Trapped in the gap
Subtitle: doing good in indigenous Australia
By: Emma Kowal
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Published: 2015
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 198
ISBN-13: 9781782385998; 9781782386049; 9781782386001
Subjects: Aboriginal Australians; Social conditions; Services for; Ethnic identity; Whites; Attitudes; Race awareness; Race relations
Description: This book explores what happens when well-meaning people, supported by the state, attempt to help without harming. 'White anti-racists' find themselves trapped by endless ambiguities, contradictions, and double binds - a microcosm of the broader dilemmas of postcolonial societies. These dilemmas are fueled by tension between the twin desires of equality and difference: to make Indigenous people statistically the same as non-Indigenous people (to 'close the gap') while simultaneously maintaining their 'cultural' distinctiveness. This tension lies at the heart of failed development efforts in Indigenous communities, ethnic minority populations and the global South. This book explains why doing good is so hard, and how it could be done differently.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 173-192) and index.
Table of contents: title: Interlude : studying benevolence; title: The culture of white anti-racism; title: Tiwi long grassers; title: Welcome to country; title: Mutual recognition; title: White stigma.