Download Beyond Social Justice

BEYOND DECOLONISING SOCIAL
JUSTICE: EMBRACING COMPLEXITY
AT THE KNOWLEDGE INTERFACE
Dr 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.
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WHAT IS SOCIAL JUSTICE IN OUR
CONTEXT?
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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?
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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!
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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.
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OUR PEDAGOGICAL APPROACH
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“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”
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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.
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•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.
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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.
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