Session 8: The Culture of Indigenous Health

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• Session 8 The Culture of Indigenous Health

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Non-Indigenous people working in Indigenous
health an anthropological study

• Dr Emma Kowal
• NHMRC Postdoctoral Fellow
• University of Melbourne

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Key terms

• Postcolonial
• Liberal
• White
• Antiracism
• Subjectivity

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The research question

• An ethnography of white antiracism in the context
  of postcolonial liberal multiculturalism
• OR
• What are we all doing here???

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The research data

• Participant observation with one research team
  for 12 months 18 researchers
• Interviews with 17 researchers
• Background in clinical medicine and Indigenous
  health research

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The argument

• White antiracists believe in postcolonial
  logic
• Postcolonial logic is based on the concept of
  remediable difference
• Experience working with Indigenous people
  disrupts the idea of remediable difference
• Postcolonial logic unravels
• White antiracists must cope with the loss of this
  belief system

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Postcolonial logic

• The knowledge and beliefs shared by white
  antiracists
• Indigenous ill-health is the result of
  colonisation and ongoing oppression
• The role of white people is to support Indigenous
  people to implement their own solutions

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Postcolonial logic Remedialism Orientalism

• Remedialism The belief that Indigenous lives can
  be improved through intervention

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• Mortality trends for Indigenous 0-4 year olds,
  1967-2000 in the Northern Territory. Despite
  great improvements, the gap remains.
  (Condon et al. 2004447)

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Postcolonial logic Remedialism Orientalism

• Remedialism The belief that Indigenous lives can
  be improved through intervention
• Orientalism The belief that Indigenous people
  are essentially different to white people

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Postcolonial logic Remedialism Orientalism

• Remedialism The belief that Indigenous lives can
  be improved through intervention
• Orientalism The belief that Indigenous people
  are essentially different to white people
• Remediable difference a difference that can be
  brought into the norm

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Remediable difference

• The example of the information-deficit model
• Minimising white agency
• Remedial vs. radical difference

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The postcolonial condition The worries shared by
white antiracists

• The dilemma of historical continuity What if we
  are no different from our predecessors?
• The dilemma of social improvement What if, in
  improving Indigenous health, we are eroding their
  cultural distinctiveness?

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Relieving the postcolonial condition

• Denial
• Withdrawal
• Acceptance
• Pleasure and friendship

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Questions? Comments?
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This research was NOT about

• Showing that white researchers are racist or are
  not racist
• Showing that white researchers are not trying
  hard enough or are misguided
• How to improve Indigenous health