BEYOND DECOLONISING SOCIAL JUSTICE: EMBRACING COMPLEXITY AT THE KNOWLEDGE INTERFACEDr Gabrielle Russell-Mundine

Mr Graeme Mundine

Aboriginal Catholic Ministry, Sydney

www.acmsydney.org

WHO DO WE WORK WITH?

Churches -hierarchy, Religious and Clergy, lay people

Education – school teachers, university students

Social Justice – Catholic agencies, justice groups, public.

WHAT IS SOCIAL JUSTICE IN OUR CONTEXT?

The key principles of Catholic Social Teaching are: Human dignity – Every human being is made in the

image and likeness of God. The common good – we are all responsible for each

other and must work for social conditions which ensure that every person and every group in society is able to meet their needs and realize their potential.

Subsidiarity – responsibility should be kept as close as possible to the grassroots. The people or groups most directly affected by a decision or policy should have a key decision making role in it.

Solidarity – a firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the common good.

• www.social-spirituality.net

WHAT IS OUR EXPERIENCE OF SOCIAL JUSTICE IN PRACTICE?

Missionary – we’ve come here to ‘save’ them.

Charity – we need to ‘help them’.

Essentialising – “we love Aboriginal people”

Appropriating – “we want to learn Aboriginal culture”.

Diminishing –” move on and get over it”.

Me me me – “I feel…guilt/sad/angry.

ONE EXAMPLE OF RACISM BY GOOD CATHOLICS! At a recent ‘Church’ conference non-Indigenous

people ran three out of four workshops on incorporating Indigenous culture in the church.

Acknowledged lack of expertise/knowledge but still took the space and set the agenda.

Kept asking the Aboriginal expert in audience to ‘comment’ – but wouldn’t allow him to take lead.

“Invited” Aboriginal people to resist and protest a particular situation - said that “we all have to take our own power”

Used a Coolamon without explanation and said “we will sit in a circle because that’s the Aboriginal way”.

When Aboriginal expert made the statement “the Church is racist” said “no it’s not!”

OUR PEDAGOGICAL APPROACH

Un-educate and re-educate Aim to challenge but also engage for deeper

and ongoing critical thinking and reflection. Always start with the self. Who are you, what influences you, what are

your attitudes, understanding yourself as a cultured person.

Can locate practice in Whiteness /education /racism/critical pedagogy theory – but driven by praxis.

OUR PEDAGOGICAL APPROACH

“The task of the critical educator is to enable individuals to acquire a language through which to reflect upon and shape their experiences and in certain instances transform such experiences in the interest of social responsibility”

Giroux and McLaren, Schooling, quoted in McLaren Critical Literacy and Postcolonial Praxis: A Freirian Perspective, College Literature, Vol. 19/20, No/ 3/1 Teaching postcolonial and Commonwealth Literatures (Nov 1992 – Feb 1993), pp 7-27

THE COMPLEXITY OF THE CULTURAL INTERFACE

Have to find ways to engage people in understanding the impact of the dominant culture by unveiling the cultural norms they subscribe to – in a way that they can unravel.

Need to move people from “bleeding heart do gooders” to active dismantlers of injustice.

Need to challenge those who espouse a commitment to social justice but don’t live it.

•Remember

•Recognise

•Rectify

WHAT WORKS

People need to have an experience. Create an environment to challenge in such a

way that engages people rather than leaves them hiding behind defences.

Recognise that we are trying to change hundreds/thousands of years of thinking.

Encourage uncertainty – allows ‘re-thinking” and critical thinking.

Have to allow people to grow in their own time.

CHALLENGES

Limited time with small groups. Retelling the story and have to keep telling. The people who come to work with us are

often not the ones that need to work with us…they are outside the room.

Personal cost – both introverts! Personal relationship important to engage

but…both silenced in different ways.