country. This justifies an in-depth study of the subject matter.

Qualitative research is inclined in giving a descriptive and not a predictive or a speculative point of view. This is due to the basic reason that this mode of research is mainly used in social and behavioral sciences that require a factual approach in their study. The study about the origin and cultural practices of a particular community and their historical background cannot be presented in a speculative approach (Qualitative Research 6). Such a research is based on true happenings in real time and giving out speculative information would be deceptive. The researcher chose this method because of the subject he was presenting.

This research is detailed and it required an in-depth approach. Since this is a historic review, there are no measurements or statistics involved and this made the method best suited for the purpose at hand. This method is commonly used by researchers in dealing with historical and social circumstance as it provides more information than when one uses quantitative methods. Besides, this is the main method used when it comes to the study of human behavior. This kind of a subject needed an interactive and an inductive approach, which is a rich factor in the qualitative method (Qualitative Research 3). When dealing with research in an area that one is not familiar with, it can be very challenging. However, using the qualitative method of research can make one’s work easier. This method allows one to gather information from a wide range of sources. This is why Mellor settled on this method. Qualitative techniques are very useful in gathering of information, as it not limiting like the quantitative research. Unlike the latter, one is not limited to a particular restrictive source of information.

The qualitative method is inclined to searching clues on what motives, desires, beliefs, and ways of thinking are available. This method is one that requires skills such as listening, thinking and asking, as information provided is mostly verbal. It therefore lacks flexibility while gathering information and this would make one consider using the quantitative method instead. In retrospect, it is important to note that this method has been used before in research and it had a series of unsuccessful results. In this respect, the quantitative method stands out to be the most accurate method in research involving history, social and human behavior.

Works Cited

Australian Human Rights Commission .I want respect and equality. 2010. Web. 30 Sep 2011.

Dudgeon, Pat, Michael Wright, Yin paradise, Darren Garvey and Iain Walker. The Social, Cultural and Historical Context of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. 2010. Web. 30 Sep 2011

Mellor, David. “Contemporary racism in Australia: The experience of Aborigines.” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 29 (2003): 474-486. Print

Goring, Scott, Joe Ross and Cressida Fforde. Will the Real Aborigine Please Stand Up.? 2010. Web. 30 Sep 2011.

Qualitative Research. “Qualitative Research Techniques” 30 Sep 2011.Web:2011