Australian Aboriginal women prisoners’ experiences of being a mother: a review

© 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited. Purpose: The rise in the incarceration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mothers is a major public health issue with multiple sequelae for Aboriginal children and the cohesiveness of Aboriginal communities. The purpose of this paper is to review the availab...

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Main Authors: Jones, J., Wilson, Amanda, Sullivan, E., Atkinson, L., Gilles, M., Simpson, P., Baldry, E., Butler, Tony
Format: Journal Article
Published: Taylor and Francis 2018
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/70967
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author Jones, J.
Wilson, Amanda
Sullivan, E.
Atkinson, L.
Gilles, M.
Simpson, P.
Baldry, E.
Butler, Tony
author_facet Jones, J.
Wilson, Amanda
Sullivan, E.
Atkinson, L.
Gilles, M.
Simpson, P.
Baldry, E.
Butler, Tony
author_sort Jones, J.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited. Purpose: The rise in the incarceration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mothers is a major public health issue with multiple sequelae for Aboriginal children and the cohesiveness of Aboriginal communities. The purpose of this paper is to review the available literature relating to Australian Aboriginal women prisoners’ experiences of being a mother. Design/methodology/approach: The literature search covered bibliographic databases from criminology, sociology and anthropology, and Australian history. The authors review the literature on: traditional and contemporary Aboriginal mothering roles, values and practices; historical accounts of the impacts of white settlement of Australia and subsequent Aboriginal affairs policies and practices; and women’s and mothers’ experiences of imprisonment. Findings: The review found that the cultural experiences of mothering are unique to Aboriginal mothers and contrasted to non-Aboriginal concepts. The ways that incarceration of Aboriginal mothers disrupts child rearing practices within the cultural kinship system are identified. Practical implications: Aboriginal women have unique circumstances relevant to the concept of motherhood that need to be understood to develop culturally relevant policy and programs. The burden of disease and cycle of incarceration within Aboriginal families can be addressed by improving health outcomes for incarcerated Aboriginal mothers and female carers. Originality/value: To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first literature review on Australian Aboriginal women prisoners’ experiences of being a mother.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-709672018-12-13T09:34:11Z Australian Aboriginal women prisoners’ experiences of being a mother: a review Jones, J. Wilson, Amanda Sullivan, E. Atkinson, L. Gilles, M. Simpson, P. Baldry, E. Butler, Tony © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited. Purpose: The rise in the incarceration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mothers is a major public health issue with multiple sequelae for Aboriginal children and the cohesiveness of Aboriginal communities. The purpose of this paper is to review the available literature relating to Australian Aboriginal women prisoners’ experiences of being a mother. Design/methodology/approach: The literature search covered bibliographic databases from criminology, sociology and anthropology, and Australian history. The authors review the literature on: traditional and contemporary Aboriginal mothering roles, values and practices; historical accounts of the impacts of white settlement of Australia and subsequent Aboriginal affairs policies and practices; and women’s and mothers’ experiences of imprisonment. Findings: The review found that the cultural experiences of mothering are unique to Aboriginal mothers and contrasted to non-Aboriginal concepts. The ways that incarceration of Aboriginal mothers disrupts child rearing practices within the cultural kinship system are identified. Practical implications: Aboriginal women have unique circumstances relevant to the concept of motherhood that need to be understood to develop culturally relevant policy and programs. The burden of disease and cycle of incarceration within Aboriginal families can be addressed by improving health outcomes for incarcerated Aboriginal mothers and female carers. Originality/value: To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first literature review on Australian Aboriginal women prisoners’ experiences of being a mother. 2018 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/70967 10.1108/IJPH-12-2017-0059 Taylor and Francis restricted
spellingShingle Jones, J.
Wilson, Amanda
Sullivan, E.
Atkinson, L.
Gilles, M.
Simpson, P.
Baldry, E.
Butler, Tony
Australian Aboriginal women prisoners’ experiences of being a mother: a review
title Australian Aboriginal women prisoners’ experiences of being a mother: a review
title_full Australian Aboriginal women prisoners’ experiences of being a mother: a review
title_fullStr Australian Aboriginal women prisoners’ experiences of being a mother: a review
title_full_unstemmed Australian Aboriginal women prisoners’ experiences of being a mother: a review
title_short Australian Aboriginal women prisoners’ experiences of being a mother: a review
title_sort australian aboriginal women prisoners’ experiences of being a mother: a review
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/70967