Role of the Aboriginal elders Assignment PDF

Running head: CRITICAL ESSAY
Critical Essay
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1CRITICAL ESSAY
Introduction
This essay will critically analyze the role of the aboriginal elders in the betterment of the
youth by considering a case of the Yiriman project. It will help in gathering information about
the role played by the elderly aboriginal people in removing the negative influence from the
youth. Yiriman project was taken into consideration to focus on this issue. According to Burkett
and drew (2008) the latter one felt that there is a necessity to detach the connection of the youth
with the negativity of the world. It was the responsibility of the older generation to take care of
the youth by creating connection with the tradition, culture and heritage of the country. They
believed that the traditional culture has sufficient power to heal and cure the young generation
from negativity.
It is a non- incorporated Aboriginal organization, which was established in 2000. It is an
inter- generational cultural program within the country which was generated by the elders of the
four Kimberley language groups- namely Mangala, Nyikina, Walmajarri and Karajarri and their
intention was to create stories on the young people (Westoby and Dowling 2013). The strong
bond and the success of Yiriman project lied on the attachment among the areas of poverty,
racism, colonialism, ageism and gender.
Description
According to Palmer et al. (2006), there must be a new and innovative approach for youth
participation in the activities of community development in the West Kimberley region of
Western Australia. In accordance with ageism, the project was taken up by a youth organization
with the help of the elderly people to reduce negative influence among the younger generation by

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using national culture and tradition. This article has highlighted the ways by which people of the
remote communities, rather known as, “back to country” can create a strong bond among the
youth, elderly and other members of the community. It creates a strategy of involving the youth
in the community development activities by relying on the culture, tradition and heritage of the
country (Ledwith 2011).
Ledwith and Springett (2010) have remarked that the principle and values of community
development refers to the procedure where the members of the community unite to find solution
to a common problem of the negative influence on the youth of the community. The elderly
members of the community have stood against as a resistance to this problem. Poverty and
racism has played a part in this case, as the aboriginal community is a victim of racial
discrimination. It has taken a worse shape because the aboriginal community is politically and
economically backward from the mainstream. The problem of the negativity among the youth of
the Kimberley region of Western Australia was related to the wider structure of society, polity
and economy, which leads to oppression and suffering among the people (Twelvetrees 1982). As
per the equality rights of the aboriginal people, seven dominant areas are focused- economic
welfare, social inclusion, employment, safety, health, justice and housing. However, Tesoriero
(1999) found out in his research that the aboriginal people do not experience benefits in these
sectors. A major portion of aboriginal adults are facing low- income standard whereas the non-
aboriginal population do not face similar problems.
According to Batten and Batten (1967) the approach initiated by the youth organization
in Australia has come up as a private enterprise with the aim of delivering social services. The
activities have faced the challenge of funding, as it is a not- for- profit organization. Therefore,
there is a necessity to keep a record of the investments undertaken in the initiatives of

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community development. As per this article, the elders of the community have taken a step
forward in the development of the younger generation by focusing on the importance of
tradition, culture and heritage.
It was stated that the ideas and concepts regarding the approaches undertaken for the
betterment of the community have some common values and features. The values include-
equality, fraternity and freedom; encouraging the younger generation to speak and express;
power needs to be exercised from the basic level; interchange of ideas, thoughts and opinions;
mutual understanding among the activities of the younger people; common exchange of ideas
among the community members; accessibility of the public forum; and incorporating universal
human rights (Tesoriero 1999).
On the other hand, community development is also concerned about the difference in the
socio- political- cultural structures. There is difference in the various structures of society due to
the difference in age and perspective of individuals. The practice of community development is
faced with the challenges of conveying the specific messages as it is interpreted in different ways
by the individuals due to their difference in perception of looking at the situation. MacLeod and
Byrne (2012) have argued that language and culture becomes a barrier in the spreading of
messages as different words represent different kinds of meanings. Every culture has own set of
language and vice- versa. For instance, the community development program in the Kimberley
region was taken up by four different languages and there might be difference in understanding
and interpreting the meanings. Variation in the geographical location is also responsible for
creating inequalities in the political values of the country.

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It was argued by Rawsthorne (2008) that age must be considered before location, politics
and culture o a country as it might lead to a gap in communication and understanding.
Community development has its own approach of dealing with such issues in order to resolve
conflict among the people. For instance, in the case of community development in the Kimberley
region of Australia the elderly members of the community have taken an approach to remove
negative influence from the youth by making them acquainted with the tradition and culture of
the country. The age difference among the youth and the elderly members might be a challenge
in making them understand about the importance of implementing positive approaches within the
community. However, the elders have shared their experience of travelling and requested the
youth to use it as an opportunity for taking part in different kinds of activities.
In accordance with Cavaye (2006), the community development method is basically the
development of the community from scratch. This indicates that when any community is trying
to bring in new resource or the ideas. The case study indicates that the communities have been
developing and implementing the Yiriman program or the project which is making the intense
participation of the community groups mainly the groups of the younger people seeking help
from the elders or the older generations. Community development is the method when any new
ideas or knowledge should be incorporated for the wellbeing of a specific community or the
different communities trying to develop together. It is evident from the sample Yiriman project
where the government of Australia is providing the enough funding to make this project to be
successful. According to Cavaye (2006), the community development method is the way by
which the older culture gets integrated with the new culture having prosperity and fostering
growth and stability for the new generation culture as well. It seems that the Aboriginal

