SOR2 - Notes On Religion & Relief Systems In Australia Post 1945 PDF

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Summary

Notes On Religion & Relief Systems In Australia Post 1945
- aboriginal spirituality
- modern statistics...

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RELIGION AND BELIEF SYSTEMS IN AUSTRALIA POST-1945 Outcomes A student: H1 explains aspects of religion and belief systems H2 describes and analyses the influence of religion and belief systems on individuals and society H3 examines the influence and expression of religion and belief systems in Australia H4 describes and analyses how aspects of religious traditions are expressed by their adherents H5 evaluates the influence of religious traditions in the life of adherents H6 organises, analyses and synthesises relevant information about religion from a variety of sources, considering usefulness, validity and bias H8 applies appropriate terminology and concepts related to religion and belief systems H9 coherently and effectively communicate complex information, ideas and issues using appropriate written, oral and graphic forms

CONTEMPORARY ABORIGINAL SPIRITUALITIES Learn about: ○ Aboriginal spirituality as determined by the Dreaming

Learn to: ○ discuss how Aboriginal spirituality is determined by the Dreaming ➔ Kinship ➔ ceremonial life ➔ obligations to the land and people

THE DREAMING -

The foundation of Aboriginal life, spirituality and culture, that encapsulates all-natural and physical dimensions of existence, giving meaning to all aspects of life

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A central concept that is metatemporal in nature, meaning that the Dreaming connects the past, present and future as a complete and present reality

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It is the complete understanding that Indigenous Australian’s have regarding their knowledge of their origins, ancestors, current existence and purpose, and their inextricable connection to the land

KINSHIP: a complex web of relationships within a community/clan that governs societal organisation and interactions -

The fundamental component, or ‘fabric’ of Aboriginal society, providing structure and governing day to day life

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Establishes the roles and responsibilities an individual has to tribe, land and the wider community, defining where they fit in the community. This creates a sense of belonging and purpose. e.g. The Elders pass down Dreamtime stories to youth, kinship determines who you

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can approach and marry In order to function within Aboriginal society, one must not only have a relationship to a language group but a position within it

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All relationships link and develop, binding every person together → many mothers, fathers, sisters, uncles etc Elder Bob Randall describes kinship as “the completeness of oneness,” a concept referred to as “kanyini” → the obligations that exist within kinship, extending to the interconnectedness of land, ceremony, ancestor spirits and ultimately the dreaming

Key terminology within Kinship

Moiety: meaning half. The largest division in an Aboriginal kinship group, so that privileges and duties can be organised -

Guards marriage → people who share the same moiety are considered siblings, so you can’t marry your moiety The two different moieties in a kinship group also have a reciprocal responsibility to support each other

Totems: a natural object (landform), plant or animal that is inherited by members of a clan or family as their spiritual emblem -

Unifies clans under the same ancestral beings, fostering a metaphysical connection of Dreaming kinship; represents the ongoing life force in the Dreaming

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Links a person to the world around them

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You are accountable to a totem, but you don’t own it (responsibility not ownership)

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Each person has a responsibility to ensure that their totems are protected and passed on to the next generation

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Totems are split between moieties to create a balance of use and protection, regarding resources important as the land and it’s resources often feature in dreaming

Land: aboriginal spirituality is animistic, meaning that the people, land and animals are all connected -

Responsibilities to a totem provide purpose for one’s identity within kinship

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The actual sustainable life of the people → they need to live off the land, so, therefore, they respect it and do not exploit it The exploitation of one animal/resource will have a chain effect and damage other resources

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Responsibility to protect the land and it’s resources, as it is important for the Dreaming and ceremonies

Skin name: indicates a person’s bloodline, conveying information about how generations are linked and how they should interact -

Not shared by married couples, not necessarily shared by blood siblings

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Kept for life, important for Aboriginal identity

Question: Discuss how Aboriginal spirituality is determined by the Dreaming in relation to Kinship

CEREMONIAL LIFE: part of keeping the Dreaming a continuous present reality through song, dance and ritual, connecting the past, present and future, so that it is preserved and passed on for further generations. Thus a ceremony is not simply a retelling of a story, but rather a reliving of a story -

Ceremonial life has four important roles within Dreaming =

1. Rites of passage 2. Passing on social information 3. Facilitating personal connections 4. Facilitating spiritual connections -

Social information is passed from older generations to younger (interconnectedness) Maintains the link between the physical and spiritual world

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Different regions and cultural groups have different ceremonies; they are all the same in that they acknowledge a creation event, and show the metaphysical presence of the Dreaming in the real world

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Recreates an eternal moment of the Dreaming, allowing participants to spiritually connect with their ancestors by heightening their presence, linking the present with the Dreaming

Ceremonies include: -

Art = outward expression as a visual representation

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Stories = medium through which Dreaming is most commonly communicated ➔ Major way of teaching children correct behaviour in society ➔ Ceremonial stories have great respect as the creation of the tribe is being recreated, and the cause of the continuation of life itself and beliefs are passed on

