Reducing Trauma and Structural Racism

In this course, Professor Harry Blagg, Ph.D., criminologist at University of Western Australia, acknowledges the far greater possibility of becoming a victim of violence for rural and remote-living Aboriginal women than for non-Indigenous women. His talk, however, focuses strongly on research emphasising the differences in perceptions about violence, the law, punishment, and healing between Aboriginal and mainstream folk. The qualitative research, conducted by Blagg and associates in partnership with Aboriginal community participants of programs at six sites in WA, NT, and Queensland, found, in regard to multiple themes, that the vast differences in worldview, language, culture, and law between Aboriginal and mainstream systems has meant that mainstream methods of dealing with Aboriginal family violence have not only been ineffective but have also continued to cause trauma similar to that caused by colonisation. From how “victims” and “perpetrators” are defined to which “law” should be followed to how rehabilitation should happen, Blagg discusses the research findings that could greatly improve outcomes for Aboriginal people caught up in family violence.