ADAPTING CR MATERIALS TO THE NEEDS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
There has been an upsurge of interest in the question of
Aboriginal/White community relationships in Australia because of
the recent landmark High Court decision on the Mabo question,
which has abolished the legal reliance on the terra nullius
("vacant earth") doctrine, which has been a part of the "legal
fiction" framework guiding the courts in their decisions regarding
native title to land and related questions.
Now with the Olympics being awarded to Sydney, the question of the
rights of indigenous people and the Aboriginal/White Australian
reconciliation is moving to the forefront. Right now some 600
indigenous people are gathered in Canberra to protest the fact
that even the Mabo decision "fell far short of the expectations of
the Aboriginal people". At the same time, there is already some
backlash among the White Australian community, feeling that the
demands of indigenous peoples of Australia are unreasonable, and
that the Australian taxpayer is already doing too much to support
the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
The Australian Conflict Resolution Network has expressed its
interest in tendering for the role of community educator and
facilitator for the "Australian for Reconciliation Project",
announced by the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation, a
government body. Pyotr Patrushev, a consultant with CRN, has
volunteered to be the overall co-ordinator of the project for the
State of New South Wales.
The following information comes from May 1993 Newsletter of CRN.
Adapting CR materials for Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders
Dispute mediator and Conflict Resolution trainer, Andree Reese
Maddox, is finding a strong demand for CR training within
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
Andree's background in working with Aboriginal and Islander people
at the Black Theatre and at the Aboriginal Islander Dance Theatre
has helped her in training and adapting materials for these
communities. In May this year Andree will be working with
Aboriginal parents in Darwin. She will also be teaching mediation
and grievance-handling to senior staff at the Northern Territory
Department of Education in Darwin and Alice Springs. This will
build upon the experience she has already developed in the area.
In April, Andree went to Thursday Island to teach the core CR
skills to Islanders.
Last year Andree was asked to go to Weipa South to teach Conflict
Resolution and mediation skills to the Aboriginal community,
Napranum. Andree says, "I had to play it by ear and adapt the
material as I went along. I took the CR handouts and said, `This
is what we have done, how appropriate is it to you? Let's adapt
it where we need to.'
We re-wrote some of the material and came up with another
mediation and decision-making model. The participants were very
interested in developing options and discovering that there were
more choices in a situation than they may have seen before.
Mapping the conflict exercises worked well, although role plays
were not well received because participants were not confident in
practicing in front of a `live audience'. Other beneficial topics
were: valuing differences, appropriate assertiveness and active
listening." Andree is interested in hearing from other people who
are working with indigenous groups or with people from cultures
where English is a second language. Andree says, "I think there
are cross-cultural references in all these groups that can be
applicable in adapting CR material to make it relevant and
interesting to all communities."
Andree invites any feedback. Phone her on (02) 368-1250.
Pyotr Patrushev can be contacted on:
32 Stonehaven Road
Stanwell Tops NSW 2508
AUSTRALIA
Tel. 61-42-941696
Fax: 61-42-943797
E-Mail: crnaust@peg.apc.org