Cultural Identity Essay: Self-Reflection On Interaction With Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islanders

Question

Task:
Write a cultural identity essay examining and discussing what is culture and identity and reflect on how your own identity, along with social and cultural factors, have influenced your own beliefs about and interactions with Aboriginal People and/or Torres Strait Islander People.

Answer

Introduction
This cultural identity essay primarily focuses on the analysis of the culture and identity of an individual in relation to the cultural identity of Aboriginal and Torres Islander people. This assessment aims to examine the impact of the different cultural perspectives and evaluate how they can influence the cultural belief of people belonging to the Aboriginal community. The key purpose of this assessment is to develop an understanding of the diversity in culture and identity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in contemporary Australia. Furthermore, the assessment also analyses how socio-cultural factors influence the beliefs and interaction with the Aboriginal and Torres Islander people.

Identification of Culture, Identity, and their influences in relation to Aboriginal People
Culture is general knowledge or characteristics of a specific group, which encompasses the language, social habits, religion, arts, and music. Culture is one of the key components of a society because it is a shared behavioral and interactions pattern, an understanding and cognitive construction that are learned through socialization. On the other hand, identity is a totality of an individual‘s self-construal, within which an individual construes oneself and expresses in the community. Identity can also be defined as a quality, personality, belief, expression of a person or a group. The belief of an individual isimmensely influenced by an individual's identity, along with the social and cultural factors. The social and cultural factors provide a similar living condition to an individual or a group, which influences a person's value orientation while producing the same requirements and resources(Cheng et al., 2018). Once an individual is born and brought up in a particular culture, the values and beliefs f the individual will be driven by the perspectives of the specific culture under which the individual lives. Thus, in the same way, the identity of the individual is built, depending upon the same socio-cultural environment, influencing the values and beliefs.

Different societies have their own culture based upon their environment and surroundings, with their own respective norms, customs, and rituals. As per my personal opinion, I would consider different races, authenticity, religion, language, tradition, etc., to be a part of my culture. I considered the characteristics of my identity to be built within the aspects of my culture, displaying my cultural background and authenticity in my attributes. Though my identity is self-construal, the characteristics of my identity embark the influence of the social and cultural aspects of my community. The factors that have influenced my cultural lens are such as the geographical features of the place, the socio-economic status within the community, diversity in the ethnicity of the people within the culture, ancestral backgrounds, and the different races that exist with the culture.

In regard to the culture of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, the kinship relationship of their culture reflects the dynamic and complex system. For the Aboriginal community and its people, the cultural and traditional practices and the reclamation sense of their cultural identity is a key factor in alleviating the disadvantages of being aboriginal. It is their cultural identity that helps them to regain their rightful position in the contemporary society of Australia(Lohoar et al., 2014). In this sense, the culture of the Aboriginal community acts as strength, as well as the protective force which protects the identity of the Aboriginal people in the Australian border society.

The people belonging from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander have suffered from intergenerational trauma, family disruption, cultural disconnection, and many other issues since from a very long generation. However, they understand their responsibilities to keep their community safe while trying to contribute to achieving their community's contribution (Oxfam Australia, 2015). I think it is their struggle in order to achieve the same rights, services, and treatment within the contemporary society, their ethics to preserve their culture, and the effort to make a safe environment for the upcoming generation, that has influenced my beliefs and interaction towards the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and their community.Also, the Aboriginal people suffer more health issues than non-Indigenous Australians, which is also due to the lack of medical facilities, along with the absence of several faculties in their community (Gerrard et al., 2021).

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of belonging have their unique culture and tradition, retaining social, political, and economic characteristics that are different from the dominant societies under which they love. They have valuable traditional knowledge that can be utilized to manage the sustainability of the natural resources, with the special relation to the usability of traditional land, water, and territories, which has been significant for their culture as well as survival for years. For very long generations, they have been noticed to be discriminated against in different aspects of society. It is their fundamental right to live their life in their own terms, as a law-abiding citizen in society, without any discrimination, and the initiatives are taken by the Australian government to improve the Aboriginal people, and their community is appreciatable. There is a hope for the Aboriginal people to grow in an efficient way in the society, as the way they are trying to adapt within the culture of the contemporary society.

On 10 December 1912, Paul Keating, the president of Australia at that time has said in his speech that it is the time to bring the evicted out of shadows while recognizing them as an integral part of the same society and give value to the identity of the Aboriginal people, as our own identity and humanity (Keating, 1992). This speech has given me the insight to change my personal views in relation to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. For decades, and till these days, the Aboriginal people are suffering from discrimination, where they are not given proper care, opportunity, services, respect, and so on. In certain aspects of the society, the people from the Aboriginal community have been mistreated, and all this raises a big question to humanity.

Aboriginal people also get reorganization, as they too are human and have the equal right as ours to live in peace, to live with dignity within the same frame of society. Their problems should not be overlooked, and the non-aboriginal people should try to make a peaceful and prosperous multicultural society, where all the people can live in harmony. In order to collaborate with the members of my group for group presentation for the net task, I will have to considerate a proper knowledge about the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, the historical background of their culture, and the approaches that fail to recognize the cultural identity of those people, along with their sufferings.

Conclusion
After the analysis of identity and culture, it can be said that cultural factors greatly influence the building of an individual attribute and personality. It cannot be denied that culture can also be influenced by another culture. If the culture of an individual can be the reason for being discriminated against, then the same culture can also be the power to protect from the practice of those discriminations, such as in the case of Aboriginal and Torres Islander people. However, the time has come for the non-aboriginal people of Australia to come forward in order to cope with the people of the Aboriginal community and make a comfortable environment for them.

References
Cheng, Z., Zhou, S., & Zhang, B. (2018). The Spatial Factors of Cultural Identity: A Case Study of the Courtyards in a Historical Residential Area in Beijing. Sustainability, 10(8), 2587. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10082587

Gerrard, J. M., Godwin, S., Chuter, V., Munteanu, S. E., West, M., & Hawke, F. (2021). Release of the National Scheme’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health and Cultural Safety Strategy 2020-2025; the impacts for podiatry in Australia: a commentary. Journal of Foot and Ankle Research, 14(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13047-021-00466-8

Keating, P. (1992). Paul keating speech transcript. https://antar.org.au/sites/default/files/paul_keating_speech_transcript.pdf

Lohoar, S., Butera, N., & Kennedy, E. (2014, September 24). Strengths of Australian Aboriginal cultural practices in family life and child rearing. Child Family Community Australia. https://aifs.gov.au/cfca/publications/strengths-australian-aboriginal-cultural-practices-family-life-and-child-r

Oxfam Australia. (2015). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Protocols. https://www.oxfam.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/2015-74-atsi-cultural-protocols-update_web.pdf