Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Tina Katsanos
LBST 2102-338
5 December 2016
Final Reflection
Although globalization can be detrimental to indigenous cultures and societies, it
can also have a positive impact on the people undergoing change. In the case of
Australian aboriginals, they did not receive the more positive impact of globalization.
Before being globalized, aboriginals thrived within their culture. They had strong
spiritual beliefs and the land that they lived on was sacred to them. Their culture, like
many other indigenous groups, included storytelling and art. Australian aboriginals had a
close relationship with ancestors similar to that of Malidoma in Of Water and the Spirit.
Not only did they have a close relationship with ancestors they also connected closely
with nature.
The aborigines had to undergo forced assimilation that led most of the group to
join rural and urban communities. Indigenous children were removed from their families
as a part of the assimilation. Half-caste children were priority for removal because they
were thought to have a better chance of blending into the white community. I found this
event to be similar to that of Malidoma as he was taken away to a seminary to learn the
ways of the white man. In comparison, the children who were separated from their
families were forced to disconnect with their culture and live like white people.
Today they are said to be a stolen generation because their culture was removed
from them. Many of them faced abuse in all forms from their adopted families. Living
conditions were controlled and children were punished for disobeying orders. Even
though they were suppose to be taken away to live like white people they did not
received a high level of education. I cannot imagine how it feels to have your very culture
forcibly removed from your memory. This was a product of globalization where one
culture attempts to mix with another in hopes to make a better of the two.
The assimilation also led to depopulation and extinction of some aboriginal tribes.
Aboriginals were exposed to diseases and people were economically alienated. Alongside
all the negative impact of globalization there were positive things aboriginals received