Aboriginal Childhood Research Articles

Representation, Settler Colonialism and ‘the Aboriginal Child’: a Politics of Subalternity?

Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak famously thematised the question ‘can the subaltern speak?’ through the dual meanings of ‘representation,’ as both depiction and political proxy. This paper draws on Spivak’s analysis to question the capacity of the settler-colonial Australian imagination to represent (or recognise) the sovereignty of Aboriginal peoples – and especially of children, as infants (in-fans, literally speechless). The former sense of representation (depiction) bears implications for the second, as Indigenous sovereignty is displaced by settler representations of indigeneity – and particularly of Indigenous ‘childhood’ and ‘children’ as neglected ‘piccaninnies,’ without parentage or inheritance. Such portrayals, in this light, may even be read as continuous with colonial logics of elimination, as strategies to sever the connection to land that undergirds Indigenous conceptions of sovereignty and to thwart Indigenous futures. The article interrogates settler colonial investments in representing Aboriginal childhood in the context of recent public discourse about the constitutional recognition of First Peoples, and a political imperative to re-present the Australian ‘nation’ as post- (rather than currently) colonial. The questions that animate this inquiry include: what, if anything, can a settler-Australian politics of recognition offer First Peoples? Is it possible to represent (or recognise) Blak sovereignty through modifications to the settler constitution? And how does the settler image repertoire of Aboriginal children speak to this possibility? If that fabricated ‘Aboriginal child’ could speak, what would this ultimate ‘subaltern’ say?

Book Review: Representing Aboriginal childhood: The politics of memory and forgetting in Australia by Joanne Faulkner

Book Review: <i>Representing Aboriginal childhood: The politics of memory and forgetting in Australia</i> by Joanne Faulkner

‘A Child Is Being Eaten’: Psychoanalysis in Times of Antiblackness

Géza Róheim's psychoanalytic, colonial archive is one of the few attempts to document the psychic life of subjects living under settler colonialism. Historians of psychoanalysis have examined Róheim's contributions to the psychoanalytic study of Aboriginal childhood, as well as his exploration of Aboriginal maternal subjectivity. However, Róheim's account of Aboriginal maternal cannibalism needs more attention, as accusations of cannibalism often accompanied cruel colonial policies targeting Aboriginal families. This paper contextualizes Róheim's psychoanalytic insights on the unconscious motives of cannibalism and infanticide amongst Aboriginal mothers and seeks to rethink Róheim's psychoanalytic archive from the point of view of hunger, to explore what it can tell us about the complex relationship between psychoanalysis and colonialism, as well as the relationship between psychoanalysis and its colonial past.

Aboriginal childhood overweight and obesity: the need for Aboriginal designed and led initiatives

Childhood obesity poses an urgent and serious public health challenge in Australia. Aboriginal children are more profoundly affected than non-Aboriginal children, with the gap in weight status between the two groups widening, indicating an increased risk of metabolic disorders earlier in life. Obesity is the second biggest contributor (16%) to the gap in health status between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people. The bulk of this gap is attributable to people living in non-remote settings who make up 81% of the total Aboriginal population in Australia. The complex interplay of socio-environmental factors that contribute to obesity are well known and include prolonged financial stress associated with food insecurity, urbanisation, substandard and overcrowded housing, and lack of adequate access to health services. In addition, Aboriginal people, specifically, contend with the loss of traditional lands, and poor dietary behaviours due to the transition from traditional to Western diets as a result of colonisation. There are very few national policies and guidelines for obesity prevention and treatment for Australian children. This is especially the case for Aboriginal children. Most Australian states and territories have a suite of programs targeting obesity in childhood through healthy eating and active living strategies but with the exception of a few programs, the reach and effectiveness among Aboriginal children is either not known or has not been adequately assessed. Where programs have assessed Aboriginal participation, completion rates have generally been lower compared with the general population. The problem cannot be addressed without proper Aboriginal governance and leadership, and collaborative program development for Aboriginal-specific obesity interventions. Meaningful engagement and empowering Aboriginal communities to have control over programs that affect their health and wellbeing are more likely to result in positive health outcomes. Importantly, appropriate funding and support is essential to simultaneously facilitate the building of an Aboriginal health workforce to develop, coordinate, deliver and evaluate programs.

