As a non-Indigenous person, raised in the settler-colonial nation of what is now called Australia, by a middle-class family who are privileged by multiple facets of their identity, it was not until recently I realised that allyship is not as simple as voicing support for Indigenous peoples, nor can it be self-proclaimed. While it was not the intention of the course to impart guilt, Indigenous Foundations helped me understand that since my ancestors “have blood on their hands” (whether that be figuratively or literally), I have the responsibility to educate myself and offer my support in the pursuit of justice for Indigenous peoples around the world whenever I can.
It did this by meticulously unpacking terminology commonly used in discourse surrounding Indigenous issues, much of which is outdated and deemed offensive, in order to establish a foundation for respectful dialog; by analysing the history of the colonial project and how laws and treaties were manipulated by settlers in legal to-and-fros with Indigenous peoples in order to maximize their land acquisition; and by exploring ways in which depictions of Indigenous peoples in Western pop culture and media have largely been molded to coincide with existing imperialist agendas through vilification and bastardisation.
One recurring difficulty is that the complexity introduced by the varying interests of a diverse range of Indigenous cultures, as well as the abstraction of the truth by these imperialist versions of history often lead to an impasse in discussion about ways forward. However, a kind of positive positive energy was fostered during class, which encouraged us to see these complications as motivation to work harder rather than as obstacles to progress.
Now more than ever, citizens and governments of settler-colonial nations must admit to their frailty, confront and accept responsibility for their violent histories and practise empathy in heeding the instruction of traditional owners of the land they live on, in regards to humanity’s relationship with the natural world, deeply entrenched sociopolitical injustices and how we can most effectively harmonise and address the several impending crises that threaten our population.