Outback Ghettos

Aborigines, Institutionalisation and Survival
Erscheinungsjahr 1993
ISBN: 978-0-521-43435-5
Verlag: Cambridge University Press

Buch, Englisch, 190 Seiten, Format (B × H): 174 mm x 247 mm, Gewicht: 620 g

Reihe: Studies in Australian History

Up until the 1970s, a large proportion of Aboriginal people in Australia had some experience in institutions as part of government assimilation and protection policies. By focusing on three communities in South Australia, this book attempts to understand the consequences of this institutionalisation for Aborigines and Australian society in general. Peggy Brock uses the word 'ghetto' to evoke the nature of the missions in which, for generations, many Aboriginal people settled, as ghettos both oppress and nurture those who live within them. Within the missions, Aborigines were able to establish strong communities and construct a modern identity. The three communities considered in the book - Poonindie, Koonibba and Nepabunna - existed during distinct but overlapping periods and had varying responses to colonialism and mission life. In many cases, Aboriginal people associated themselves with the missions because they met urgent needs for survival: protection from a hostile world, access to rations, education and training in European skills. In fact for many, the missions became home. For others however, the emotional turmoil caused by the pressure to embrace Christianity on the one hand and the desire to maintain traditional ways on the other became unbearable.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Brock, Peggy

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Australische und Pazifische Geschichte
• Sozialwissenschaften Ethnologie | Volkskunde Ethnologie Physische Anthropologie
• Sozialwissenschaften Ethnologie | Volkskunde Ethnologie Ethnographie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Introduction; 2. Legislation and policy: the context of outback ghettos; 3. Poonindie, home away from 'country'; 4. An established community and its destruction; 5. Koonibba, a refuge for west coast people; 6. Institutional upheaval and adjustment; 7. Dispersal and the end of the mission era; 8. Adnyamathanha: survival without institutionalisation; 9. Nepabunna mission; 10. The ghetto experience and survival; Bibliography; Index.