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White people have no face: Aboriginal perspectives on White culture and the costs of neoliberalism

Citation

Habibis, D and Taylor, PS and Silva Ragaini, B, White people have no face: Aboriginal perspectives on White culture and the costs of neoliberalism, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 43, (7) pp. 1149-1168. ISSN 0141-9870 (2019) [Refereed Article]

Copyright Statement

© 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group

DOI: doi:10.1080/01419870.2019.1642504

Abstract

Australia has a significant Aboriginal population but while much is known about how White people view Aboriginal culture, Aboriginal perspectives on White culture are not well known. Drawing on survey (N = 474) and in-depth interviews (N = 43) we aim to reposition the normativity of White culture by asking a diverse group of Aboriginal people what they think of White Australian values and behaviours. Regardless of social position, as a subaltern population, respondents have a heightened sense of the alienation inherent within contemporary neoliberalism. Most respondents believe most Australians live in ways that go "against nature", at high cost to the social fabric and environment. The contrast with the respondents' own sense of connection to each other and to the natural world provides an opportunity to reset the race relationship because it demands a re-evaluation of the hegemonic assumptions within the reconciliation dyad. The findings disrupt the identities of Aboriginal and White people, and position Aboriginal people as both deserving of inclusion and as proferring knowledge of benefit to all Australians.

Item Details

Item Type:Refereed Article
Keywords:Indigenous, race relations, alienation, values, critical race theory
Research Division:Human Society
Research Group:Sociology
Research Field:Urban sociology and community studies
Objective Division:Indigenous
Objective Group:Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community services
Objective Field:Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community services not elsewhere classified
UTAS Author:Habibis, D (Associate Professor Daphne Habibis)
UTAS Author:Taylor, PS (Ms Penelope Taylor)
UTAS Author:Silva Ragaini, B (Ms Bruna Silva Ragaini)
ID Code:134305
Year Published:2019
Funding Support:Australian Research Council (LP130100622)
Web of Science® Times Cited:3
Deposited By:Office of the School of Social Sciences
Deposited On:2019-08-06
Last Modified:2022-10-03
Downloads:0

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