Mutual incomprehension: the cross cultural domain of work in a remote Australian Aboriginal community

McRae-Williams, Eva and Gerritsen, Rolf (2010) Mutual incomprehension: the cross cultural domain of work in a remote Australian Aboriginal community. The International Indigenous Policy Journal, 1 (2). pp. 1-11. ISSN 1916-5781

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Abstract

This article is set within the context of concerns about Indigenous workforce participation disadvantage. It discusses conflicting life-worlds relating to work of both Aboriginal and non-Indigenous residents in Ngukurr, a remote community in South East Arnhem Land in Australia’s Northern Territory. It contrasts an Indigenous social culture of kinship and relatedness to a Western one where employment is central to identity and its formal rules shape behaviour. We investigate how these different social ideologies affect cross-cultural relationships and shape the formal employment domain in Ngukurr. Given that governments have moved to more assimilationist policies in recent years, there are important policy implications following from this mutual cultural incomprehension.

Item Type: Article
Keywords: Australia, Aboriginal, Indigenous, Employment, Economic, Policy
Field of Research (2008): 16 Studies in Human Society > 1601 Anthropology > 160104 Social and Cultural Anthropology
20 Language, Communication and Culture > 2002 Cultural Studies > 200201 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Studies
Subjects: G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GN Anthropology
H Social Sciences > HT Communities. Classes. Races
Date Deposited: 19 May 2011 03:36
Last Modified: 16 Jul 2013 06:16
URI: https://eprints.batchelor.edu.au/id/eprint/220

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