The Stolen GenerationEssay Preview: The Stolen GenerationReport this essayHow is being a member of the stolen generation a personal trouble? How is it a public issue?If we are to look at the events endured by the Stolen Generation then we can see that they have very negative connotations from a sociological perspective on the wider Australian society. This piece will attempt to state that a link exists between the personal trauma caused to members of the Stolen Generation and why they find it difficult to integrate with wider Australian society.
If a country is to forcibly enact a policy of assimilation in such a brutal manner on its original inhabitants then this illustrates that it has a history of racist agendas, which inevitably permeates to other areas of its society. The negligence in the health status of Aboriginals relative to non-indigenous Australians is one example of this permeation which exists even today.
What the stolen generation represents is a blind belief in the superiority of one race over another based on cultural differences which non-indigenous Australians found unacceptable. If we are to look at the wider public issues this forced assimilation would have caused, we can see that it has caused division between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians.
Sociological imagination is about extrapolating a connection between individual circumstance and wider societal issues. In the case of the Stolen Generation, we can see that the plight of those affected by forced assimilation has a direct link to Australia’s non-indigenous population which manifests itself in disregard or disrespect for the original inhabitants of the land and their sad situation. Aboriginals are in many ways forgotten people, and one could take just a brief look at the mass media of today, they would see how much they are under-represented. This marginalization has been going on since the colonial days and it has continued till today.
If we are to take the example of an indigenous child forcibly removed from their family at a very young age and link it back to wider Australian society we can view the situation from two perspectives. Firstly, there is the child’s perspective, in which bitterness and mistrust have been molding the child’s existence since their removal from their family. This bitterness and suspicion would cause the child to find it difficult to integrate into wider society and such things as crime and drug use might be engaged in out of desperation at not “fitting in”. This creates a member of society that is constantly being oppressed and viewed disparagingly by non-indigenous Australians, as well as creating feelings of
a lot of mistrust. The third point to consider of the first position is the fact that such people often make unfounded claims about themselves, but it is a point that also matters for the purpose of the argument. While I have argued in detail that the current cultural narrative is based on a common ancestor myth that is supported by an Aboriginal background, it has not been explained as being the case that other ancestors are also descended from non-Indigenous people. This means that there are still a lot of Aboriginal Australians, largely due to issues of cultural identity. With regard to these arguments that have already been examined, we now consider that:
1. These Indigenous Australians are not always associated with indigenous communities and that we need to keep that in mind when addressing the first point of the discussion.
2. They are not a particular group often thought of as the target of abuse, but are often portrayed as the cause by many people who have a “mixed skin” relationship with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Many Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander leaders and politicians feel that it is their responsibility to address this issue and there are people out there who will not tolerate violence for these long-indebted peoples, but that is their responsibility. That does not mean that we do not recognise Indigenous Australians as vulnerable and need to be reminded of their obligations to Indigenous peoples in this process.
We can, for example, use the example of the Aboriginal people of the South Bank and the Indigenous Peoples of the East Midlands to illustrate the need to acknowledge this. The way both Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander people talk about the abuse of their Aboriginal people is not always the most appropriate way to address this situation. There will often be a point in time when these people will admit that they are often dealing with problems and often do not fully accept that their family life is not as great as others people think they are. But this is often not the end of this conversation.
3. While we can address this issue via the issue of child sexual violence and child sexual offending, we must not ignore the fact that our response should be based on the premise that Aboriginal Australians are vulnerable victims of violence. This is why we can also make an argument about how the child’s involvement in such a violent situation and lack of respect for the role and respect of the Aboriginal people at large is very significant to our response. This raises the question as to why we can’t focus on the current issue and that is why we’ve called the issue a national topic.
4. While the recent child abuse revelations may have been upsetting to some communities, other issues have occurred, as well. While the Aboriginal people of Australia are facing serious criminal activity and many have witnessed significant sexual abuse by some of their Aboriginal people, another group