Statements by various public figures that White people ought not to feel guilty about Aboriginal dispossession, and although many Australians assert that they feel no guilt in the matter, this paper asserts that White attitudes to the Australian Aboriginal people are strongly influenced by guilt. The nature of a guilt that ostensibly does not and ought not exist is examined. Persecutory and depressive aspects of guilt are considered, and the history of a two-factor theory of guilt in the psychoanalytic literature is outlined. The workings of the two types of guilt are charted in the group dynamics of a psychology class studying Aboriginal issues.
The information contained on this website has been sourced by the Australian Indigenous Psychology Education Project (AIPEP) and AIPEP 2. The first AIPEP was funded by the Australian Government Office of Teaching and Learning. AIPEP 2 is part of the Transforming Indigenous Mental Health and Wellbeing Project, funded by the Million Minds Mission Grant. The views expressed in this website do not necessarily reflect the views of the Australian Government Office of Teaching and Learning or the Million Minds Mission Grant.
Several of the images used throughout this website are credited to Chris Lewis