“Failure to Thrive”? Imagining precarity, sensing agency, through Ivan Sen’s Toomelah

Representations of Aboriginal childhood as a fraught and vulnerable existence are overdetermined by the material, affective, and psychic residues of colonisation in Australia. Ten years after the National Apology to the Stolen Generations, public discourse regularly represents Aboriginal children as neglected, shifting blame to Aboriginal communities whenever inequalities between Indigenous peoples and non-Indigenous Australians are raised. This paper situates such representations in the context of the racialisation of Indigeneity in Australia. Specifically, representations of Aboriginal childhood as ‘unliveable’ reinforce the colonial view that Indigeneity is in decline — children’s “failure to thrive,” so to speak, signalling the inevitable extinction of Aboriginal peoples. Government policies focused on children, in turn, have for generations severed First Nations children from the cultural systems that would nourish a sense of identity, belonging, and hope for a future lived as Aboriginal. Aboriginal Director Ivan Sen recasts images of juvenile vulnerability in his film Toomelah in order to explore its power. In Toomelah’s protagonist, Daniel, we find a burgeoning agency wrought in a space of self-conscious vulnerability, ethical ambiguity, and relationality. In contemporary Australia, government agency assessments regarding the care of Aboriginal children are guided by a limited understanding of “the child’s best interests” that fails to consider how the form of agency addressed by Sen might be nurtured. I argue that if Australia is to decolonise its systems of support and welfare, and promote conditions in which First Nations children and communities may thrive, such agency must be comprehended, supported, and encouraged to develop in situ.

Navigating the journey of Aboriginal childhood disability: a qualitative study of carers' interface with services.

BackgroundThe disadvantage experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children with a disability is well recognized. The long term consequences of failing to address disability on health, education and employment underlies the importance of early intervention. Caregivers experience a disproportionate burden and have challenges accessing services. The aim of this study was to describe the carer journey of accessing support and services.MethodsWe conducted in-depth semi-structured interviews with nineteen parents and carers of Aboriginal children aged 0–8 years. The children were patients at a child developmental clinic at a metropolitan area Aboriginal health service in Eastern Australia. Interpretive phenomenological analysis was applied to transcribed verbatim accounts.ResultsFour themes were developed using the ‘journey’ metaphor to describe the carer pathway of accessing support and services at the community, service and policy levels. Themes included 1) the need for increased signage within communities via community education, information and awareness, 2) wrong way signs, roundabouts and roadblocks encountered when accessing services, 3) alternate routes can facilitate the journey, and 4) incompatibility of inflexible bureaucratic road rules and lived realities.ConclusionsThe challenges of caring for a child with a disability are indisputable and these can be compounded for people experiencing socio-economic disadvantage and marginalisation. Overcoming challenges to service access faced by carers of Aboriginal children with a disability will require investment in community, services and policy to tailor culturally appropriate models of care.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12913-016-1926-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

‘Doing the hard yards’: carer and provider focus group perspectives of accessing Aboriginal childhood disability services

