Understanding 'Identity' through a study of the Stolen Generation.

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Edit   Delete - Last Modified By: JCA at 19/12/2016 1:26:26 PM

 

What do you already know about the way in which white settlement impacted on indigenous Australians?

Have you heard of 'The Stolen Generation'? What does this mean?

Consider the idea of belonging - do you belong to many different groups?

How do you feel when you are not included in a group?

Do you always want to be included? 

Edit   Delete - Last Modified By: JCA at 19/12/2016 1:30:05 PM

 

The focus in this learning bite is THE STOLEN GENERATION and how our identity is shaped by family.

The Historical Events - anti-semitism and apartheid are for independent learners or those students who are interested.

Begin by considering :

What is identity?

What does it mean to belong?

Identity – is what we are, depending on the family we grow up in and the culture we live in – as well as our genetics, gender, age, friends, groups we belong to and experiences.

Belonging – ‘no man is an island’ and we all feel the need to be accepted by the group – however sometimes we have to sacrifice our connection with the group to follow our own desires. When we do this we stop conforming and tread our own path, but we risk exclusion.

In other words, we all like to belong. We do not like to feel left out. We enjoy being with family and friends and the wider community.

 

1. The Stolen Generation 

Student task : Go to Vocabulary at the beginning of this learning bite.

Look up 'stolen generation' and write the definition.

 

View slide share :

http://www.slideshare.net/wentan/stolen-generation (copy and paste and view)

Some images in the slide share are from the film Rabbit Proof Fence.

The forcible removal of Aboriginal children irrevocably broke parental links, severing cultural connection to family and country. 

•      The journey that Stolen Generations survivors embark on when looking to trace their family members as adults can be fraught with a range of varied and mixed emotions. Even when the opportunity to become reunited with ones family arises, it is incredibly difficult to shift the deep and understandable sense of resentment that is felt by many Stolen Generations survivors and their families. For many, the question 'how could the policies of forcible removal ever have been justified in light of the trauma and loss they caused?' has still yet to be answered.

•      Few Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families have escaped the impacts of the forcible removal of children. The end result is a deep sorrow in the psyche or spirit for many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals, families and communities throughout Australia.

 

Family

Consider how your family has influenced you.

What are the positive things about belonging to a family?

Do you look like one or both of your parents?

How are you different to your family members if you are?

 

 OTHER :

 Historical events that did not allow all people to belong :

1. Antisemitism in Hitler's Nazi German

Student task : look up antisemitism in the Vocabulary section of this learning bite.

 

Hitler wanted to make Nazi Germany Judenrein (free of Jews). In the early years, the policy of Judenrein did not include genocide. Rather, anti-Jewish oppressive measures were slowly introduced to exclude Jews from all aspects of German life. Anti-Semitic laws went hand in hand with state violence and terror. By 1939, discriminatory laws and decrees grew longer and longer and included the following:

 

•Jewish businesses were boycotted

•All Jews had to wear a yellow Star of David badge to make them easy to identify

•Jews were dismissed from the civil service

•Jews were expelled from all schools and universities

•Jews were stripped of all citizenship rights

•Marriage between Jews and 'Aryans' was forbidden

•Jews were forbidden in certain places (for example, Jews were forced to sit on separate benches, were not permitted to use public facilities, travel on trams, or attend opera, theatre or cinema, were not admitted to restaurants, hotels, shops or hospitals)

 

In summary, it was legal to treat Jewish people badly.

 

2. Apartheid in South Africa :

research this for home learning - what is the meaning of Apartheid?

When did it end? How similar was it to antisemitism and the treatment of indigenous Australians?

Edit   Delete - Last Modified By: JCA at 26/05/2014 8:03:24 PM

The main idea of this lesson is to understand :

Belonging and the need we all have to feel part of a group – ‘no man is an island’ and we all feel the need to be accepted by the group – however sometimes we have to sacrifice our connection with the group to follow our own desires. When we do this we stop conforming and tread our own path, but we risk exclusion.

