Decolonization and Its Significance
Decolonization of the indigenous people is about their economic, psychological and cultural freedom. The right and the ability of the indigenous people to be able to have a right over their culture, land and political as well as economic systems is known as decolonization of the ingenious people (Chambers, 2018). As per Professor Linda Tuhiwai Smith, decolonization is critical to both the indigenous as well as the non-indigenous people. This is one of the most prominent social works and is important to me as it helps in reclaiming indigenous trusts and beliefs. The method of researching on this topic that I would include is the Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR). This method would help me to ensure that there is an increased participation of the people in this social aspect which will help in increasing their awareness on the topic.
The discrimination towards the indigenous people based on their racial identities is known as indigenous racism. This area needs special mention and research as it highlights the atrocities against the aboriginals based on their race and culture. Tuhiwai traces how scientific racism is inflicted on the indigenous people and stresses that even though they do not follow any ‘scientific method’ their cultures are not less worthy of respect (Wylie & McConkey, 2019). Storytelling is the method that would be the most important in highlighting this aspect. Various case studies of atrocities would help the communities become more aware of the atrocities against the indigenous people.
The aspect of self-conscious traditionalism focuses on the overindulgence of the indigenous people within their traditional aspects. This aspect holds major significance in the field of social awareness as the aspect of conservatism and its negative impact is highlighted on. The research method that I would want to include for this topic would include culture specific methods. This will help me to get a better analysis of the beauty of the various cultures of the indigenous people. Professor Tuhiwai focusses on Kaupapa M?ori as a part of indigenous research on M?ori culture (McDermott et al., 2017). This aspect is built on mutual trust, respect and reciprocity in the culture.
Imperialism is the ideology of extending political and economic control over other groups by imposing hard rules. The inclusion of imperial cultures has ended a lot of indigenous cultures (Smith, 2021). This topic needs to be highlighted so that the age-old indigenous cultures that have died out can be revived to some extent by getting to know facts regarding that culture. Storytelling can be included within this aspect in order to make sure that the age-old traditional features of the indigenous groups can be revived. Storytelling is one of the most effective ways to ensure that the unheard voices of the indigenous people can reach a wide range of people.
Self-determination of the indigenous communities is a process which empowers them to have a choice of their own regarding cultural, societal as well as economic needs. The impact on self-determination is very important for the indigenous communities to be able to voice their demands (Lâm, 2021). Professor Tuhiwai identifies the conceptualization of self-determination with that of development. Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) is the most effective indigenous research method which can be utilized in this topic. This aspect is important as views of various people can be obtained by this community-based research.
Indigenous Racism and Its Impact
One of the greatest social issues that the indigenous people face is poverty. There are almost about 500 million indigenous people all across the globe which accounts for over 90 countries. These people make up only 5% of the total population of the world and comprise almost 15% of the extremely poor segment of the globe (Singh, 2020). I have focused on this particular issue as it highlights the social segmentation that they have been facing which has led to the issues like fragmentation, racism, injustice against the indigenous people. The advancing civilization is almost on the verge of effacing the indigenous people and their beliefs and culture out of this world. Therefore, they have been sidetracked to such an extent that they have not been receiving any facilities that are enjoyed by others. This aspect has pushed these communities on the brink of poverty.
There is a myriad of reasons as to why the indigenous people are subject to poverty. The exclusion of the indigenous people from the geographical as well as political spheres and their historical extortion has resulted in them not being able to voice their problems. The indigenous people need various mediums to voice their grievances and the discrepancies that they face on a regular basis till this date. Therefore, this research will aid in the quick identification of the cultural gaps as well as the gaps in facilities among the indigenous as well as the non-indigenous people all across the world. The extreme poverty of the indigenous people has excluded them from a lot of facilities such as education, healthcare, proper housing facilities and a lot more advantages that are enjoyed by others (Rieger et al., 2020). The poverty of the indigenous people in the first world countries is majorly because of them being stripped off from their lands, cultures, religion and livelihoods to replace them with the more sophisticated and urban cultures. The lack of educational opportunities has caused generations of indigenous people to remain backward. Excessive focus on self-conscious traditionalism has caused them to remain awkward in the segment of education and therefore in some way the indigenous people are also responsible for their economic backwardness. (Nessan, 2020) Their adherence to their age-old traditions and cultures has caused them to remain poverty stricken. The cultural clashes with the other communities have proved detrimental to their development in all the segments. The indigenous people are more used to leading lives of spiritual and cultural beliefs which has resulted in them being detached from the will to attain a lot of wealth (King, 2021). Their detachment from the materialistic world has been a major cause of them remaining poverty stricken. Therefore, this report is very important to ensure that the indigenous studies are boosted with the aid of this essay which will increase an awareness among others regarding the cultures of these people which will help them to attain greater recognition in the society. This factor in turn will help them become economically independent in the society.
Self-Determination and Its Conceptualization
Poverty is one of the major reasons for the indigenous people all over the globe to lag behind the other groups. The major cause of poverty is education. Despite various laws in many countries to protect the rights of the indigenous people, they are deprived of the basic necessities which leads to them being left out. The Canadian government has resorted to the “Canadian Charter Rights and Freedoms” under the Canadian Human Rights Act (Black, 2018). The Republic Law 8371 in the Philippines which is also known as the Indigenous People’s Rights Act was implemented in the year 1997. There are similar laws that has been included by the government of various countries with indigenous population to protect the educational as well as he social rights of these people. The rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia are protected through the “Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act 1984” (ATSIHP Act) (Prictor et al., 2020). More such laws need to be passed and they have to be made sure of their rights through various campaigning programs. It is very important to ensure that the education is embedded among these people for them to understand their other rights. This aspect is very important to ensure that they can attain a similar economic status as that of others.