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Rituals = understood as a moment of reliving the past in the present. ➔ Ancestral beings are made present through the people, objects, words and movements of the ritual ➔ These rituals emphasise the metatemporal aspect of the dreaming ➔ Eg 1 - initiation → different for males and females, celebrates the transition from childhood into adulthood. It brings responsibilities to spiritual and social life ➔ Eg 2 - burial rites → funerary ceremony that is significant as it acknowledges the spiritual link of the individual with the life force of the Dreaming, and highlights the Aboriginal belief that once their time is up they must “return home” to the land

Question: Discuss how Aboriginal spirituality is determined by the Dreaming in relation to Ceremonial Life

OBLIGATIONS TO LAND AND PEOPLE: Aboriginal people are related to the natural world, and this relationship provides the advantages of survival and life and also imposes the responsibilities of preservation and education -

Aboriginal people have a twofold relationship with the land:

1. Land occupying and land using relationship 2. The particular area may be referred to as a person’s country. Therefore, there is a great responsibility to maintain the sacrality of this land -

Aboriginal spirituality cannot be separated from the land, as it is inextricably connected, meaning that it can never be broken apart. This is the foundation of one’s belonging

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Land is seen as the physical medium through which the Dreaming is lived and communicated; it is evidence of the Dreaming creation process

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Land is the ‘mother’ = it is the meeting point where tribes and individuals derive their identity from where they get their totems from and dictates their relationship with one another

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Aboriginal people have no concept of owning the land, rather the land owns them, and they are just custodians who represent it, maintaining and protecting it

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Must preserve and respect the timeless cycle of mutual dependence they have with the land and all forms of life it contains, as Elder Novelist Colin Johnson, “Mudrooroo” states, “our spirituality is a oneness and interconnectedness with all that lives and breathes”

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Hunter gather methods to preserve the environment, minimising wastes and maximising benefits through kinship rules mutually shared amongst tribes; kinship promotes

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cooperation Ancestral spirits provide a living relationship with particular features of the land

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The link between humans and creation through totemism, as the individual is connected to the creative spiritual force responsible for their existence. Thus, the balance and integrity of all creation is sustained and the stability of life is preserved

Question: Discuss how Aboriginal spirituality is determined by the Dreaming in relation to Obligations to land and people

Learn about: ○ issues for Aboriginal spiritualities in relation to ➔ the effect of dispossession

Learn to: ○ discuss the continuing effect of dispossession on Aboriginal spiritualities in relation to: ➔ separation from the land ➔ separation from kinship groups

➔ the Stolen Generations DISPOSSESSION the action of depriving someone of land, property or other possessions Removal from land → loss of spiritual identity and loss of purpose in life Removal from kinship → loss of human identity and loss of direction in life Removal from family → loss of self-identity and loss of spirit in life Disconnection with the land and ancestor spirits -

Stories associated with these ancestral spirits could no longer be told at their original location ➔ E.g. the people of West Arnhem Land and Mimi Rock

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As much of the power of re-telling came from being present in the place where events occurred (the sacred site where the ancestral spirits dwell), was a monumental loss to the people

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Dreaming tracks follow the paths of spirit ancestors as they created the landscape. Being able to track these paths provides Aboriginal people with a physical connection the Dreaming ➔ E.g. the Dreaming track of the Rainbow Serpent is needed to be accessed wholly to enable connection with the story and creative nature of the ancestor spirits → across many parts of Australia, these tracks have been lost due to dispossession

Loss of sacred spaces/sites of Indigenous communities -

It is difficult to maintain the stories of the community when the local significant landmarks and sacred sites are no longer accessible

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Sacred sites are also places of the clan and gender-specific teaching and ritual, regarding ceremonies, morals and language. Loss of sacred space denies access to these significant components of Aboriginal spirituality ➔ E.g. Kunjarra (the Pebbles) north of Tennant Creek is the traditional sacred site of the Waumunga people, specifically being the site for women’s rituals of the Munga Munga Dreaming. Without access to the site these rituals cannot be performed, and therefore the people are no longer able to fully express their beliefs.

Question: Discuss the continuing effect of dispossession on Aboriginal spiritualities in relation to separation from the land

Effects of dispossession on Aboriginal people -

The effects of the first contact with white settlement have laid foundations for dispossession and ongoing issues still prevalent today. e.g. Health inequities, unemployment, over-representation in jail, life expectancy, socioeconomic status and education

Land acquisition by non-indigenous settlers -

Rights of aboriginal people were ignored when white settlers occupied their lands ‘Terra nullius’ = land belonging to no one; aboriginal people were not recognised as human beings, but as ‘flora and fauna’ → dehumanized, stripped of all their rights Violent methods used by Europeans, that saw many people being killed, injured and holistically damaged

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E.g. colonisation of WA, 1829, saw great physical and spiritual dispossession, as stated by the settler of the colony George Fletcher Moore who wrote in 1841 that, “their country has been taken possession of, their existence has been overlooked, their rights unregarded”

Ethnocentricity -

The prevailing belief that white people were superior to all other races

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Led to events such as the genocide at Myall Creek, 1838, where 28 Aboriginal men, women and children were brutally murdered

