CSV110 Discussion Between Australian Aboriginal and Non-Aboriginal Perspective Assessment Answer

ASSESSMENT 1: ESSAY 

Define and discuss community from Australian Aboriginal Perspective and from Australian Non-Aboriginal perspective. What are the similarities and what are the differences between these two perspectives? 

1. Introduction

Australian communities are the mix up of aboriginal as well as non-aboriginal communities. Among them, the indigenous people have constructed most of the parts of the aboriginal community though some indigenous people are involved in the non-aboriginal community also. These aboriginal communities bear some critical similarities and differences with that of non-aboriginal communities based on community perspectives. 

This essay revolves around the fact that community structure and culture of aboriginal people differ from that of non-aboriginal people. Thus, it tries to prove that though there are some similarities among different communities of aboriginal and non-aboriginal people, each of the communities bears certain differences also. This essay has involved discussion based on analysis of community perspectives of aboriginal and aboriginal people by highlighting key similarities and differences among them.  

2. Definition of community

In order to describe the term "community", a number of sociologists are researching throughout a longer time span. As a result of this, the perspectives of the community have been explained by considering different views by different authors. As mentioned by Taylor, Wilkinson & Cheers (2008), the Community as a place theory suggests that community is the way to develop interactions between individuals within specific geographical areas for meeting personal or team goals. This definition of community sheds light on the fact that gratifications of physical and social needs are responsible for changing community structure from area to area. On the other hand, Guterbock (1999), argued that the theory of community as a social group community is just a social group sharing common territorial base and sharing interests among groups is the basic aspect for developing a community. Based on this fact, it can be mentioned that both of these two definitions are to some extent similar which discuss the basic stricture and needs of community development in a particular area. 

In order to describe community interaction, Taylor, Wilkinson & Cheers (2008) mentioned that establishment of relationship and partnership with different individuals in communities help to make a stable community structure. On contrary to this, Weber et al., (2017) have described the aspect of the community through the concept of community as a common interest sharing theory that is based on ecological perspectives. It has been mentioned that sharing common ecological interests within a huge number of people supports the growth of a community. Among all the three definitions by a different author, the first one by Taylor, Wilkinson& Cheers (2008) can be taken as consideration as it is greatly effective to highlight the fact that without effective personal interactions a community can never be able to be stabilized. For example, aboriginal and Torres Strait islanders may belong to the different community as they bear some prominent differences in cultures and social interactions.

The basic difference between these definitions is based on different perspectives of individual interactions within a community such as social and ecological interactions. For evidence, Taylor, Wilkinson & Cheers (2008) discussed that the community system of aboriginal people in Australia can be presented which denotes that aboriginal family relationship is the core for developing aboriginal community. 

3. Discussion of community perspectives of aboriginal and non-aboriginal people

Definition of community is basically uprooted in sociological perspective. There are two ways to define community at a particular time. One is on the basis of the geographical location of a community referred to as neighbourhood or town, city or village and another concept are on the basis of relational approach which depends on social interactions and communication. For aboriginal people, the community is the pattern to share family relationships. They believe that family relationship can never be developed only depending on blood relationship but also it includes a range of responsibilities as well. On the other hand, Taylor, Wilkinson & Cheers (2008) commented that the community system of non-aboriginal people consists of meeting social, materials as well as economic and business needs of individuals in a collaborative manner. The aboriginal people from Victorian groups of aboriginals called Murri bear the same characteristics as highlighted before. Thus, it can be assumed that the thoughts of the community are different among aboriginal and non-aboriginal individuals. In this respect, the case study scenario of the documentary by Day & Rombie (2017), it has become clear that social cultures and reformation process has direct impacts on individual instincts. Hence, it can be mentioned that the social system of non-aboriginal people is also affected by the individual decision-making process.  

One fact is prominent that the range of distribution of non-aboriginal communities is vast in comparison with aboriginal communities though the types of communities within aboriginal groups are much in number. The film by Weir (1981) highlights the individuals’ personal values and their impacts on meeting individual or team goals. Through this film concept, the aspect of community system in some types of aboriginal people can be realized in a better manner. It can be mentioned that most of all the types of aboriginal communities including Murri focus on attaining personal goals through achieve overall community sustainability, though this is also present among the people of Torres Strait islanders. Aboriginal community is mainly known as Australia’s first people lived on the continent for 50,000 years. People who inhabited in Australia since 1788 from the beginning of British colonization and people who descend from Torres Strait Island known as Torres Strait Islanders both are considered as Aboriginal Community of Australia. As per the thoughts of Taylor, Wilkinson & Cheers (2008), there are more than 500 groups of aboriginal community all over the world which contributes 2.4% of the total population of Australia. Most of the Australian Aboriginals live in New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria which is estimated at more than 68% of the total aboriginal population and only 22% aboriginal people live in northern and Western Australia. On the other hand, Pooyak & Gomez (2020), Non-aboriginal population of Australia is not native to that continent but they occupy a huge geographical area for living. They are greater in number than the indigenous people in Australia. They mainly live in the Western and Southern part of Australia. 

4. Comparing similarities and differences of these communities

In order to find out similarities and differences between these two communities’ comparison is necessary. As mentioned by Taylor & Martin (2018), less than 32% of aboriginal peoples were homeowners in comparison to 69% of non-aboriginal people. Most of the aboriginal people in Australia live in remote areas and the non-aboriginal community lives in an urban area. In terms of comparing similarities and differences among the communities of aboriginal and non-aboriginal people, the thoughts of the film by Smith (1991) can be considered. It has been highlighted children from aboriginal communities in Australia suffer from different social deprivations. On the other hand, the film by Warchus (2014) denotes that people who are socially deprived like gay and lesbians need to fight always to get back their rights. These two stories highlight the different aspects of social security of aboriginal and non-aboriginal people in Australia. There are many risk factors in health for aboriginal people than the non-aboriginal population as they sometime can't afford health facilities available in Australia. In support of this statement, Parmenter & Trigger (2018), Median age of the aboriginal population in Australia is about 21 years which shows that this population has a young age. The differences in communities are seen based on languages also. It has been found that almost 11% of aboriginal people spoke a tribal or their indigenous homeland language. 

In terms of highlighting the similarities, it can be mentioned that both of the aboriginals and non-aboriginals have been generated from that of Pure Australians and mixed type of ancestry. As a result of this, sometimes the personal values and cultures of these two broad communities are similar. As per the thoughts of Taylor & Martin (2018), communities can be different in terms of expressing values and thoughts. Similarly, it can be mentioned that aboriginal and non-aboriginal communities are different but in terms of origination, they bear similarities to some extent. In support of this, Taylor, Wilkinson & Cheers (2008) mentioned that the process of health and wellbeing in these two communities are also different. 

5. Conclusion

Thus, it can be concluded that though there are some prominent differences among cultures and values of the aboriginal and non-aboriginal community system, these communities bear some similarities also. Throughout the time being different sociologists have described the aspect of communication from different factors but the thought of Community as a place theory is most effective as it includes in-depth discussion based on in what ways do different communities differ from each other. It has been found that aboriginal and non-aboriginal communities differ from each other based on the holistic approach of personal values and understandings of culture. Moreover, the indigenous people of Australia constitute the communities of non-aboriginal. It has been found the practices of health and wellbeing are differently followed in cultures of aboriginals and non-aboriginals’ community. The Torres Strait islanders are considered into the group of indigenous people that is non-aboriginal who get better social security in comparison with aboriginal individuals in Australia.