Like what you've read?

On Line Opinion is the only Australian site where you get all sides of the story. We don't
charge, but we need your support. Here�s how you can help.

  • Advertise

    We have a monthly audience of 70,000 and advertising packages from $200 a month.

  • Volunteer

    We always need commissioning editors and sub-editors.

  • Contribute

    Got something to say? Submit an essay.


 The National Forum   Donate   Your Account   On Line Opinion   Forum   Blogs   Polling   About   
On Line Opinion logo ON LINE OPINION - Australia's e-journal of social and political debate

Subscribe!
Subscribe





On Line Opinion is a not-for-profit publication and relies on the generosity of its sponsors, editors and contributors. If you would like to help, contact us.
___________

Syndicate
RSS/XML


RSS 2.0

Now you’ve heard it in black and white

By Stephen Hagan - posted Monday, 24 July 2006


“There are many sorts of noises, but there is only one silence”, so said German writer Kurt Tucholsky (1890-1935).

But are we really a silent race of people, attempting to ride out the rough times while our world caves in around us, or are we a misunderstood race whose voices are simply being ignored by people in authority?

It’s a bit like the white man at the train station who asks a black man the time. Just to double check the accuracy of the answer he then asks a passing white man the same question, who in turn gives an identical response. The black man, who is grossly offended, remarks, “Now you’ve heard it in black and white”.

Advertisement

It sounds familiar to a story I heard on an ABC TV current affairs show recently where a white female prosecutor in the Northern Territory echoed the words, on the delicate topic of child abuse, of many Indigenous females around the nation.

As the debate on this controversial topic continues to occupy prominent media space, weeks after the ABC story, I decided to have a look at it from a different perspective.

I wasn’t particularly interested in reading about recent theories, but wanted to look at old studies; empirical data, clinical observations, theoretical conceptualisation and general understanding of normal human behaviour, or normatology.

To make matters more difficult for myself I sought to research a study that didn’t necessarily apply to Indigenous Australia, but as an alternative, looked at a typical dysfunctional community that could exist anywhere in the world - for comparative analysis.

A book that I chose to read goes by the innocuous title of The Sterling County Study of Psychiatric disorder and Socio-cultural environment by Leighton, D., Macklin, D., MacMillan, A., and Leighton, A. 1963. These authors’ collectively proposed that social disintegration generates disintegration of personality. In arriving at their appraisal they devised the following ten indices of disintegration as a guide:

  1. instability and low level of income;
  2. cultural confusion - in this case weak, confused, conflicting values;
  3. secularisation - that is, the absence of religious values;
  4. frequency of broken homes;
  5. few and weak associations in groups, both formal and informal;
  6. few and weak leaders;
  7. few patterns of recreation and leisure-time activity;
  8. high frequency of hostile acts and expressions;
  9. high frequency of crime and delinquency; and
  10. weak and fragmented network of communications.
Advertisement


In evaluating these indices I provide a subjective Indigenous perspective with the following observations.

Instability and low level of income

The gross weekly income for Indigenous people in 1994 was $374 and $394 in 2002. The $20 rise in eight years just about says it all about the priorities governments of all persuasions place on narrowing the gap between the wages of non-Indigenous and Indigenous Australians: an elusive figure of $200.

The 36,000 Indigenous people who worked for CDEP (Community Development Employment Project) wages up to June 2004 were listed in government statistics as being employed. If you take into account the unemployment rate by factoring in those currently engaged on the work-for-the-dole scheme you’ll develop a more realistic picture of a typical community: it will also explain the high level of instability created by poverty.

  1. Pages:
  2. Page 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. All


Discuss in our Forums

See what other readers are saying about this article!

Click here to read & post comments.

8 posts so far.

Share this:
reddit this reddit thisbookmark with del.icio.us Del.icio.usdigg thisseed newsvineSeed NewsvineStumbleUpon StumbleUponsubmit to propellerkwoff it

About the Author

Stephen Hagan is Editor of the National Indigenous Times, award winning author, film maker and 2006 NAIDOC Person of the Year.

Other articles by this Author

All articles by Stephen Hagan

Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Photo of Stephen Hagan
Article Tools
Comment 8 comments
Print Printable version
Subscribe Subscribe
Email Email a friend
Advertisement

About Us Search Discuss Feedback Legals Privacy