week 3: indigenous Australians

Question 1

Develop an understanding of the historical and ongoing impacts of colonisation (including the Stolen Generations)

Answer 1

-the ongoing racism, discrimination, and increased incarceration rates and this impact on their wellbeing.
displancement
forced labour
removal of children
ecological destruction, massacres, genocide,
slavery, (un)intentional spread of deadly diseases,
banning of indigenous languages, regulation of marriage,
movement etc., as well as eradication of social, cultural
and spiritual practices

Also some relatively positive impacts such as friendship,
marriage, trade and technology use

Question 2

Identify the nature of early psychological testing conducted with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations

Answer 2

• The concept of ‘eugenics’ and how this influenced early psychological testing.
• Use of culturally inappropriate IQ tests with Indigenous peoples and determining they had a lower level of intelligence.
• IQ test performance influenced policies
• The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis about linguistic determinism: the way we perceive the world is determined by the structure of the language we speak. Extensive research shows that this Hypothesis exists only as a notion and cannot be empirically tested. Tyson indicates how, in spite of this, psychologists believed that Indigenous peoples were not advanced because of the lack of a written language in the way many other languages have a script.
• Use of the Muller-Lyer illusion test with Indigenous peoples. The symbols used in a Muller-Lyer test meant different things to Indigenous peoples - so, this test was not a culture-fair test.
• Overall, culture impacts on human cognition.
• Indigenous concept of which is the seat of intelligence in our body.
• The importance of the ‘gut’ instinct.
• Importance of expressing emotions and not suppressing them to maintain good mental health.
• he Indigenous terms for ‘mental health’ and ‘deafness’ or ‘listen’ and ‘think’ are the same: important for understanding how different cultures have different conceptualisations of mental health.
• Embodied cognition is essential for our understanding of the connection between cognitions and relationships to people and the land. When there is an imbalance in these relationships, our cognition (or, mental health) is affected.

Question 3

Examine and evaluate the social and emotional wellbeing framework for Indigenous communities

Answer 3

Mental health is described in terms of social and emotional wellbeing to provide a more broad, holistic understanding of wellbeing among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. The social and wellbeing framework attempts to divert from the biomedical model of mental health and mental illness (Kelly, Dudgeon, Gee, & Gaskin, 2009).

Guiding principles of the Social and Emotional Wellbeing (SEWB) Framework

Health as holistic
The right to self-determination
The need for cultural understanding
The impact of history in trauma and loss
Recognition of human rights
The impact of racism and stigma
Recognition of the centrality of kinship
Recognition of cultural diversity
Recognition of Aboriginal strengths