Activity: Responsibility
Return to the definition of cultural responsibility you wrote in week one. Copy and paste that definition of cultural safety from weeks one, four and eight.
Week 1 Cultural Safety definition:
My Understanding of cultural safety includes offering an incredibly important space for people of diverse cultures to feel valued, respected, heard and celebrated. This safety includes a non-judgemental approach and welcomes knowledge sharing while embracing and celebrating pride in culture and identity.
Week 4 Cultural Safety definition:
My Understanding of cultural safety offers an incredibly important space for people of diverse cultures to feel valued, respected, heard and celebrated. This safety includes a non-judgemental approach and welcomes knowledge sharing while embracing and celebrating pride in culture and identity. Cultural safety can be bestowed by using pronouns, communicating with respectful and inclusive language, performing acknowledgment of country and providing support to minority groups through respectful actions and solidarity.
Week 8 Cultural Safety definition:
My Understanding of cultural safety offers an incredibly important space for people of diverse cultures to feel valued, respected, heard and celebrated. This safety includes a non-judgemental approach and welcomes knowledge sharing while embracing and celebrating pride in culture and identity. Cultural safety can be bestowed by using pronouns, communicating with respectful and inclusive language, performing acknowledgment of country and providing support to minority groups through respectful actions and solidarity. Artists and viewers both share in the responsibility of creating and viewing art that may trigger trauma, understanding how art can play an important role in awakening memories, engaging emotive responses and advocating for change is important to remember in a cultural safety context.
Discuss: how has that definition changed over time? Examine the last module in particular. Consider the idea of ‘insider’ and ‘outsider’ groups, systems of oppression, the role of gender, and what political artwork might look like. How has this affected your definition? Would you change anything now? In the last module and in the course overall, what are the pieces of content that have triggered the biggest reactions in you, positive and negative? What has provoked comfort, outrage or wonder? Why do you think this is?
The definition has changed over time with the addition of considering pronouns, use of respectful and inclusive language, acknowledgment of country and supporting minority groups in week four. Then in week 8 the addition of acknowledging the responsibility of both artists and views in relation to creating and viewing work that may contain triggering content was added. I understand that I am an outsider to most groups aside from the disability group (being neurodivergent with dyslexia) and being a woman, yet feel I am also a close ally to First Nations People (FNP) as I am married to and have children who identify as Torres Strait Islanders and family members who are part of the queer community. I view myself as both an outsider and an insider to these minority groups and have much love and respect for our culturally diverse communities, for without them who are we?
Throughout this semester there have been many instances when I have felt deep sadness upon the reflection of Australia’s history with the FNP which prompted watching The Australian Wars with my family to gain a greater understanding (River, 2022). There is always a cloud of sorrow that shifts over our house as the end of January draws closer; the 26th of January is a day of deep reflection in our family home, we watch NITV, my husband tells stories, our children ask questions and I listen and sense great pain. My husband is an Erubian, Torres Strait Islander (FNP) who was a first generation born on mainland Australia, and holds a deep connection to his country; Erub island. He chooses not to take part in survival day protests, preferring to spend the day in deep reflection, however, if our children wish to in future we will support them.
Although I am neurodivergent myself, I have never really considered myself to have a disability and feel this was because I was not diagnosed with the learning disability dyslexia until I was forty. The negative experiences I endured growing up, I associated with being told repeatedly that I wasn’t smart, not because there could be another explanation. My lived experience however as a career/parent to a neurodivergent child with Autism has influenced me greatly to become a close outside ally to people on the Autism Spectrum. The disability group is one I feel a great connection of emotion to because of my lived experiences and therefore am passionate about political agendas that impact on people with disabilities.
Conclude: by writing a new definition of cultural responsibility that builds off your previous drafts. Make sure your definition includes you. How are you, in your practice and in your work, going to achieve cultural responsibility? What are some clear practical steps that you can implement?
Cultural Responsibility definition:
Cultural safety and responsibility offer an essential space for people of diverse cultures to feel valued, respected, heard and celebrated. This includes a non-judgemental approach that welcomes knowledge sharing while embracing and celebrating pride in culture and identity. It supports minorities to feel empowered by their identities and safe as their authentic selves, without fear of ridicule, racism, bigotry, exclusion, trolling or bias. To have the freedom to express their voice, share stories of lived experiences and be heard with respect and genuine consideration. Understand the importance of identity intersections and how intersectional diversity plays an important role in societal development towards a more inclusive state without pressure to adhere to majority societal standards. Cultural safety and responsibilities include the use of pronouns, communicating with respectful and inclusive language, performing acknowledgment of country and providing support to minority groups through respectful actions and solidarity. Artists and viewers both share the responsibility of creating and viewing art that may trigger trauma. Understanding how art can play an important role in awakening memories, engaging emotive responses and advocating for change is a key principle of cultural responsibilities context.
References
River, D. (2022). The Australian Wars. Retrieved 6 February 2022, from https://www.uts.edu.au/news/social-justice-sustainability/australian-wars
