White privilege and the fiction of colour blindness: implication for best practice standards for Aboriginal victims of family violence

Hovane, Victoria

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Record ID: 33f30604-bed6-4271-8936-6539f48c9a9a

Web resource:	http://www.adfvc.unsw.edu.au/PDF%20files/Newsletter_27.pdf
Type:	Journal Article
Title:	White privilege and the fiction of colour blindness: implication for best practice standards for Aboriginal victims of family violence
Other Titles:	Australian Domestic and Family Violence Clearinghouse newsletter
Authors:	Hovane, Victoria
Keywords:	Indigenous issues;Cross-cultural
Year:	2007
Publisher:	University of New South Wales
Citation:	27, Summer 2007
Notes:	General overview: The author argues that the Western Australian Best Practice Model for the Provision of Programs for Victims of Domestic Violence is based on colour blind, White feminist family violence principles. The effect is to exclude Aboriginal, migrant and other cultural groups from equal access to services. Discussion: The author acknowledges the important work of the White feminist movement in raising awareness of family violence. However, White feminist perspectives have come to dominate the family violence landscape and the perspectives of Aboriginal, migrant, and other cultural groups have been ignored. Hovane examines the provisions of the WA Best Practice Model for the Provision of Programs for Victims of Domestic Violence (“the Model”), in order to demonstrate how an apparently culturally neutral model can conceal discrimination and exclusion. The Model places responsibility for family violence on perpetrators. Hovane notes that some Aboriginal women consider maintaining relationships to be more important than perpetrators taking responsibility. Further, the underlying issues for perpetrators need to be addressed if change is to occur. The Model calls for services to promote safety and empowerment for victims by assisting them to make choices from an informed position. Hovane notes that the design, development and implementation of support services must take into account Aboriginal concepts of support. If there is no Aboriginal input into the design of a service, cultural safety – that is, the protection of cultural identity – is compromised. The Model states that ‘(a)ll victims are entitled to access services which are provided in a fair and equitable manner’. Hovane suggests that this approach is based on formal equality and implies that providing the same service to all clients is fair. However Aboriginal people do not experience colour-blind services as safe and relevant and, therefore, do not have equitable access to them. The Model requires services to support a criminal justice focus on family violence, but some Aboriginal women do not see the criminal justice system as the answer to their family violence problems. A client centred practice would not impose a criminal justice approach but work with Aboriginal victims to meet their needs. The Model requires services to respect cultural and linguistic diversity, but mainstream service providers have excluded meaningful input from the local Aboriginal community, instead choosing to provide a few Aboriginal-friendly pamphlets and a few Aboriginal workers. The Model says that victims are entitled to service delivery by trained and skilled workers. The colour-blind model considers that tertiary qualifications and other classroom learning would satisfy this requirement, but from an Aboriginal perspective, Aboriginality and/or immersion in an Aboriginal community would be more likely to produce quality services. The Model says that services need to understand the social, cultural, and political context of family violence. Hovane agrees and adds that violence against Aboriginal women must be understood from a perspective of colonisation and dispossession. Conclusions: There is no such thing as cultural neutral service delivery. The goal should be culturally competent service delivery, and service providers need to consider the input of Aboriginal victims as an essential part of service design, rather than an optional extra.
URI:	https://anrows.intersearch.com.au/anrowsjspui/handle/1/17455
Appears in Collections:	Journal Articles

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