Gayaa Dhuwi (Proud Spirit) Declaration: National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Leadership in Mental Health

The Wharerātā Group of Indigenous mental health leaders from Canada, the United States, Australia, Samoa and New Zealand developed the Wharerātā Declaration in 2010.1 It comprises five themes on the importance of Indigenous leadership in addressing the common mental health challenges faced by Indigenous peoples around the world. Member countries of the International Initiative for […]

Cultural Responsiveness in Action – An IAHA Framework

The IAHA Cultural Responsiveness Framework provides information and support to prepare you to engage in a transformation so that, whatever your role, you can positively influence the health and wellbeing, quality of life, future aspirations, and prosperity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals, families and communities.

Increasing cultural competence and Indigenous representation in psychology

Reflections on what has/has not worked for Psychology Educators. This document was developed for the Australian Indigenous Psychology Education Project (AIPEP) ‘How To’ forum held at the APS Golden Jubilee Conference, September 2015. It provides brief points on what has and has not worked for psychology educators involved in the project when attempting to implement […]

Are We Asking the Right Questions? Why We Should Have a Decolonzing Discourse Based on Conscientization Rather Than Indigenizing the Curriculum

In this paper, we pose the question of terminology and definitions associated with the concept of an indigenized academy or curriculum. Calls to indigenze the academy or curriculum are implicitly asking for an overlay or inclusion of Indigenous content, preferably by Indigenous peoples, as a mechanism to incorporate histories, traditions, and knowledges that are divergent […]

Having the Hard Conversations

The second Slice of LIME Seminar was presented by Professor Dennis McDermott & Mr Dave Sjoberg from the Poche Centre for Indigenous Health and Well-Being at Flinders University South Australia, on 12th August 2014. It focused on cultural safety in health professions, & explored pedagogical methods for addressing issues such as racism, white privilege & […]

The Elders Report into preventing Indigenous self-harm and youth suicide

Interview excerpts of Elders featured in the Report. The Culture Is Life campaign aims to give a platform for Indigenous Elders and community leaders to influence public awareness, policy-making and service provision around Indigenous suicide prevention. One of the initial actions of the Culture Is Life campaign was the development of the’Elders Report on Preventing […]

Critical psychology in a context of ongoing acts of colonisation

Although encompassing a broad range of topic areas, approaches to analysis, and theoretical frameworks, it is arguably the case that critical psychology in Australia is best represented by research undertaken on the topic of racism. The primary reason why critical research on racism has been so prevalent in Australia, is because of the ongoing history […]

A reference list for teaching about Indigenous Australians in psychology

The purpose of the list is to compile a reference list for psychology professionals who might be searching for relevant research to cover in their undergraduate courses. The list is partial and doubtless will expand in future updates. Sections include: 1) Scholarly articles 2) Coverage of relevant issues in psychology textbooks; 3) Psychology studies with […]

Hidden obstacles to reconciliation in Australia: the persistence of stereotypes

The reconciliation movement in Australia aims to build mutually respectful relationships between indigenous and other Australians by eliminating ‘gaps’ in health and well-being, educating about Indigenous history and culture and addressing social disadvantages based on false beliefs and stereotypes. Psychological literature has much to offer to the last aim, with a wealth of research documenting […]

The effects of a common in-group prime on intentions to help Indigenous and homeless Australians

The article reports on research designed to test Australian attitudes towards helping impoverished members of the Australian society, in particular, indigenous and homeless people. Australian university students completed a questionnaire to measure their attitudes towards helping homeless and indigenous people under conditions that primed a common Australian identity. The findings showed that priming an inclusive […]

A framework for decolonization intervention: broadening the focus for improving the health and wellbeing of Indigenous communities

Colonization has spread around the world and inexorably affected millions of people over the last few centuries. There have been many scattered intervention strategies to overcome some of the long-term effects of colonization, especially for health, education, and employment. With respect to the inequalities and discriminations that have remained after centuries, however, it is less […]

Atoning for Colonial Injustices: Group-Based Shame and Guilt Motivate Support for Reparation

An investigation of the role of group-based shame and guilt in motivating citizens of ex-colonial countries to support restitution to former colonized groups which were the target of violence and oppression. Study 1 (N = 125) was conducted in Australia during the lead-up to the first official government apology to Aboriginal Australians. Among white Australians, […]

Prejudice and the function of attitudes relating to Muslim Australians and Indigenous Australians

The aim of the present study was to examine prejudice against Muslim Australians and Indigenous Australians and the function of those attitudes using previously identified functions, direct experiential–schematic and value expressive, and including a new indirect experiential–schematic function. Respondents were categorised into two groups: accepting and rejecting. For the Muslim data there was no difference […]

Rejected! Cognitions of rejection and intergroup anxiety as mediators of the impact of cross_group friendships on prejudice

In a sample of White Australians (N =273), cross-group friendship with Aboriginal Australians was associated with reduced cognitions of rejection and intergroup anxiety, and these variables fully mediated the effect of cross-group friendship on conversational avoidance of sensitive intergroup topics, active avoidance of the outgroup, and old-fashioned prejudice. The novel mediator proposed here, cognitions of […]

The Boatshed Racism Roundtable Declaration

Over 40 leading researchers and academics from across Australia met at the University of Western Australia Boatshed in Perth, to discuss research concerning racism towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. The two-day meeting significantly advanced the themes of social justice and reconciliation in Australian society and has culminated in the production of a detailed […]

Australian Reconciliation Barometer 2012

Reconciliation Australia and Auspoll began collaboration on the Reconciliation Barometer research project in February 2007. The objective of the research was to develop a tool to measure the progress of reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. This 2012 edition is the third iteration of the Barometer, following the initial two studies in 2008 and 2010. […]

Being black in Australia: A case study of intergroup relations

This article presents a case study in Australia’s race relations, focusing on tensions between urban Aborigines and recently resettled African refugees, particularly among young people. Both of these groups are of low socio-economic status and are highly visible in the context of a predominantly white Australia. The relationship between them, it is argued, reflects the […]