National Conference On Racism In A Global Context

Some Global Lessons from Institutional Racism in Health Care in Australia

Gavin Mooney (Curtin University)

Racism exists in Australia in a number of guises and at a number of levels. This paper examines institutional racism in Australian health care. This is present in a number of forms. First the nature of funding for Aboriginal health care is often not only short-term but also based on 'body-parts' and hence at best inappropriate for a chronic disease strategy which needs to be holistic in both health and health care. Second the level of funding is grossly inadequate. Third there is evidence that some treatment regimes received by Aboriginal patients are of lower quality and lower cost than those for matching non-Aboriginal patients. Fourth the cultural barriers Aboriginal people face are much higher because of a lack of cultural security.

While there is racism among individual health service staff, the main lesson to be learned from Australia for other countries is that this is an institutional problem and therefore requires an institutional solution.

The second half of the paper indicates how potential solutions in Australian health care may well be relevant elsewhere.

Session 10, Stream 3

Date & Time: Sunday 11 November (10.45am)

Location : ECL4

back to top

Racism. Language training and the dynamics of globalisation, identity, pedagogy and ideology

Vera Williams Tetteh (Macquarie University)

This paper will discuss forms of socially constructed ideologies that visibly different minority groups contend with in the acquisition of language for settlement in a socially diverse and stratified world. Contemporary law and legislation having eradicated the acceptability of overt racism have left in its place the emergence of covert racism. Although this new form of racism has become elusive, it can be elicited for example from symbolic embeddings in political discourse and the media (Blackledge, 2006; McLaughlin, 2006). The paper will draw on media and public discursive elements that racialise adult language learner and show how such 'symbolic language' (McLaughlin, 2006) is employed to construct identities that learners must and do negotiate for settlement purposes.

Session 10, Stream 3

Date & Time: Sunday 11 November (11.05am)

Location : ECL4

back to top

The influence of discrimination and racist behaviours on residential mobility

Pauline Guerin (Flinders University)

Bernard Guerin (University of South Australia)

The presence of discrimination and racist behaviours in housing is well known and much has been done to combat it, but discriminating practices and racist behaviours persist nonetheless. The present study explored the reasons for high residential mobility among Somali migrants in New Zealand using a combination of ethnographic, community-based research and semi-structured interviews. Themes of racist and discriminative practices in State housing agencies, private rental markets, and in neighbourhoods will be discussed. Implications for new migrant and refugee resettlement and well-being and for interventions will be explored.

Session 10, Stream 3

Date & Time: Sunday 11 November (11.45am)

Location : ECL4