University Essay: Aboriginal Living Experience and Social Determinants

This essay examines the living experiences of Aboriginal Australians, drawing upon an episode of "You Can't Ask That" to explore perspectives on racism, discrimination, and social determinants of health. The paper analyzes the narratives of Aboriginal individuals, highlighting issues such as poverty, unemployment, and lack of access to services. It discusses the impact of these social determinants on health outcomes, including mental health and physical well-being, supported by research from various studies. The essay compares the episode's narrative with existing research, focusing on the impact of physical activity, lifestyle, and social support. The findings suggest that Aboriginal people face significant challenges due to societal discrimination and lack of governmental support, while also emphasizing their pride in their heritage and cultural identity. The conclusion underscores the importance of addressing social determinants to improve the lives and health of Aboriginal communities.

Running head: LIVING EXPERIENCE OF ABORIGINALS
LIVING EXPERIENCE OF ABORIGINALS
Name of Student:
Name of University:
Author’s Note:

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Introduction
The chosen “you can’t ask that” episode is aboriginal as it deals with the living
experience, view and perspective of the indigenous people. The main aim of the paper is to
discuss the narrative highlighted in the episode of aboriginals by comparing and contrasting
specific idea. The paper highlight the social determinant of health, which is defined as the
various social factor which leads to poor health outcome of the people (Kingsley et al., 2018).
Lastly, the paper has chosen a qualitative paper, and finding is compared with the narrative of the
episode.
Narrative of the episode
The aboriginal episode discusses the thought and belief concerned to the aboriginal
culture, attitude and living experience. The episode has gathered views and idea of 10 aboriginal
peoples related to racism and discrimination they have faced living around the Australian
community. They were asked about their experience highlighting racism, personal views, the
free service they have by government, the reason for the high percentage of alcoholics in the
aboriginal community, aspects when they are called black-fellow, have they being homeless, and
different attitude and behaviour of aboriginal that make them dangerous to other people.
Related to the normal conversation about the racism and discrimination, all the guest had
a similar view that government that does not offer any free service and moreover, exploits their
land, language, law and culture. Moreover, some disagree to the point that all ‘aboriginals are
alcoholic’, where certain guest stated that it is a human phenomenon and others believed it as an
impact of racism they face. All the people accepted the fact that all aboriginals are not homeless.
However, two of the guest have faced the issue, which led to sleep in the park for a few months.

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The guest was having similar views that due to the stigma, poverty and unemployment, some
people do have their own house as the government steals their land. Related to question whether
they are liked to be called as white or faced colour discrimination, some of the guests are proud
for their skin colour while some liked themselves to be called as white to enjoy their service
(Markwick et al., 2015).
Impact of social determinant of health
The social determinant of health like poverty, racism, unemployment, access to free
services, the physical environment and social support are most prevalent and highlighted in the
aboriginal episode. It has underpinned the narratives as some of the people have faced the issue
of discrimination like they were not allowed to enter the holy places. All the guest has narrated
that they have not got access to any free service by the government. Moreover, two of the guest
has also stated that they do not have clean water and the physical environment. In the discussion,
five of the guests reflected that many aboriginal are homeless due to poverty, unemployment and
racial discrimination. Related to calling themselves as “blackfella” gives an idea about huge
white and black discrimination which makes them feel excluded from the society (Fisher et al.,
2019; Shepherd et al., 2017).
This identified social determination of health has poor impact on the aboriginal peoples.
It could negatively influence the health outcome of the people. It is evident from the study of
Axelsson Kukutai & Kippen (2016) that racial discrimination causes a high rate of mental illness
among the aboriginal people. Thus, it gives rise to anxiety, depression and stress, which could
lead to the prevalence of disease like diabetes and cardiovascular illness. Moreover, it is
highlighted in the study of Chenhall and Senior (2018) that due to poor physical environment,
poverty and unemployment can make the person vulnerable to kidney failure, infection and lethal

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disease which negatively impact both physical and mental health of the people. Due to the lack
of health service by the aboriginals, many people are undiagnosed for disease and do not get
timely treatment and intervention for recovery (Paradies, 2018).
Comparison with research
The study by Macniven et al. (2016) had discussed the impact of factors like physical
activity, the lifestyle of people and social support among the aboriginal and non-aboriginal
peoples. By comparing the research of Macniven et al. (2016), some of the fact narrated by the
guests in the episode is echoed in the article which are contradicting to each other. The research
has highlighted that aboriginal people do not have healthy lifestyle behaviour as they lack in
physical activities. Such finding is not in the account of the view shared by the guest in the
episode of aboriginals. They were physically fit and had a healthy lifestyle. It is also seen in the
research that aboriginal people have not had adequate social support and feel discriminated by
the white Australian. As narrated by the all guest that they are restricted to enter many public and
holy place, demonstrate that they are racially discriminated. Thus it can be said that the finding
of the research paper is relevant. The author has discussed that aboriginal people face the issue of
lack of social support which highlights racial discrimination. Through comparing the finding
with the narrative in the episode, it can be said that the guests are also of the same opinion and
agree with the fact that they also have poor social support (Fahd & Venkatraman, 2019).
Conclusion
Lastly, from the above discussion, it can be said that the interview of the ten aboriginal
peoples has given essential information about the living experience in the common community
with the white people of Australia. It can be said that they are facing huge racial discrimination

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by the society and community. They do not get any free services by the government; rather they
think that their land, culture and language have been exploited. Apart from such fact, they are
still proud to be called as aboriginal. They have also clarified that alcoholism is not linked with
the aboriginal, and it is human behaviour and attitude. Further, the episode has also highlighted
the social determinant of health like racism, access to free services, unemployment and poverty.
Thus, it can be suggested that they should also be given the same value and respect like other
people get.

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Reference
Axelsson, P., Kukutai, T., & Kippen, R. (2016). The field of Indigenous health and the role of
colonisation and history. Journal of Population Research, 33(1), 1-7.
Chenhall, R. D., & Senior, K. (2018). Living the Social Determinants of Health: Assemblages in
a Remote Aboriginal Community. Medical anthropology quarterly, 32(2), 177-195.
Fisher, M., Battams, S., Mcdermott, D., Baum, F., & Macdougall, C. (2019). How the social
determinants of Indigenous health became policy reality for Australia's National
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Plan. Journal of Social Policy, 48(1), 169-
189.
Kingsley, J., Munro-Harrison, E., Jenkins, A., & Thorpe, A. (2018). “Here we are part of a living
culture”: Understanding the cultural determinants of health in Aboriginal gathering places
in Victoria, Australia. Health & place, 54, 210-220.
Macniven, R., Richards, J., Gubhaju, L., Joshy, G., Bauman, A., Banks, E., & Eades, S. (2016).
Physical activity, healthy lifestyle behaviors, neighborhood environment characteristics
and social support among Australian Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal adults. Preventive
medicine reports, 3, 203-210.
Markwick, A., Ansari, Z., Sullivan, M., & McNeil, J. (2015). Social determinants and
psychological distress among Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander adults in the
Australian state of Victoria: A cross-sectional population based study. Social Science &
Medicine, 128, 178-187.

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Paradies, Y. (2018). Racism and Indigenous Health. In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Global
Public Health.
Fahd, K., & Venkatraman, S. (2019). Racial Inclusion in Education: An Australian
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Shepherd, C. C., Li, J., Cooper, M. N., Hopkins, K. D., & Farrant, B. M. (2017). The impact of
racial discrimination on the health of Australian Indigenous children aged 5–10 years:
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