Culture and wellbeing: the case of indigenous Australians

A recurring theme in Indigenous affairs in Australia is a tension between maintenance of Indigenous culture and achievement of socio-economic ‘equity’: essentially ‘self-determination’ versus ‘assimilation’. Implicit in this tension is the view that attachment to traditional cultures and lifestyles...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Dockery, Alfred Michael
Format: Journal Article
Published: Springer Netherlands 2010
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/39286
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author Dockery, Alfred Michael
author_facet Dockery, Alfred Michael
author_sort Dockery, Alfred Michael
building Curtin Institutional Repository
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description A recurring theme in Indigenous affairs in Australia is a tension between maintenance of Indigenous culture and achievement of socio-economic ‘equity’: essentially ‘self-determination’ versus ‘assimilation’. Implicit in this tension is the view that attachment to traditional cultures and lifestyles is a hindrance to achieving ‘mainstream’ economic goals. Using data from the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey, stronger attachment to traditional culture is found to be associated with enhanced outcomes across a range of socio-economic indicators. This suggests Indigenous culture should be viewed a part of the solution to Indigenous disadvantage in Australia, and not as part of the problem.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-392862017-10-02T02:28:05Z Culture and wellbeing: the case of indigenous Australians Dockery, Alfred Michael Culture Wellbeing Indigenous Australia A recurring theme in Indigenous affairs in Australia is a tension between maintenance of Indigenous culture and achievement of socio-economic ‘equity’: essentially ‘self-determination’ versus ‘assimilation’. Implicit in this tension is the view that attachment to traditional cultures and lifestyles is a hindrance to achieving ‘mainstream’ economic goals. Using data from the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey, stronger attachment to traditional culture is found to be associated with enhanced outcomes across a range of socio-economic indicators. This suggests Indigenous culture should be viewed a part of the solution to Indigenous disadvantage in Australia, and not as part of the problem. 2010 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/39286 10.1007/s11205-010-9582-y Springer Netherlands restricted
spellingShingle Culture
Wellbeing
Indigenous
Australia
Dockery, Alfred Michael
Culture and wellbeing: the case of indigenous Australians
title Culture and wellbeing: the case of indigenous Australians
title_full Culture and wellbeing: the case of indigenous Australians
title_fullStr Culture and wellbeing: the case of indigenous Australians
title_full_unstemmed Culture and wellbeing: the case of indigenous Australians
title_short Culture and wellbeing: the case of indigenous Australians
title_sort culture and wellbeing: the case of indigenous australians
topic Culture
Wellbeing
Indigenous
Australia
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/39286