BackgroundDespite a high prevalence of disability, Aboriginal Australians access disability services in Australia less than non-Aboriginal Australians with a disability. The needs of Aboriginal children with disability are particularly poorly understood. They can endure long delays in treatment which can impact adversely on development. This study sought to ascertain the factors involved in accessing services and support for Aboriginal children with a disability.MethodsUsing the focus group method, two community forums, one for health and service providers and one for carers of Aboriginal children with a disability, were held at an Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Service (ACCHS) in the Sydney, metropolitan area of New South Wales, Australia. Framework analysis was applied to qualitative data to elucidate key issues relevant to the dimensions of access framework. Independent coding consistency checks were performed and consensus of analysis verified by the entire research team, several of whom represented the local Aboriginal community.ResultsSeventeen health and social service providers representing local area government and non-government-funded health and social service organisations and five carers participated in two separate forums between September and October 2011. Lack of awareness of services and inadequate availability were prominent concerns in both groups despite geographic proximity to a major metropolitan area with significant health infrastructure. Carers noted racism, insufficient or non-existent services, and the need for an enhanced role of ACCHSs and AHWs in disability support services. Providers highlighted logistical barriers and cultural and historical issues that impacted on the effectiveness of mainstream services for Aboriginal people.ConclusionsDespite dedicated disability services in an urban community, geographic proximity does not mitigate lack of awareness and availability of support. This paper has enumerated a number of considerations to address provision of disability services in an urban Australian Aboriginal community including building expertise and specialist capacity within Aboriginal Health Worker positions and services.Increasing awareness of services, facilitating linkages and referrals, eliminating complexities to accessing support, and working with families and Aboriginal community organisations within a framework of resilience and empowerment to ensure a relevant and acceptable model are necessary steps to improving support and care for Aboriginal children with a disability.

Growing Up in Central Australia: new anthropological studies of Aboriginal childhood and adolescence Edited by UteEickelkampNew York and London: Berghahn Books, 2011. Pp. xii + 298. Price: US$ 120 (Hb) US$ 34.95 (Pb)

Growing Up in Central Australia: new anthropological studies of Aboriginal childhood and adolescence Edited by UteEickelkampNew York and London: Berghahn Books, 2011. Pp. xii + 298. Price: US$ 120 (Hb) US$ 34.95 (Pb)

Growing up in central Australia: new anthropological studies of Aboriginal childhood and adolescence – Edited by Ute Eickelkamp

Growing up in central Australia: new anthropological studies of Aboriginal childhood and adolescence – Edited by Ute Eickelkamp

Growing Up in Central Australia: New Anthropological Studies in Aboriginal Childhood and Adolescence. UteEickelkamp. New York: Berghahn Books. 2011. xi + 298 pp.

EthosVolume 40, Issue 2 p. 1-3 Book Review Growing Up in Central Australia: New Anthropological Studies in Aboriginal Childhood and Adolescence. Ute Eickelkamp. New York: Berghahn Books. 2011. xi + 298 pp. Robert G. (Jerry) Schwab, Robert G. (Jerry) Schwab Assistant ProfessorSearch for more papers by this author Robert G. (Jerry) Schwab, Robert G. (Jerry) Schwab Assistant ProfessorSearch for more papers by this author First published: 03 May 2012 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1548-1352.2012.01250.xAboutPDF ToolsExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume40, Issue2June 2012Pages 1-3 RelatedInformation

Growing Up in Central Australia: New Anthropological Studies of Aboriginal Childhood and Adolescence

Growing Up in Central Australia: New Anthropological Studies of Aboriginal Childhood and Adolescence

Children and Youth in Aboriginal Australia: An Overview of the Literature

The following overview of the existing literature relating to Aboriginal childhood and adolescence across Australia is intended to support the development of this potentially strong interdisciplinary research field. It presents a select number of works in historical context, concluding with critical comments and supplemented by additional references presented according to type of study. No claim is made to have covered the literature exhaustively.

Change in Aboriginal childhood morbidity and mortality in Bourke 1971–84

In the early 1970s, the Aboriginal community of Bourke attempted to improve its socioeconomic and health status through a number of community development activities. As a result, markers of nutrition in early childhood, housing conditions and access to health care all improved, in spite of a deterioration in employment opportunities and adult health. Coincidentally, most markers of the health of Aboriginal children in Bourke improved over the period 1971-84. In particular, Aboriginal child admissions due to gastroenteritis, eye and ear infections and accidents, and the community prevalence of trachoma, middle ear disease and pneumonia among Aboriginal children, decreased. Skin infections were an exception to this general picture, becoming more prevalent over the period.