- Jul 31, 2021
- 153
- 47
- 55
- Country
- Australia
- Faith
- Christian
- Marital Status
- Married
Is it OK to ask what makes someone indigenous in Australia?
Hon Lidia Thorpe only has one out of 16 great-grandparents as being indigenous (and it is possible even that ancestor had some non-indigenous ancestry.)
Ray Martin has again one indigenous great grandparent, but he was specifically included on a panel as an indigenous person.
Jacinta Price has two biological children and one stepchild, does being adopted by an indigenous person make you indigenous?
The native title rules for claiming is the threefold rule of:
1) Indigenous descent (not sure how that is accurately determined in some cases)
2) Identifies as indigenous
3) Is recognized by the indigenous community that are part of
Now this is the highest standard being applied, and in a number of situations a lower standard is being used.
However, there are issues with even this highest standard.
Being of indigenous descent, is not always straight forward to prove/disprove. There is no simple DNA test that can be done for nuclear DNA, as many indigenous people have nonindigenous admixture, and to a lesser extent in the reverse. mtDNA would likely be more reliable but also has challenges. Do we exclude people adopted into communities, and culturally assimilated, some for several generations?
Self recognition seems straight forward but why do people get to decide that x ancestry they identify with but not y ancestry, especially when y is much larger percentage of their ancestry?
Community recognition also has challenges. A prestigious person (eg celebrity or sports person), such as Ray Martin or Ash Barty, is more likely to be recognized by a community than an average person. The amount of mixing in early colonial Australia is probably vastly understated, it is IMHO that many more Ray Martin's are discovery latter in life, that four, five or six generations back they had an indigenous ancestor.
Does the sudden discovery of such an ancestor suddenly move them from being a member of the colonizing oppressors to a victim of colonization?
As Sen Jacinta Price pointed out, is there not also a case for historic oppression in the convict members of early Australian society?
Hon Lidia Thorpe only has one out of 16 great-grandparents as being indigenous (and it is possible even that ancestor had some non-indigenous ancestry.)
Ray Martin has again one indigenous great grandparent, but he was specifically included on a panel as an indigenous person.
Jacinta Price has two biological children and one stepchild, does being adopted by an indigenous person make you indigenous?
The native title rules for claiming is the threefold rule of:
1) Indigenous descent (not sure how that is accurately determined in some cases)
2) Identifies as indigenous
3) Is recognized by the indigenous community that are part of
Now this is the highest standard being applied, and in a number of situations a lower standard is being used.
However, there are issues with even this highest standard.
Being of indigenous descent, is not always straight forward to prove/disprove. There is no simple DNA test that can be done for nuclear DNA, as many indigenous people have nonindigenous admixture, and to a lesser extent in the reverse. mtDNA would likely be more reliable but also has challenges. Do we exclude people adopted into communities, and culturally assimilated, some for several generations?
Self recognition seems straight forward but why do people get to decide that x ancestry they identify with but not y ancestry, especially when y is much larger percentage of their ancestry?
Community recognition also has challenges. A prestigious person (eg celebrity or sports person), such as Ray Martin or Ash Barty, is more likely to be recognized by a community than an average person. The amount of mixing in early colonial Australia is probably vastly understated, it is IMHO that many more Ray Martin's are discovery latter in life, that four, five or six generations back they had an indigenous ancestor.
Does the sudden discovery of such an ancestor suddenly move them from being a member of the colonizing oppressors to a victim of colonization?
As Sen Jacinta Price pointed out, is there not also a case for historic oppression in the convict members of early Australian society?