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communities in the West Kimberly region of Western Australia is not getting the enough support
and coordination from the older generations so they have to face huge challenges in their life.
The community development is a process where the members of the communities come
together and take the collective decisions for the generation of the solutions for the common
problem (Westoby and Dowling 2013). For example, the common problem for the development
of the Yiriman project or the communities working together in this program is to eradicate the
issues of the youths who are taking a high step ahead in developing their own culture and they
are getting away from their traditional culture, which they should be looking to carry forward in
the future. The youths are getting frustrated and are losing their cultural identity. The aboriginals
of Australia are being involved and addicted to drugs and alcohol which is a great harm for the
society and for the environment (Kickett-Tucker et al. 2016).
According to Kickett-Tucker et al. (2016), micro method is the method of community
development where the worker joins each other and assists the people for hearing the stories of
each other, seeing what they can see, engaging in dialogue and working with some of the
reflective action themes which enables the social change to be happened. They should be doing it
as they are concerned with the issues of the community people and the sustainability of the
process.
According to Restakis (2006), the older people are being connected with the young adults
by telling stories. With the development of some of the activities like bush trips where they can
be able to make a trip to their native countries, educating them on science and management
subjects, travelling through the damaged lands telling them how to manage land. This will help

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in developing good bonding between the older and the younger people in the community and this
makes them know and realize their traditional culture they were missing.
Mezzo method is the process of moving from the private concern of individuals towards
the public action with others. For example, when a group of community members is in serious
issues, there is the need of public action to be done. There is the pubic action of developing
Yiriman project or program for the wellbeing of the communities.
The main aim of this mezzo method is to develop self help and mutual aid among the
participants for the sharing of the common problem of lack of participation of the young adults in
community development projects and the loss of cultural identify for them. According to Ife
(2012) the purpose of this mezzo method is that how this provides message to the political
authorities to help in fostering the community. The four theory of sociology include the
structural functional, social conflict, feminism and symbolic interactionism theory.
In the structural functional theory, the society should be acting as the system but
interconnected where each of the parts are working together in order to achieve a particular goal.
The goal is to provide the cultural identity for the Aboriginals youth and the responsibility comes
from the older generations of the society.
According to social conflict theory, the society is the system of groups which has
different opinions and conflicts of interest to be taken place and they consistently demands
changes in the approaches to community development. According to Burkett and Drew (2008),
the aim of this Yiriman project is to identify the activities done by the Aboriginals youth and the
challenges they have to face. The stakeholders involved in this project of improving the youth

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life for the Aboriginals have conflicts as society is composed of different people and they have
different opinions, which provide challenges for this program to be implemented successfully.
According to the feminism theory, for the Yiriman project to become successful there is
the need of women who will be working with me in the society for improving the life and
cultural challenges they are facing in the West Kimberly region of Western Australia. They often
work with the other project members for ringing back their cultural identity.
According to symbolic interactionism theory, the social behavior should be emphasizing
the gestural communication and its understanding. The project Yiriman for improving the loss of
cultural identity should be incorporating the language programs and storytelling techniques
applied so that they can be able to understand and recognize the diverse culture for making the
Aboriginals to get away from the illegal activities they are indulged in.
According to Kelly and Toon’s theory the practices and the methods applied for the
development of the community and for improving the lifestyle and cultural diversity for the
Aboriginals, the observations and experiences helps in providing effectiveness of this project to
be implemented (Ledwith and Springett 2010). There is a different experience both for the older
as well the newer generations regarding how the community development is possible and the
practices become effective.
Conclusion
From this paper, it is evident that the Yiriman project is a great example for the
community development. The community development is the only way by which the community
issues could be resolved as there has been high bonding from the community members to be
taken place. It is concluded that the sharing of the common agenda and development of the

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public action is required for the young adults to get back their cultural identity and for saving the
society from any kind of harm as well.
References
Batten, T.R. and Batten, M., 1967. The Non-Directive Approach in Group and Community
Work.
Bessarab, D., Coffin, J. and Wright, M., 2016. Mia Mia Aboriginal Community Development:
Fostering Cultural Security. Cambridge University Press.
Burkett, I. and Drew, B., 2008. Financial Inclusion, market failures and new markets:
Possibilities for Community Development.
Cavaye, J., 2006. Understanding community development. Cavaye Community Development.
Ife, J., 2012. Human rights and social work: Towards rights-based practice. Cambridge
University Press.
Ife, J., 2013. Community development in an uncertain world. Cambridge University Press.
Kickett-Tucker, C., Bessarab, D., Coffin, J. and Wright, M. eds., 2016. Mia Mia Aboriginal
Community Development. Cambridge University Press.
Ledwith, M. and Springett, J., 2010. Participatory practice: Community-based action for
transformative change. Policy Press.
Ledwith, M., 2011. Community development: A critical approach. Policy Press.

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MacLeod, J. and Byrne, C., 2012. 'It's only a garden!'A journey from community building to
community organising and back again. New Community Quarterly, 10(2), pp.36-44.
Palmer, D., Watson, J., Watson, A., Ljubic, P., Wallace-Smith, H. and Johnson, M., 2006.
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along with Elders. Children Youth and Environments, 16(2), pp.317-337.
Rawsthorne, M., 2008. Beyond the sandstone: research partnerships between the community
welfare sector and universities. Sydney University Press.
Restakis, J., 2006. Defining the Social Economy-the BC context.
Sewell, S., 2014. Women and the environment: an indicative study on Tamborine Mountain,
Queensland (Doctoral dissertation, James Cook University).
Tesoriero, F., 1999. Will social work contribute to social development into the new
millennium?. Australian Social Work, 52(2), pp.11-17.
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yiriman.org.au. 2018. Yiriman Project. [online] Available at: http://www.yiriman.org.au/
[Accessed 8 May 2018].