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This attitude was ingrained in European mentality, evident by massacres still occurring into the 20th century. e.g. Coniston 1928

Social interaction with non-indigenous settlers -

Immediate and devastating effects through disease (e.g. cholera, influenza), alcohol abuse and children who had both indigenous and non-indigenous parents being recognised as “half-castes”, outcasted and stolen from their indigenous communities

Destruction of Indigenous communities -

Removal from land, placement in reserves, the effect of disease coupled with high unemployment rates and lack of education has resulted in many aboriginal communities being socioeconomically disadvantaged

Breakdown of kinship systems -

People were isolated from their ancestral territory

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Forced to forfeit their places of totemic identity, leading to disconnection from identity

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Without these bonds, aboriginal people effectively lost both their individual and collective sense of self; they became non-people

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Breakdown in authority felt by elders rapidly increased with collapsing kinship groups

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Key reasons why they felt their existence was lost: ➔ Without access to their dreaming kin and the chance to fulfil their spiritual obligations, they felt one of their main purposes in life was gone

➔ Couldn’t nite with their dreaming family (kinship groups) to perform ceremonies or rituals, or continue the system of reciprocal obligations and expectations ➔ Disabled from passing on lore through dreaming stories and initiation rituals Loss of language -

Prior to European settlement, there were over 250 distinct Aboriginal languages; today less than 100 languages remain ‘healthy’

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Fewer people are fluent in their traditional language, and many aboriginal generations have no understanding or connection to their language

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Assimilation and punishment (Including death) made it impossible for aboriginal people to preserve their own language

Question: Discuss the continuing effect of dispossession on Aboriginal spiritualities in relation to separation from kinship groups The separation from kinship groups as a result of British Colonisation has had a significant impact on Aboriginal spiritualities. Kinship groups describes the complex network of relationships that determine societal roles in Aboriginal life. Kinship employs a great sense of belonging and purpose, giving each individual a position to uphold, fostering meaning and duty in life. As a result of the dispossession through the forced removal from land and community, in conjunction with assimilation, Aboriginal people lost this kinship, meaning that they were stripped of their communal identity, an essential component of understanding who they are, and what their existence means. For example, Elders lost their role as the ‘continuers’ of ancestral spirits and vital dreamtime stories, as they had no children to share them to as they were removed from their kinship groups through the stolen generation. This has lead to a great disconnection for the separated children to knowing their origins and how they came to be today. Ancestral spirits create one’s spirituality, and without an education in the role they play, one is not able to reach the full capacity of their spirituality. Evidently, the separation from kinship groups has had an extremely negative impact on Aboriginal spirituality. THE STOLEN GENERATIONS -

The forced removal of children from their parents and families by government officials under government policy between around 1915-1970

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Children often never saw their families again and were sent to missions, schools, institutions and farms to work

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Key to the British removal policies: ➔ the recommendation that a protectorate system be formed which resulted in the relocation of Aboriginal Communities to reserves ➔ Education of aboriginal children understood as enculturation into the British way of life ➔ Focus on merging mixed descent aboriginal people into non-indigenous society, as a way to “breed out” the aboriginal race so that over generations it ceases to exist

Assimilation -

The aim was to force aboriginal children to integrate with British society ➔ Prohibited from speaking their traditional languages and participating in traditional activities ➔ Girls trained for domestic roles. e.g. Cooks, cleaners ➔ Boys trained as stockmen and labourers ➔ Exploited, subject to physical, sexual and emotional abuse

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Between the 1950s/60s, the number of aboriginal children taken away was so large that schools, institutions and missions could not accommodate them

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Estimated that as many as one in three children were removed from their families between 1910-1970

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Most children were taken away without their parent’s knowledge or full consent ➔ Gov officials claimed these children were being abused or neglected by their families which was false; this is a way how they justified their actions, manipulating the children to also believe this. Children were often told their parents “didn’t want them” or that “they had died” ➔ Many children taken away at a young age were raised with no knowledge of their Aboriginality and were told they were Italian or Indian

EFFECTS OF THE STOLEN GENERATION -

Difficulties for children in understanding their religious beliefs and dreaming, due to being raised in missions. e.g. Cootamundra Girls home, where they were exposed to only Christian beliefs ➔ This segregation and separation was a deliberate attempt to destroy their spirituality and links to the land, creating a lack of knowledge of their dreaming, stories and ceremonial life

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Shattered their kinship system → lack of knowledge of bloodlines and traditional roles

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Totems forfeited

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Incredible sense of shame of identity and culture → this manipulated many children to deny their aboriginality out of fear and being brainwashed through assimilation Loss of understanding of language as they were forbidden from talking in their traditional

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ways -

Emotional and psychological problems stemmed from forced assimilation and extreme trauma ➔ Made it difficult for the children to advance within society, leading to learning difficulties, depression, unemployment, economic disadvantage and difficulty forming relations and connecting with other

Removed from family → removed from kinship groups → removed from identity → removal from land → detachment from reality and spirituality → socioeconomic d...