The issue of the indigenous people undergoing extreme poverty is intriguing. Therefore, it is very important that their rights be made known to them so that they do not have to suffer extreme poverty. The method that I might want to research on this topic is by Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR). This method is a type of approach that includes reflective and systematic queries in which a segment of the indigenous community as well as I can be invested equally throughout all the steps of the inquiry (Brush et al., 2020). This method will ensure that I can educate and improve the social practice of bringing about social changes in the segment of the indigenous people. Using this technique of research will make them actively participate and ensure that they can attain awareness of the rights to attain economic stability will uplift these communities economically. This procedure will allow innovative adaptation of the already existing resources and with the knowledge and the point of view of the indigenous people it will be easier to point out the areas that require attention (Collins et al., 2018). The input of the community will make sure that the research is more credible and addresses genuine points. Hearing of the challenges that they face from them makes it more appealing for the researcher to work with. It is very important to consider the ethical aspects of the topic while conducting the research and ensure that it benefits the indigenous people in the long run.
As per Sinclair (2019) the aspect of social services in the segment of Aboriginal people is quite recent. The aspect of social services for the Aboriginal people had arisen as a response to the social movement in the 1970s. This study highlights the factors related to the murdered and missing girls of the Aboriginal people of Canada. The Aboriginal culture has to be understood better in order to get a better understanding of the point of view of the aboriginals. The impact of the cross-cultural approaches to the aboriginals and their oppression has been brought out through this study. The North West Accreditation Commission was of the view there are more than 1,180 cases of missing and murdered women and girls in Canada as per the 2013 reports. Several aboriginal women and girls have been murdered in Canada as they are thought of as the harbingers of the future generations. This atrocious activities were prevalent in order to ensure that an end to the aboriginals could be ensured. The major aspect of social impact that has been stressed upon here is the aspect of abduction of women and their brutal. This aspect has caused the aboriginals to feel like outcasts in their own homeland (Mullen, 2020). The arousal of critical consciousness among these communities has to be impacted for them to get a better understanding of the methods to preserve their own dignities. The harm of colonization has to be embedded in the minds of the aboriginals so that they can no longer be oppressed by the external oppressive forces (Ma, 2021).
Poverty and Its Root Causes
The factor of poverty and homelessness of the aboriginal Canadian women has caused them to be more vulnerable to the atrocities. For the aboriginals it has created a goal of attaining indigenous sovereignty. This aspect has ensured that a lot of aboriginals can understand their basic rights and therefore practice self-determination over their own dignity, cultures, lands as well as economic systems. The factor of decolonization will help the people to be more aware of the rights of their women in their own homeland. In Canada the term ‘decolonization’ is often discussed in terms of the relationships between the indigenous and the non-indigenous people (Ma, 2021). The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada is responsible for looking into these aspects and maintaining the rights of the aboriginal people living in Canada. Decolonization involves a method in which both the indigenous as well as the non-indigenous people are included in the futuristic approach of the world. During the early span of colonization various Indigenous people were killed and pushed out of their homelands forcibly due to their cultural beliefs and their practices of livelihood therefore reducing their average life expectancy (Mullen, 2020). The rates of poverty, lack of education and ill-health is very high in the aboriginals. The term “aboriginal” is a term that collectively refers to the Inuit people, Metis and the first nations people in Canada. There are about more than 1.67 million people in Canada who identify themselves to be aboriginals. They are the fastest growing population in Canada and are said to have grown about 43% between the years 2006-2017 (Amir, 2018).
According to several recent reports it has been found out that several atrocities on the Canadian women and children have been inflicted over the years. About 2000 aboriginal women from Canada had gone missing between 1980 and 2013. Historical evidence states that for more than over 100 years the authorities of Canada had caused forcible separation of thousands of indigenous children from their families and made them go to residential schools. This factor had caused a lot of aboriginals to be separated from their roots and forget their religion and adapt to the new white-Canadian ways (McCauley & Matheson, 2018). These colonizing aspects had caused serious impacts on the aboriginals of Canada. Therefore, the new studies have brought up the concept of decolonization which is reversing the impacts that the concept of colonization has left on the indigenous people of Canada and people all across the globe.
A General Indigenous Framework has been utilized within this area of research. This framework of understanding the indigenous culture and the maintenance of the rights and dignity of the women is a developmental plan that makes a provision for training to ensure proper programs and services are delivered to the indigenous families and communities. This method is important as it will provide a clearer light into the culture of the indigenous people and their historical plight (Clark & Glover, 2019). It is the sole purpose of this research paper to shed light on the aspect of decolonization and its impact on the indigenous communities. There are a lot of aspects that have been covered in this paper which gives the readers a clear understanding of the issues that the indigenous women in Canada have been facing and the impact of decolonization on them. Various laws to protect the rights of the aboriginal women and others have been impacted in Canada. Some of the major legislative laws include the “Indian Act”, “Department of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Act” “the Department of Indigenous Services Act”, “First Nations Land Management Act” and a lot more (Sunga, 2017). Despite these laws various atrocities are being faced by the aboriginals living in Canada. Therefore, strict measures are to be undertaken in order to make sure that no discriminations or prejudices are held against the aboriginals.
Conclusion
This essay impacts on the various atrocities that the indigenous women in Canada have to face till date. The aspect of decolonization has been impacted in this particular study in order for the readers to get a better analysis of the injustices that are still present. The reason as to why despite having various laws the aboriginals have to face such hardships in the segment of economy, education, societal affairs has been made clear to us. This is a very important aspect of the issues of social work in present days and many indigenous social workers have been trying hard to bring to light the aspect of violence against indigenous women in order to put an end to this social evil.
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