The relationship between culture, identity and racism.

Australia is a multicultural country with 270 different cultural backgrounds and depending on the amount of cultural diversity in schools; students can struggle with their sense of identity and become a victim of racism. In an article by ABC News, titled ‘Teachers, pupils on mission to tackle racism in Australian schools’ the issue of racism is discussed after a series of high-profile racist incidents in 2013 occur. The ABC focuses on a western Sydney school, Punchbowl Boys High School, which has students involved with violence, gangs and drugs. Within this western Sydney school, there are 35 different cultural groups and 98% of the students are from non-English speaking backgrounds. Due to the school’s troubled past, students associate themselves with that trouble and hence the location of the school and the school itself has an immense impact on a student’s sense of identity. For example, the boys began to have a particular attitude within the community and thus, students became part of that trouble and eventually they gave up on themselves. In order to change the school’s environment and condition, the principal Jihad Dib, was determined to transform the school’s culture by building community and respect. Mr Dib achieved this through bringing the school and community together by getting to know each student’s parents. With the staff, students, parents and community uniting as one, students are able to feel integrated and affiliated. As a result, by building a community within the school, students begin to feel like they’re family with one another and therefore, a sense of belonging and identity was created. In Anne Phillips ‘What is culture?’ she says that culture comes to be seen as something primarily associated with non-Western or minority cultural groups. Therefore, to be in a school environment where there are different cultural groups, some groups would be considered as a minority and hence their culture would be seen as inferior. For example, a Year 11 Indigenous student says-“I’ve had a lot of racist comments thrown at me in the past about my culture and I feel that what people say does matter because it does affect people in the long run.” Therefore, it can be seen that racism has close connections to the concept of culture and identity as depending on one’s culture; they can be a victim of stereotypes, hatred, generalisation and ultimately, racism. However, new methods to tackle racism are constantly in progress and an example includes the What You Say Matters hip hop video, launched by the Australian Human Rights Commission which aims to get the message across to students about the negatives of racism. Moreover, it is also important to note that not all schools have racism issues, for example, deputy principal Noel Plunkett from James Meehan High School says that they do not have racism issues because their school is a small, culturally diverse school. He believes that schools that don’t have as much cultural diversity may lead to one group thinking that they have the right to make comments about other groups in society and hence resulting in damaging effects to those kids who later go out into the workforce in their future. The issue of racism in relation to culture and identity in education can have differing justifications, however, a school’s emphasis on racism and the school’s environment are two very important aspects. For example, if students were more educated on different cultural groups then there would be a lesser chance of them throwing ignorant racist comments around. While the amount of cultural diversity in schools also plays a huge role as if there is less cultural diversity in schools, then the students who feel that they are in the dominant cultural group would see themselves as superior and hence have the ability to put others down. Therefore, schools should implement more cultural activities and events such as Harmony Day where students can learn about different cultural groups and the importance of acceptance.

 

References:

Mohamed Taha, ‘Teachers, pupils on mission to tackle racism in Australian schools’, ABC News, Last updated, Wed 31 July 2013, (accessed on 18 September 2013), Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-07-31/hip-hop-helps-students-overcome-racism-in-australian-schools/4854174

Link to video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiQq_XAVPLg

Academic Source:  Phillips, A, ‘What is Culture’, Routledge, London UK, 2006, pp.1-10.