How Australian Culture Contributes To Local Communities: A Comprehensive Review Of Nation, Race, And National Culture

The Importance of Nation Building and State Building in Understanding Australian Culture

Question:

Discuss About The Cultures Contribute To Local Communities?

The determination of the extent to which Australian culture truly depicts the Australian nature can be possible through a comprehensive review of the concepts related to race, national culture, nation and Australia as a country. The following illustration would review central concepts vested in the query related to Australian culture. As per Anderson, it is imperative to focus on the concepts of nation and race which could provide viable insights into the Australian culture in the background of cultural disparities among the indigenous and settler people (Anderson, 2012). The perception of nation building, concerns of ethnicity and race in the contemporary Australian culture and the conceptual implications operating to national culture could be accounted as credible resources to resolve the question, ‘How Australian is the Australian Culture?’

The concerns of nation building have to be taken into consideration for determining the influence on national culture since the underlying precedents for the development of a nation. The central concepts direct towards the factor that state building is a completely different entity from that of nation building. The identification of conceptual challenges associated with nation building and state building could offer a legible impression of the concept of nation. While the definition of state building could be generally described as the development of functioning states that could address all significant attributes of contemporary statehood (Bulbeck, Beaseley & McCarthy, 2009). On the other hand, nation building could be described as the abstract process that is carried over a long term in order to develop a common sense of identity among the different groups classified as the population of the specific state or jurisdiction. Therefore the concept of state building could be explicitly associated with the tasks of establishing and development of state institutions while nation building illustrates the nature of relations between a citizen and the state. However, from a practical perspective the concepts of nation building could be critiqued in context of countries which are threat to international security or post-conflict countries (Turner). The notable criticism for nation building in such cases is aligned with the forced democratization of the states rather than integrating the sense for development of shared senses of communities in the state. The concerns of state building and nation building as observed in the case of Australia were largely characterized by the large scale transportation of settlers to Australia that led to conflicts with the local aborigines. The concept of building a nation should be evolutionary in nature rather than revolutionary and many European commentators have indicated that the development of a nation follows an organic course and is liable to experience pitfalls in successful development due to intervention of external forces. In context of Australia, the white settlers could be assumed as the external forces which were responsible for reframing the state and rather than developing a nation, the settlers were accountable for state building. As per Al?Mutawa, Elliott & Nuttall, the implications of such type of nation building can be validated on the grounds of security albeit with criticism (Al?Mutawa, Elliott & Nuttall, 2015). The development of the present Australia as apprehended from the widespread discrimination against the aborigines which is a major characteristic of Australian culture. Application of the concept of nation building to the case of Australian culture could have been reflective of the prospects for promoting a sense of community among the white settlers and the indigenous people of Australia which did not exist prior to the arrival of the former. The concept of nation building as reviewed in context of the Australian culture could also be reflective of the inclusion of the aboriginal people in the mainstream that had been ignored previously on the grounds of conflict (Andersen & Skouvig, 2017). The actions of the white settlers could also be supported on the grounds of sociological assumptions such as that the indigenous people were not able to make substantial use of the natural resources available on the land and their intervention was necessary for broader development. However, it can be imperatively argued that nation building is not initiated with conflict or violence and is carried out as a long term process of inclusion and development of an integrated national society that adheres to shared beliefs and values. The implications of nation building also depict profound references towards the development of racial attitudes among the population in a state (Bengueddoudj, et al., 2013).

Implications of Race in Australian Culture

The concept of race could be associated with noticeable historical and social roots and is liable for access or restrictions to specific life opportunities. The existing Australian culture depicts relative dominance of the white people which should be reviewed from the perspective of core concepts related to race. The aspects of race as observed in context of Australia could be reviewed in context of privilege. The disparities in privileges could be used to validate the racial discrimination observed in Australian culture (Cao, Hu & Yang, 2016). The white race privilege has been accounted as the indicator of rights, advantages and benefits that were provided to white people beyond the advantage of the aborigines and other ethnic classes. The majority of white people in the population as compared to the minor share of indigenous races could be assumed as an influence on the dominance of white race privilege since the aborigines had limited representation in the social system. It has been observed from research studies that Australians do not prefer to communicate regarding race and prefer to replace it with culture. However, the observation of distinct dimensions of race in the Australian context could be made possible through estimating the demographic profile and the racial achievement gap observed in the distinct aspects of education, representation and employment (Field, 2015).

The examples of minimal representation of indigenous Australian students in higher education as well as the explicit lack of representation of visible minority groups in federal frameworks could be accounted as the prominent highlights of racial discrimination in Australia. On the other hand, the concepts of racial dominance were also indicative of the privileges of individuals and groups which were advantageous in terms of access to economic resources and power primarily referring to the individuals belonging to Anglo-Christian backgrounds. Therefore the Australian culture could be able to restrict the limitations emerging from the dimension of race through considering substantive equality which could address the process of recognizing difference in the provision of rights, entitlements, access and opportunities to unequal groups. Substantive equality recognizes the presence of different needs for different people which further allows the society members to provide respect, dignity and opportunity to other individuals regardless of the race (Hawkins, 2013).

The prominent areas which could be included to limit the concerns of race in the case of Australia refer to education, service delivery and other interactions involving examples of event management, supervision and teaching. The community interactions between majority groups and indigenous groups could be based on the inferences from previous interactions alongside adhering to social obligations as well as shared values and beliefs. The impact of race on perception of national culture could be observed in the references to concepts of cultural identity (Horiuchi & Morino, 2015).

Restricting the Limitations of Race through Substantive Equality

The development of identity is a profound contributor to the apprehension of cultural and social value which in turn leads to the integration of various roles in a social setting. Adopting social roles is responsible for development of identity and the individual is responsible for negotiating his identity with the society and family members. Social identity could be perceived as the combination of group memberships which is also responsible for definition of an individual and their positions (Jones, Heley & Watkin, 2016).

As per Mittelman & Pasha, the perception of the concept of indigenous identity and the indigenous culture could be responsible for providing viable insights into the perception of national culture. The concerns of indigenous identity could be associated with the country in which individuals and communities have been associated with traditionally (Mittelman & Pasha, 2016).

The indigenous identities are derived from tradition with the cultural involvement contributing to the development of indigenous identity. The different implications for indigenous people suggest that they are descendants of the conventional owners and occupiers of the region or country. The indigenous groups depict a formal example of indigenous culture through practicing diversity in their religion and socio-economic organization (Roberts, 2013). Different indigenous people have argued that indigenousness is associated with the inherent perception from the state of mind and birth alongside sustaining their relations to traditional lands.

Another notable concern that can be drawn in the form of a central concept related to national culture is the classification of nationalism and ethnicity as different categorical identities which are observed in contemporary ‘Australia’. The involvement of the elites and other participants in the political and social structuring of Australia as a nation state were responsible for creating unique demarcation between ethnicity and nationalism as well as national culture (Zhang, 2016).

Conclusion

The categorical identities are responsible for shaping every individual’s life alongside facilitating tools for realizing homogeneity in the culture as well as construction of different versions of such identities. Therefore, the apprehension of the distinct aspects of nation, race, national culture and contemporary ‘Australia’ provides an impression that the larger share of the Australian culture is dominated by white race privilege. However, the prospects of state intervention in creation of categorical identities for nationalism, ethnicity and cultural homogeneity have induced the essence of ‘Australia’ in Australian culture. 

References

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