Warning: this article discusses sensitive material related to the Stolen Generations.
My family has inherited an old leather trunk. The trunk travelled from Spain many years ago, across the seas as my great grandparents took hope in a country that offered opportunities. The trunk carried precious cargo. It carried memories, clothing and mementos of their Catalan heritage. We believe the trunk to be sacred, why else would Nan have kept it in her wardrobe for so many years? It kept the ghosts of her heritage, with remnants of the earth found buried in its leather gusset. The trunk saw the death of her mother, her father and finally it saw the death of her. My father took guardianship of the trunk not long after his parents passed away, a treasured possession that holds the mystery of his heritage. The trunk holds Catalan treasures that we know are important but have needed to educate ourselves of their meaning. The cummerbunds, we believe were used in special celebartions, the headdress as well. The marked entries in the Catalan bibles are no longer meaningful to our Australian dialect. These treasures remain a mystery to us. The White Australia policy has a lot to answer in our cultural heritage as it does for many.
The White Australia policy had/has horrific consequences for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. My husband speaks of family and friends that were forcibly removed from their families in the government’s attempts to make Australia white. In Australia today, it is estimated that around 20,900 children were forcibly removed from their families and placed in either institutional care or in the care of a “white family” (AIHW, 2015). Today, we see around one in seven people, over the age of 50 identify as an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander person from the Stolen Generations (AIHW, 2015). Babies were ripped from the arms of their mothers (or sometimes sneakily taken while their parents were attending to chores) well into the late 1970’s (Wilkie, 1997). I cannot imagine my beautiful girls being taken from me…..I cannot imagine still being able to breathe if they were….It seems surreal, seems almost dystopian….but it actually happened. The trail of cultural destruction will continue to remain for many years. Policy can and does influence culture. Which brings me to my next point about culture…..what is culture?
Culture shapes society and identity and is not static; therefore, our journey in cultural competence will always be moving and will not have an end point. Culture is the burqa in Muslim religion, the Easter celebration for Catholics, the football field cheers, beliefs on sexuality. Culture is the feeling you have at your workplace, its bar mitzvah, it’s a totem, its Friday night fish and chips, its devon and tomato sauce, it’s the fight for equal pay, it’s the fight for equal rights.
One of the simplest definitions on culture is by Cross et al. (1989, p.10):
“Culture refers to integrated patterns of human behavior that include the language, thoughts, actions, customs, beliefs, and institutions of racial, ethnic, social, or religious groups”
Scholars at Georgetown University have developed the graphic below that shows us the depth and breadth of culture:
We often feel passionately about our culture and it can be challenging to consider a different way of being in the world. We have seen this recently in discussion around Australia Day. In my world, this is not a day of celebration but instead a day of reflection as I remember the impact of historical events and trauma for Australian First Nation peoples. For me, it is a day I stopped celebrating around 15 years ago…. when I looked around and saw pain on the faces of people I love. The pain made me look deeply into the history of Australia Day and I quickly ascertained that the day was a celebration for the colonisers not those that were colonised. The day celebrates the invasion of Australian lands. For me, a day that inflicts trauma is not a day of celebration. I acknowledge that my view is not the view of others. For some, the day marks a celebration.
Culture can be a habit and for this reason it requires us to think deeply about our cultural patterns and consider what they mean to/for others. Many organisations have made a positive shift and started to build into their professional development programs short or long courses aimed to help us see beyond ourselves and own culture. These are sometime called cultural awareness, unconscious bias, diversity and culture training. They are a great preliminary steps in starting to prepare oneself and an organisation (after all… organisation are only possible because of people).
However, these courses cannot be the only support we choose to engage with. According to healthcare research only 10 out of a possible 28 studies evaluating short term cultural competence training programs suggested that the training would impact the care received by clients (Clifford, McCalman, Bainbridge, & Tsey, 2015). Culture competence requires a long term strategy, a clear understanding on the multifaceted aspects of culture and the will of individuals to seek a different way of being. It actually requires health professionals to care enough to educate themselves.
In the world of teacher education, equipping teachers with the skills in cultural responsive pedagogy has been the trend. Research shows that teacher responsiveness and understanding of culture can lead to greater academic success for students. Seminal work by Vygotsky (1978) and Dewey (1963) both stress the need for intrapersonal connection as being paramount. More recently scholars have shared that an understanding of Aboriginal culture can lead to greater success of Aboriginal students in the areas of maths (Hans, 2019) and as seen in America, overall classroom literacy (Lazer, 2019; Wearmouth, 2017). So basically if teachers/schools actively choose a pedagogy that considers culture (culturally responsiveness pedagogy) and equips themselves with an understanding in culture that alone will generate an impact for kids to achieve higher levels in literacy and maths. Sounds too easy doesn’t it! This makes understanding culture and building a cultural competence plan a business investment in sustainable and lasting change.
After meeting with a local organisation late last year, for the first time in my career I was presented with a cultural competence health service action plan. The plan involved short courses, professional development programs, community consultation, research and evaluation. I can honestly say that the plan triggered tears of happiness. For the health service, it was a meaningful way forward to support their staff and generate impact for their clients. The plan was a business savvy model that will offer direct impact clients AND generate financial gain. This organisation has jumped out of their fish bowl and are gearing themselves towards transformational leadership. Through empowering staff with the time to explore their own culture they are able to then consider how individual patterns and habits may influence others.
To be on a journey of cultural competence we need to consider our own culture. Consider your traditions, customs, beliefs and how they have influenced you as a person. Then jump out of your fishbowl and learn something about someone else’s culture. Talk, read, share, connect and learn with a fellow human. You won’t regret the connection and it truly will make a difference not only for you but for those around you.
Next blog is in two weeks and the topic to be discussed is: FEAR
References
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2018). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Stolen Generations aged 50 and over. Cat. no. IHW 199. Canberra: AIHW
Clifford, A., McCalman, J., Bainbridge, R., & Tsey, K. (2015). Interventions to improve cultural competency in health care for Indigenous peoples of Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA: a systematic review. International Journal for Quality in Health Care, 27(2), 89–98. doi:10.1093/intqhc/mzv010
Dewey, J. (1938/1963). Experience and education. New York, NY: Collier Books.
Han, F. (2019). Self-Concept and Achievement in Math Among Australian Primary Students: Gender and Culture Issues. Frontiers in Psychology, 10. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00603
Lazer, A (2019). High Expectations for All Practicing What We Preach. (2019). What Is It About Me You Can’t Teach?: Culturally Responsive Instruction in Deeper Learning Classrooms, 13–52. doi:10.4135/9781506345703.n2
Vygotsky, L. (1978). Mind in society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press
Wearmouth. J (2017) Employing culturally responsive pedagogy to foster literacy learning in schools, Cogent Education, 4:1, DOI: 10.1080/2331186X.2017.1295824
Wilkie, M. (1997). Bringing them home: Report of the national inquiry into the separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families. Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission.
Fishbowl graphic- In a recent professional development workshop by the National Centre for Culture Competence, University of Sydney, a fish jumping out of water was presented to the group as a way to situate oneself when preparing for a journey of cultural competence. Thank you Gabrielle for sharing this with the group.