Order Description

Students will write entries in an autobiographical reflective journal. Students will reflect on and write about the required readings from the first 5 weeks of this subject. Students will answer the key questions as noted below and specifically identify their own story in relation to the readings and the key questions.

Task:
Students will write five separate entries in journal format critically reflecting on the required readings. Students will critically reflect on the required readings and the set questions for weeks 1-5.

Students will include autobiographical information that identifies their history, culture and biography as related to their critical reflection on the readings and the emerging issues/factors.

Word length: approx. 1800 words

Reflective Questions: Your assessment must incorporate answers to these questions

Week one:

Think about your own story in relation to The Introduction from Timothy Bottoms book, and Ernie Grant’s model- Land, Language, Culture, Time, Place, Relationships- when and where were you born, what is your history and connections to that place, or the place you now live? How does your reflection and understandings help or hinder you in seeking to build relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples? View the DVD in Week one folder to further help you begin to understand Ernie Grant’s framework.

Week two:

What are the key points for you in these readings based on your previous knowledge?

What you are bringing to social work, negative and positive, from your history and socialisation?

Why do you need to understand history, colonisation and the contemporary legacies for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples? Who have you been socialised to see as inferior or superior peoples?

Demonstrate critical reflection in your responses

Week three:

What did you know about Torres Strait Islanders previously and what have you learned from these readings? What do you need to do/know to engage more respectfully with Torres Strait Islander peoples as a distinctive group? For further learning view Eddie Mabo Life of an Island Man

Week four:

What are the impacts for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders of colonisation and the Stolen Generation? Is it different for Aboriginal people than for Torres Strait Islanders? How would this impact manifest in families and communities in contemporary times? Are you aware of your own family’s experiences in relation to the Stolen Generation? Did your family talk about it?

Week five:

What are your experiences of grief and loss? Are these losses personal, cultural, intergenerational? Will your experiences help or hinder you in understanding and empathising with the cycles of grief, loss and trauma experienced as intergenerational legacies for Indigenous Australians? Link your thoughts to this week’s readings.