In other words, we all like to belong. We do not like to feel left out. We enjoy being with family and friends and the wider community

History topics :

1. The Stolen Generation - main area - see Resource PowerPoint

2. Antisemitism

3. Apartheid

You will only need a brief knowledge of topic 2. and 3. but a more thorough understanding of the Stolen Generation.

1. What does each mean? Your teacher will help you by using some of the ideas and resources in CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES.

2. View selection of scenes from the film Skin. This relates to apartheid in South Africa.

Why did Sandra feel so unhappy at school?

Did she eventually learn to fit in?

Class task 

3. Family - why is your family so important? How has your family influenced you? 

 

 

Edit   Delete - Last Modified By: JCA at 26/05/2014 5:48:08 PM

 

Topic : Family and the society we belong to influences how we see ourselves and if we belong.

The focus in this learning bite is THE STOLEN GENERATION and how our identity is shaped by family.

Some classes may ALSO consider the following : 

Historical Events - anti-semitism and apartheid are for independent learners or those students who are interested.

All students :

Begin by considering :

What is identity?

What does it mean to belong?

Identity – is what we are, depending on the family we grow up in and the culture we live in – as well as our genetics, gender, age, friends, groups we belong to and experiences.

Belonging – ‘no man is an island’ and we all feel the need to be accepted by the group – however sometimes we have to sacrifice our connection with the group to follow our own desires. When we do this we stop conforming and tread our own path, but we risk exclusion.

In other words, we all like to belong. We do not like to feel left out. We enjoy being with family and friends and the wider community.

 

1. The Stolen Generation 

Student task : Go to Vocabulary at the beginning of this learning bite.

Look up 'stolen generation' and write the definition.

 

View PowerPoint in Resource below.

Some images in the PowerPoint are from the film Rabbit Proof Fence.

The forcible removal of Aboriginal children broke parental links, severing cultural connection to family and country. 

•      The journey that Stolen Generations survivors embark on when looking to trace their family members as adults can be fraught with a range of varied and mixed emotions. Even when the opportunity to become reunited with ones family arises, it is incredibly difficult to shift the deep and understandable sense of resentment that is felt by many Stolen Generations survivors and their families. For many, the question 'how could the policies of forcible removal ever have been justified in light of the trauma and loss they caused?' has still yet to be answered.

•      Few Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families have escaped the impacts of the forcible removal of children. The end result is a deep sorrow in the psyche or spirit for many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals, families and communities throughout Australia.

 

Family

Consider how your family has influenced you.

What are the positive things about belonging to a family?

Do you look like one or both of your parents?

How are you different to your family members if you are?

 

 OTHER : (not all students will complete this but some may)

 Historical events that did not allow all people to belong :

1. Antisemitism in Hitler's Nazi German

Student task : look up antisemitism in the Vocabulary section of this learning bite.

 

Hitler wanted to make Nazi Germany Judenrein (free of Jews). In the early years, the policy of Judenrein did not include genocide. Rather, anti-Jewish oppressive measures were slowly introduced to exclude Jews from all aspects of German life. Anti-Semitic laws went hand in hand with state violence and terror. By 1939, discriminatory laws and decrees grew longer and longer and included the following:

 

•Jewish businesses were boycotted

•All Jews had to wear a yellow Star of David badge to make them easy to identify

•Jews were dismissed from the civil service

•Jews were expelled from all schools and universities

•Jews were stripped of all citizenship rights

•Marriage between Jews and 'Aryans' was forbidden

•Jews were forbidden in certain places (for example, Jews were forced to sit on separate benches, were not permitted to use public facilities, travel on trams, or attend opera, theatre or cinema, were not admitted to restaurants, hotels, shops or hospitals)

 

In summary, it was legal to treat Jewish people badly.

 

2. Apartheid in South Africa :

research this for home learning - what is the meaning of Apartheid? (see film Skin)

When did it end? How similar was it to antisemitism and the treatment of indigenous Australians?

(See opening few minutes of Skin - a film about Sandra Laing and Sandra at boarding school when she is ignored in the classroom and made to feel inferior. See final scene at end of film when Sandra is an adult and has found a place to belong)