Trapped in the gap : doing good in Indigenous Australia /

In Australia, a 'tribe' of white, middle-class, progressive professionals is actively working to improve the lives of Indigenous people. This book explores what happens when well-meaning people, supported by the state, attempt to help without harming. 'White anti-racists' find th...

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Bibliographic Details
Online Access: Full text (MCPHS users only)
Main Author: Kowal, Emma
Format: Electronic eBook
Language:English
Published: New York : Berghahn Books, 2015
Subjects:
Local Note:ProQuest Ebook Central
Description
Summary:In Australia, a 'tribe' of white, middle-class, progressive professionals is actively working to improve the lives of Indigenous people. This book explores what happens when well-meaning people, supported by the state, attempt to help without harming. 'White anti-racists' find themselves trapped by endless ambiguities, contradictions, and double binds - a microcosm of the broader dilemmas of postcolonial societies. These dilemmas are fueled by tension between the twin desires of equality and difference: to make Indigenous people statistically the same as non-Indigenous people (to 'close the gap') while simultaneously maintaining their 'cultural' distinctiveness. This tension lies at the heart of failed development efforts in Indigenous communities, ethnic minority populations and the global South. This book explains why doing good is so hard, and how it could be done differently.
Physical Description:1 online resource
Bibliography:Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN:1322950822
9781322950822
9781782386001
1782386009
Source of Description, Etc. Note:Print version record.