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- Convenors:
-
Richard Chenhall
(University of Melbourne)
Kate Senior (University of Newcastle)
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- Stream:
- Medical horizons
- Location:
- Old Arts-152
- Start time:
- 2 December, 2015 at
Time zone: Australia/Melbourne
- Session slots:
- 2
Short Abstract:
This panel highlights anthropological approaches to the study of the social determinants of health for young Indigenous people in the Northern Territory, Australia.
Long Abstract:
The social determinants of health have been well described in Indigenous communities, with the literature in public health replete with descriptions of the interactions between structural factors on people's health and well being. A critique of this approach is that it is missing 'an analysis of the relative determinism of different sorts of structures, in particular as they relate to the biographies and life courses of individuals and social histories of places and populations' (Williams 2003). A life course approach, exploring the intersections between personal and community biography and impacts of health equalities has the potential to enhance understanding and the capacity of services to intervene effectively. The need is to move beyond listing determinants, to exploring their complexities, interrelationships and how they are articulated, lived and experienced.
This panel explores the social determinants of health for Indigenous young people in the NT. Much of the research currently describing this population focuses on their deficits and doesn't explore their understanding of issues and how these issues interact with lived experiences. This distances young people from the research. This panel will describe young people's behaviours, decision making and motivations, which have important implications for understanding existing problems as well as providing insights about appropriate interventions. It will include six presentations: a historical overview (Vicky Burbank), Relationships and sexual health (Kate Senior and Richard Chenhall), Social Media (Kishan Karrippanon), Access to services (Mascha Frederichs) and will include a presentation by an Indigenous youth collaborator (Angelina Joshua).
Accepted papers:
Session 1Paper short abstract:
This paper will discuss the social determinants of Indigenous youth health from the perspective of young people living in the remote Aboriginal community of Ngukurr in SW Arnhem Land, Northern Territory.
Paper long abstract:
The social determinants of health has been a dominant discourse in public health, both framing the way health is understood but also directing the way government intervenes in the lives of others. This paper will examine how the social determinants of youth is constructed in this discourse. What is different about the social determinants for young people? How do young people themselves understand the concepts that lie behind the social determinants and how do these relate to larger policy influences in their lives? We will do this through an ethnographic examination of the lives of young people living in Ngukurr, a remote Indigenous community in South east Arnhem Land in Australia's Northern Territory.
Paper short abstract:
This paper discusses food and eating practices of remote Aboriginal young people and young parents and how participatory methods were used to engage young people in exploring their perspectives about traditional and store foods and the role of food in their daily life.
Paper long abstract:
Young people and young parents in remote Aboriginal communities are perceived, both within the community and by the health system as problems - "they eat too much greasy food", "they don't know how to feed their babies". But how do young people themselves perceive their food choices and eating behaviours? What aspirations do young parents have for their own children's eating practices? In an environment where food insecurity is rife and young people have little control over their living arrangements, how do young people negotiate access to food and take control of their food choices? Drawing on participatory research conducted in a remote Aboriginal community in the Northern Territory, this paper explores food and diet from the perspective of young people themselves.
Paper short abstract:
In this paper I discuss how young Indigenous women in a regional town in the Northern Territory think about health and engage with the health system, recognising that health beliefs and health care providers cannot be categorised as belonging to the traditional or biomedical system exclusively.
Paper long abstract:
Research on Aboriginal health often either focuses on traditional health beliefs or comes from a biomedical perspective. However, health beliefs and health care providers cannot easily be categorised as belonging to one of these systems exclusively. In this paper I discuss how young Indigenous women in a regional town in the Northern Territory think about health and engage with the health system. While the young women define health mainly as healthy eating and doing enough exercise, thus showing knowledge of the biomedical standard health message, their ideas about health are more broad. Traditional healing still happens and bush medicine is occasionally used. This is not just practical, knowing about it is also part of people's identity, which in turn influences their mental health. While the local Aboriginal Medical Service provides biomedical care, and as such does not distinguish itself from other health services, it is seen as good for other, both practical and symbolic, reasons. For service providers working with young Indigenous women, it is important that they neither assume that they are completely Westernised, nor essentialise their Indigenous identity.
Paper short abstract:
The use of mobile phones and social media is a communication necessity for young people in remote communities. They consume popular culture to create a modern identity of themselves. These communication tools affect culture and kinship ties through bullying and sexting.
Paper long abstract:
North East Arnhem Land is home to Indigenous people, called Yolngu. The Yolngu way of life is determined through what is called 'Madayin'. All "property, resource … sacred objects that encode law, song cycles (depicting legal arrangements) … is dictated and governed by Madayin". Yolngu communication law and practice is also governed by 'Madayin' and by 'Gurrutu' or kinship laws. "Gurrutu" is the foundation of all communication and interaction between individuals, clans, and moieties.
The use of mobile phones and social media is today the norm and a communication necessity for young people in remote communities. They find and assert their individuality within the traditional structures of 'Gurrutu', whilst consuming global and popular culture to create a modern identity of an Indigenous young person. Their identity formation is influenced by social media consumer driven content and commercial media, mainly hip hop. Through participant observations and in depth interviews, the use of social media and mobile phones enabling young people to strengthen their culture and kinship ties across geographical distances, is well documented. Without appropriate resources and support for a young person growing up in a remote community however, these communication tools can affect culture and kinship ties through bullying, sexting and fuelling clan rivalry. The vulnerable phase of adolescence is when the inappropriate use of social media and mobile phones can determine the social emotional and wellbeing outcomes of the most vulnerable of young people.
Paper short abstract:
I am presenting my life history to show how I have lived and experienced the social determinants of health.
Paper long abstract:
Although many people try to describe how the social determinants of health and well being affect young people, it is very difficult for an outsider to explore what it feels like to live within a particular set of circumstances. I am presenting my life history to show how I have lived and experienced the social determinants of health.
Paper short abstract:
This paper looks at the consequences of social change for Aboriginal youth over a span of thirty years in the southeast Arnhem Land community of Numbulwar. It focuses in particular on the stresses of intergenerational relationships and their effects on individuals and community.
Paper long abstract:
Remote Aboriginal communities in Australia have not been exempt from the rapid and radical changes that have been characteristic of our world over the last 50 years, if not longer. While much of this change has resulted in improved health and wellbeing for many populations, for others the consequences have been mixed. This paper looks at the effects these changes have brought for Aboriginal youth over a span of thirty years in the southeast Arnhem Land community of Numbulwar. It focuses in particular on the stresses of intergenerational relationships and their consequences for individual and community wellbeing.