Race, Culture, Indigeneity &

The Politics of Public Health

Yin Paradies & Emma Kowal

Acknowledgement of Acknowledgement of CountryCountry

I would like to acknowledge the I would like to acknowledge the Wurundjeri people who are the Wurundjeri people who are the Traditional Custodians of this Land. I Traditional Custodians of this Land. I would also like to pay respect to the would also like to pay respect to the Elders both past and present of the Elders both past and present of the Kulin Nation and extend that respect to Kulin Nation and extend that respect to other Indigenous Australians present. other Indigenous Australians present. (Recommended by the Centre for Indigenous (Recommended by the Centre for Indigenous Education, University of Melbourne)Education, University of Melbourne)

House keeping

Emergency exits, toilets

Seating in small groups (nametags)

Tea/coffee & refreshments (arvo tea on the go)

Quotes posted around the room

The course was developed in Darwin and so examples tend to relate to the NT context

Powerpoint presentations will be uploaded to the website so you don’t need to copy these down

Aims of the course

Introduce key concepts from anthropology, social psychology, sociology and critical Indigenous studies to assist public health practitioners

Illustrate theories and debates using local public health texts, including: journal articles, videos, newspaper articles, web resources and policy documents

Enhance the ability of public health practitioners to critically analyse texts and apply social science theory to practical public health problems

Course Program

Monday 0900 – 1100Session 1: Introduction to key terms and

concepts

1100 – 1130: Morning tea

1130 – 1300Session 2: Whiteness and Racialisation

1300 - 1400: Lunch

1400 – 1630Session 3: Explaining health inequalities

Tuesday 0900 – 1015Session 4: Critiquing the burden of history

1015 - 1045: Morning tea

1045 – 1220Session 5: Indigenous health and the

paradigm shift

1220 – 1230Explanation of computer exercise

1230 – 1330: Lunch (incl. 15 min computer exercise)

1330 – 1600Session 6: White racial identity theory

Wednesday

0900 – 1030Session 7: ‘Culture’ in Indigenous health

1030-1100: Morning tea

1100 – 1200: Session 8: The culture of Indigenous health

1200 – 1215: Introduction to Session 9

1215 – 1345: Lunch

1345 – 1500Session 9: Approaches to Indigenous health

1500 – 1630Session 10: Reflecting on Indigenous health

Course objectivesSession 1: Understand the concepts of construction,

discourse and critique

Appreciate the various approaches to defining ‘race’

Session 2: Understand the concepts of Whiteness &

racialisation

Be able to critically analyse instances of racialisation and assess their impact on different social groups

Course objectivesSession 3: Appreciate the different reasons commonly

given for poor Indigenous health and understand the categories into which these reasons fall

Analyse the nature of health inequalities and appreciate the theoretical issues involved in discourses of inequality

Session 4: Understand the major elements in the history of

Indigenous health research Appreciate the similarities and differences

between past and present practices of Indigenous health research

Acknowledge that views of history are shaped by, and shape the attitudes of, those working in contemporary Indigenous public health

Course objectivesSession 5: Understand the major arguments for and

against the current Emergency Intervention in the Northern Territory

Be able to analyse the different arguments using theoretical terms and concepts

Session 6: Appreciate the variety of responses to perceived

racial and cultural difference

Understand White racial identity theory and be able to analyse its impact on Indigenous public health practice

Course objectivesSession 7: Appreciate the different ways that

‘culture’ is used in Indigenous public health

Understand the main cultural discourses utilised in public health texts and their impact on public health practice

Session 8: Appreciate the key themes and tensions

that are inherent to the practice of Indigenous public health

Course objectivesSession 9: Be able to formulate and present an

argument for one of the major perspectives on the causes of, and solutions to, Indigenous ill-health

Be able to articulate the similarities and differences between the major perspectives on Indigenous ill-health

Session 10:

Be able to reflect on the practice of Indigenous public health from a personal and professional perspective

Ground rules

Aimed at creating a safe space for honest consideration

of the complex and difficult issues in Indigenous health

There are no right or wrong ideas or expressions Raise your hand for clarification (there is no such

thing as a stupid question) Be respectful of and listen to what others have to

say before responding Critique ideas, don’t criticise people Emotional expressions and discussion of feelings

are encouraged (framed as ‘I’ statements) Please contribute as together you have more

knowledge and expertise than we have as presenters

QUESTIONS?

Session 1: Introduction to key terms and concepts

Different ways to understand reality

There is no definitive list and these categories are not mutually exclusive but…

Positivist – direct correspondence desirable : ‘objectivity’

Phenomenological – experience is the only knowable reality

Post/Structuralist – reality (including subjects) is an effect of shared meanings : ‘social construction’ , ‘relativism’

Constructivist – perception and reality co-construct each other : attempt to surpass dichotomy

“Perception” “Reality”

What do we mean by construction?

The result of a process by which reality is constituted within specific historical, social and cultural contexts

Thinking of X as constructed highlights that it need not have existed as it is or at all, that it could have been otherwise and is not inevitable examples: sexuality, manners, consumers, quarks, crime, grief, freedom

We are thus forced to consider why it is the way it is, how was meaning, reality and truth/falsity attributed to X as it is.

Being constructed and being real are not opposites!

How is knowledge constructed?

Example of gender/sex Modernity constructs sex as biological

and dichotomous – produced through actions historically (dissection) and from birth (ambiguous genitalia is a medical emergency)

Feminists decoupled sex from gender in order to designate gender as a social construction (affirmative action) – gender constructed as a construction

There is now a resurgence of sex-differentials in science – no one construction is predominating

How is knowledge about Indigenous health

constructed?

The key question of this course!

A form of written or spoken interaction

Language, signs, music (“texts”) and the social context of their use – how meaning is created

Way of constituting knowledge, together with the social practices, forms of subjectivity and power relations which inhere in such knowledges and relations between them (Foucault)

Discourse

Discourse What makes up discourse about

Indigenous health? System of knowledge – e.g. epidemiology

Tools of producing knowledge – e.g. surveys

Circulation of knowledge – media, academic journals

Subjectivities – of Indigenous people as suffering from disease, of non-Indigenous people as caring about Indigenous ill-health

Politics –the norms, beliefs and influences involved in making decisions or establishing social relationships (e.g. sexual politics)

Critique This course asks you to critique

constructions of Indigenous health and ill-health E.g. “Indigenous ill-health is due to the

erosion of culture” E.g. “Indigenous health should be in

Indigenous hands”

What is the discourse in which these statements make sense? (‘traditional culture’; transnational Indigenism)

Critique vs. criticism – no value/truth judgments, & if they exist, they should also be critiqued

The aim is to understand better the limits and opportunities inherent in the way we currently construct Indigenous health, and possibilities (or lack thereof) for constructing it differently

To Critique is to analyse and explain rather than evaluate or prescribe

Critique

QUESTIONS?

Identity exercise

Definitions of race

There are many ways to think about group identity

Race is an important way that the group identity of Indigenous people is constructed

We will consider three definitions of race

Critique these definitions and compare and contrast the way in which they construct ‘race’

Definitions of Race What are the different aspects of

these definitions? Genes Geography Lifestyle/cultural patterns/language History Ancestry Phenotype

What could be the social effects of adopting each of these different definitions?

Further critique

Social vs. biological

Self-identified vs. ascribed

What aspects of group identity does ‘culture’ draw on?

What aspects does ‘Indigeneity’ draw on? Commonwealth working definition Common-sense definition