Type:	Journal Article
Title:	Speaking positions on indigenous violence
Other Titles:	Hecate
Authors:	Smallacombe, Sonia
Keywords:	Human rights;Indigenous issues
Year:	2004
Publisher:	Hecate Press
Citation:	30 (1), 2004
Notes:	Article concerned with the fact that, on the subject of violence in Indigenous communities, voices of Indigenous women, mostly the victims, are not heard, while others are. Violence is defined to its broadest sense as interpersonal violence, including sexual violence against women and children, and violence by women against men and their children, embedded as a normal way of life. Author puts forward an explanation for the widespread entrenchment of violence in Indigenous communities based in their histories of invasion, oppression, dispossession, violation and exploitation. Discusses the sensationalist method of depicting Indigenous violence and cites the work of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women’s Task Force on Violence, chaired by Boni Robertson, as ignored by the Queensland Government, privileging the voices of white men by setting up a study into alcohol and violence led by Justice Tony Fitzgerald. Article moves into the debate of feminism and violence, highlighting the fundamental difference between Indigenous women and the feminist movement, citing the marginalisation of Indigenous women’s objections to a white woman anthropologist’s assertions about rape of women in Indigenous communities; also cites the complicity of female bureaucrats in the Federal Government’s approach to one-off short-term funding of projects to “curb violence” in Indigenous communities; the over-policing of Indigenous communities and the attacks in criminal proceedings by lawyers defending Indigenous clients against Indigenous women victims to lessen the crime. Criticises the lack of action on the part of ATSIC to tackle violence in the communities and comments on the Prime Minister’s apparent leadership on the issues of domestic violence in Indigenous communities by calling a summit but notes the lack of information on outcomes and follow-up.
URI:	https://anrows.intersearch.com.au/anrowsjspui/handle/1/12269
ISSN:	0311-4198
Appears in Collections:	Journal Articles

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