Many of you, in your comments, expressed surprise about how little you understood or were able to see different cultural perspectives. Both the Iceberg and the Cultural Awareness test are excellent tools to encouraging us to see the world with a wider lense.
In this post, I'd like to focus on specific movements that have challenged the way in the which the world is seen and the way in which different peoples are represented. My intention with the post is to provide an easy-to-understand (and easy-to-teach!) explanation of the shifts in thought which today have led to what we have today.
First, a quote from Stanner, 1974 when explaining why historians were uninterested in referring to Aboriginal history or questions in their practice. He argued that there was a structural absentmindedness,
a view from a window which has been carefully placed to exclude a whole quadrant of the landscape. What may well have begun as a simple forgetting of other possible views turned under habit and over time into something like a cult of forgetfulness practised on a national scale.Who is telling the 'story'? or How is truth constructed?
Up until the 1950/1960s, the public sphere of life (politics, economics, law, media, academia etc) was essentially controlled and constructed by one dominant group of the population - White Men. Given that we are talking about knowledge production (the 'industry' of the University), when talking to students face-to-face, I generally ask them to invoke a stereotype, of a scientist in his white lab coat and a clip board, investigating the world and seeking the elusive 'truth'.
In studying and representing Australian history, the White Man came up with such truths as:
[when people talk about the history of Australia] they mean the history of white people who have lived in Australia. There is a good reason why we should not stretch the term to make it include the story of the dark skinned wandering tribes who hurled boomerangs and ate snakes for long ages before the arrival of the first intruders from Europe.
Walter Murdoch, The Making of Australia, 1917
As a process of colonisation, the settlement was relatively uncomplicated: the continent was empty, for the unfortunate aborigines offered no serious economic or cultural opposition, and the colonisers were of one nationality
Greenwood, Australia: A Social and Political History, 1951
There are many other examples of this version of Australian truth that you will find in text books in old second hand bookshops and possibly even on your own bookcase.
... but you're not telling MY story .... exposing sexism and gender-centrism
After centuries of White Male constructions of truth, somewhere in the mid-twentieth century, a core section of the Western world, said okay that 'TRUTH' as written didn't reflect their story, history or perspective. Women named the above as Patriarchy.
As part of the Feminist movement, women revolted against the way in which men controlled the world and controlled the way in which truth and ideas were represented. Women challenged assumptions in Western culture that women
- didn't have the same capabilities as men
- were soley responsible for child-reading and reproduction
- were required to 'look' a certain way in order to be respectable
- etc
... but you're not telling MY story ... exposing ethno-centrism and racialisation
While women were challenging Patriarchal 'truths', so too, were people of colour (for want of a better term) and Indigenous Peoples around the world. Revolting against racist and ethno-centric assumptions, Black People and Indigenous Peoples in Western liberal democracies, challenged some of these assumptions include:
- that Indigenous Peoples were/are incapable of making decisions for themselves
- that Indigenous Peoples were 'simple', nomadic tribesmen aimlessly wandering the land
- that Indigenous Peoples had simple disappeared, ceded and were willing to be assimilated
- etc
... but wait! there's more ...
While women have exposed sexism and Black people have exposed ethno-centrism, there are still other areas of 'truth' to be challenged -class-centrism and hetero-centrism for example. Can you think of or are you personally impacted by others?
How does all this impact on your role as a teacher?
- The resources you use: Text books and resources present the point of view of the author. By recognising multiple truths, you're more likely to seek out different points of view in your classroom practice.
- Creating a critical classroom: As a parent of four school-aged children I am often surprised at the content my children study. Over the years I've often wondered if the Feminist movement had passed Education Queensland by. My children have regularly studied 'the explorers', and 'the ANZACs' and other White Male significant people. Discussions about Australian History have rarely included women. By being aware of your role in unpacking assumptions, you will be more likely to create the Critical Consciousness inspired by Paulo Freire and bell hooks.
- Your students come from different backgrounds: In your classes (and in the staff room), you will encounter students from all different backgrounds. If you adopt a stance that you are teaching a 'truth', then you may alienate other experiences and stories. If you adopt a stance that you're exploring truths, you allow yourself to be both learner and teacher at the same time.
- Giving context: By having an understanding of how truth is constructed, you will be more ready to provide context. My fourteen year old son, on the way to school yesterday, asked me what paradigm meant (he'd heard the word on the radio). The explanation I gave him was essentially what is written above. Each of us exists within multiple paradigms at the same time. By having a consciousness of those paradigms you have more power over them (rather than being a victim or slave to them) and are able to explain them more clearly to your students.
The struggle for freedom still exists. There are people who wish for a simpler time, when finding truth was easy. Depending on your world-view, finding truth is messier and less clear cut. Now when you teach you have to consult with people, and account for how you've taken into consideration different points of view, many of which don't agree. I suggest that you embrace the messiness as a challenge rather than a burden to be borne.
A couple of videos to finish: (I know they're not Indigenous and not Australian, but I think both are great in the task of challenging assumptions.)
The first is by Jay Smooth who challenges us to focus on what someone did, not on who they are -
The second is by nineteenpercent who challenges the assumptions in Beyonce's Run The World
And the third is by Yellow Rage who challenge the way the West represents and sees 'Asian' -
Note: Very Strong Language Warning
Please note: In the unpacking above (White Male Truth => challenged by Feminism => challenged by Race => challenged by .... ), the sequence reads like a chronology. However in reality, women have been challenging patriarchy for centuries, and Black Peoples have also been challenging Whiteness for centuries. The 'breakthroughs' where Other voices have been heard in the mainstream though have only come in the last century.
Finding and valuing different truths, stories, ideas and opinions is an on-going process. Challenging assumptions and stereotypes of Others is an on-going process - it's a life project.
If you feel like you don't have the skill or ability to challenge assumptions, don't panic because it's a skill that can be learned. Like other skills, some have it naturally while the rest of us have to practice. So practice and surround yourself with people (even if those people are on YouTube or in books) who are committed to the same.
Is 'the struggle' over? NOPE. Do we still have a long way to go? YEP. What will you be doing to challenge structural oppression of Others? That's only a question you can answer folks.
