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Book Review
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Not Part of the Public: Non-Indigenous Policies and Practices
and the Health of Indigenous South Australians 18361973. By
Judith Raftery (Wakefield Press, Kent Town, 2006, ISBN 1-86254-709-2).
230 pp + Index.
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Not Part of the Public is an intriguing book that examines
how attitude and policy have constructed Indigenous South Australians
as apart from, and less than, 'the public' over time. The book is
unique in that it surveys the impact of non-Indigenous interventions
on Indigenous health over nearly 150 years in the light of current
understandings of what contributes to the health of populations.
The book, whilst specifically focused on South Australia, could
equally relate to other parts of the country were similar contexts
and ramifications were experienced between Indigenous and non-Indigenous
people from colonisation to the present day. The book also clearly
establishes the origins of Indigenous ill health and how it is undoubtedly
a product of colonisation.
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Raftery conducts a thorough critical
analysis of non-Indigenous policies and practices over the period
18361973. The chapters are segmented into specific periods reflective
of the policies of the times and follow a chronological order. Through
this type of analysis Raftery is able to successfully illustrate
how the ideology of assimilation has maintained its currency over
time in both popular perception and public policy. Since settlement,
Indigenous people have been viewed invariably as deprived, other,
subhuman, or unequal: while the names of the policies have changed
over time—from 'protectionism' in the nineteenth century to
the 'self-determination' of the last thirty years and now the era
of shared responsibility—the firm belief amongst non-Indigenous
people in their own superiority has continued. It has, as a consequence,
promoted the assimilationist ideology that if Indigenous people
are to be saved from their pitiful existence, then they must become
more like 'us' and thus 'part of the public.'
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Whilst this book details the politics
of the time, and the consciousness that gave rise to such politics,
its focus is specifically on how politics affected Indigenous health.
When Raftery writes about health she is referring to 'well-being,'
which she describes as 'a state of being which enables individuals
and populations to live a life that is good, according to their
values and aspirations' (p. 9). She views health as largely determined
by social, historical, and political factors. She argues that political
factors are particularly important, as health can be withheld from
or undermined in some groups within populations according to 'how
power and opportunity are divided and shared and according to which
values and aspirations are legitimated and valued and which are
not' (p. 10). This is an important observation made by Raftery and
the evidence she presents enables one to grasp the essential and
important role individual autonomy and empowerment can play and
has played in the maintenance of health. Added to this is the realisation
that the behaviours and choices of both non-Indigenous and Indigenous
individuals cannot be separated from their social context. Raftery
also argues that health is not simply a matter of material circumstance,
but also a direct consequence of equality, empowerment, and control
over work-related issues and social connectedness.
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This broad theoretical base in public
health sets the foundation for Raftery's structural analysis of
health and of what makes populations healthy. Raftery critically
examines the colonisation of South Australia. As the subtitle of
her book implies, her focus is almost exclusively on non-Indigenous
materials, which can leave the reader asking where is the Indigenous
voice? And what was the Indigenous response to the various policies
and practices enforced upon them? It may also leave one frustrated
at times as this book appears as yet another portraying Indigenous
people as victims and losers. Raftery however, acknowledges this
serious limitation in her introduction and notes that 'writing history
is about trying to think and act differently towards oneself, towards
others, and towards the present more than the past' (p. 16). She
further adds that as a historian working in the field of public
health, it is an analysis that she felt compelled to do as a matter
of fundamental justice (p. 17). The honesty with which Raftery critically
reflects on her desire to do this work and her experiences grappling
with the methodological and ethical implications of undertaking
such a task as a non-Indigenous researcher is also refreshing (pp.
1516).
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Whilst the period covered by the
book ends in 1973 at the crucial time when the policy of self-determination
was being implemented, this critical examination of Australia's
history has far-reaching implications for the present and future.
This is particularly true at this time, when the Australian government
is implementing new Indigenous policy surrounding shared responsibility
agreements with varying degrees of success and with substantial
criticism. At the same time the Australian government is also reconsidering
the appropriateness of maintaining a multicultural society. Several
Australian government ministers in recent weeks including the prime
minister have demanded that 'new' Australians, namely refugees and
immigrants, assimilate to Australian culture and values, including
the requirement that they must speak English before Australian citizenship
will be awarded to them. Will these types of responses, to people
seen as 'other,' as 'non-Australian' and thus not part of the public,
see the repeating of history not only in ideology but also in policy
and actions? Time will tell; in the meantime, however, books such
as Raftery's challenge us through the illumination of the past,
by explaining why things are as they are now and requiring us to
radically rethink 'our current prescriptions for improving health
and to suggest alternative futures' (p. 12). |
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KYLLIE CRIPPS
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UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE
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