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Jewish Hatzolah and the barriers to equivalent Aboriginal Australian cultural adaptation
Citation
Moore, TC, Jewish Hatzolah and the barriers to equivalent Aboriginal Australian cultural adaptation, Social Identities, 21, (2) pp. 132-148. ISSN 1350-4630 (2015) [Refereed Article]
Copyright Statement
Copyright 2015 Taylor & Francis
DOI: doi:10.1080/13504630.2015.1013930
Abstract
Insofar as they perceive secularisation as loss of attachment to tradition and
community, Orthodox Jews face difficulties somewhat similar to those facing
Aboriginal Australians. Both fear that engagement with the wider society equates to
loss of cultural particularity. Orthodox Australian Jews have responded to this fear by
countering the trend to secularisation and adapting traditional cultural beliefs and
practices so that they may be retained while also allowing engagement in modern
secular life. Hatzolah is one adaptation that reconciles dissonances between cultural
heritage, secular life and good health. My interest in Hatzolah is as a metaphor that
may help in exploring the possibility of equivalent Aboriginal responses, whereby
Aborigines may negotiate the discourse that, for them, pits culture against health,
education and socio-economic status. In this case, powerful discourse makes structured
adaptation like Hatzolah less likely than it might otherwise be. Yet in their everyday,
Aborigines do negotiate the tensions of being modern, much as Orthodox Jews. I argue
that the discursive oppositions are the product of public policy and identity politics that
are both invested in a solidary culture, unitary identity and binary difference. I also
argue that the emergence of Hatzolah-like adaptations depends on the recognition and
full consideration in policy of Aborigines’ contemporary lived realities of interculturality,
subjective multiplicity and ambiguity.
Item Details
| Item Type: | Refereed Article |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | Aboriginal policy; cultural adaptation; changing-sameness; interculturality; identity politics |
| Research Division: | Studies in Human Society |
| Research Group: | Policy and Administration |
| Research Field: | Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Policy |
| Objective Division: | Law, Politics and Community Services |
| Objective Group: | Government and Politics |
| Objective Field: | Public Services Policy Advice and Analysis |
| Author: | Moore, TC (Dr Terry Moore) |
| ID Code: | 100873 |
| Year Published: | 2015 |
| Web of Science® Times Cited: | 1 |
| Deposited By: | Humanities |
| Deposited On: | 2015-06-02 |
| Last Modified: | 2016-10-03 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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